Skoda Slavia B Concept Brings Back a European Bike From More Than a Century Ago

6 months, 2 weeks ago - 14 May 2025, autoevolution

Like many other established carmakers of today, the Czech from Skoda have started their industrial life by making bicycles and motorcycles. It happened at the end of the 19th century, at a time when the company was known as Laurin & Klement.

The company entered the public conscience in 1899 with something called the Slavia. Presented to the world in two variants, A and B, the motorcycle drew power from a 240cc air-cooled single-cylinder engine that could barely crank 1.75 horsepower.

The engine was controlled not by a transmission, as you'd expect today, but by a flat belt connected directly to the powerplant. It had pedals, used as auxiliary propulsion but also for starting the engine, and it only reached a top speed of 25 mph (40 kph).

Those may not seem like impressive numbers by today's standards, but they were something to dream of back then. As did most other machines of the era, the Skoda Slavia motorcycles were raced, including as part of the Paris–Berlin race that took place in 1901.

For the company, the Slavia was not necessarily a hit as we understand the term today. Since it was introduced and by the time it was retired in 1904, it sold just 540 units of the B variant of the two-wheeler.

It is this bike that was honored back in April 2025 by Skoda with the presentation of a unique concept bike in café racer style. Described as a reincarnation of the Slavia B motorcycle, the ride was put together by the carmaker's Skoda exterior design guru, Frenchman Romain Bucaille.

Imagined as an electric bike, the concept - which has no official name – keeps the general lines of the original machine's frame, but this time there is no engine inside it, because there's no need for one. The weird empty space in the middle of the bike goes hand in hand with the floating seat at the rear, and the leather tool bag (a must-have back in the day) that's been integrated directly into the frame.

No mention is made as to the capabilities of the electric drivetrain that's supposed to power the ride, but we're used to that when it comes to concepts. And it doesn't really matter, either, as the futuristic café racer in Modern Solid style, as its maker likes to call it, will never make it into production.

The concept motorcycle is just the first product in a series of concepts Skoda will present in the near future, all of which are inspired by "the brand's most iconic vehicles," only given a modern twist, befitting of the 21st century.