Jawa Jawa Review, First Ride

Unsatisfying

• Priced a bit higher

Jawa is back and how! The manufacturer made a dramatic entrance into the Indian market with Classic Legends, a company which will resurrected the brand and plans to do the same with other brands of the past too. Mahindra is a partner of this start up and there is a lot of expertise that has come up from there. A team of motorcycle enthusiast being a part of this start-up which plans to bring a brand back seems like a great idea. With their expertise of the past in the automotive and other worlds, Jawa needs to be successful, talk of the town and initial impressions say, it has, by a big margin.

Stats and figures suggest that they are sold out till September 2019 after start bookings in November and they are offering many things which the customers asked for. So is this all worth it? We try one of three bikes that have be showcased and two of them were launched. The Jawa Jawa and the Jawa 42. Perak is still in concept stages. We take a quick ride of the Jawa Jawa to tell you what is it like to ride.

• Design

The design is jewels to our eyes. It carries the old charm in a modern way which can be described in all the adjectives in the dictionary. The front is our favorite, the headlamp cluster, the the side profile is stubby, low slung and slim which gives it practicality as well as the old Jawa design which helped it stand out, that works even today with the new design.

The rear also gets a simple tail-lamp design and retro turn-indicators on the fender which gives it the design appeal of the past with a modern touch. The front tyre hugger is long and curves exactly the old bike did. The dual exhaust reminds of the two-stroke machines of the past too. Overall, for people have admired Jawa but couldn’t buy it, this is your chance!

• Speedo and Switches

When it comes to practical essentionals, speedo has no trip meters, there is a anti-clock wise speedometer, no tachometer and the tell tale lights, a cool looking fuel gauge which completes the clocks area. There is good quality switch gear and most plastics are good to touch, but they could have been a bit better. It has a modern day chain adjuster.

Ergonomics are the highlight and the slim profile of the bike, the low stance and ultra low seat height of 765 mm makes this bike incredibly accessible for all types of riders. The seat feels hard, but should end up great for long distance touring. Even the seats have the ‘three slides embossed’ for the true ‘Jawa feel’

• The Ride

The engine is based on the Mojo 300, but it is entirely re-tuned and heavily modified to meet the modern-retro standards of today. The liquid-cooled motor which has fins on it is already aesthetically appealing and it does stand out. The torquey nature of the engine in low and mid-range means it pulls off the line very quickly and calmingly. Gearbox is smooth, clutch is light and the engine is smooth, free and almost quick revving.

The balance of quick revving and torquey nature of the engine is hard to achieve which lends it the retro-modern bike feel that this bike has in spades. The top-end push is quite good as the power to weight ratio and class leading 27 PS and 28 Nm is clearly the highlight despite being an inch of intimidating over its heavily underpowered rivals. We just heard one the rivals pass by while we write this at the cusp of dawn and we like to tell you that the Jawa sounds more sonorous, better and just about enough punch to poke you nostalgia into you.

Dynamically, the bike uses Gabriel made suspension at the front and rear. The suspension is on the soft side, there is 18-inch wheel at the front, 17-inch wheel at the front and the rake is high at 28 degrees. The wheelbase is short and that is the reason why this setup lends is decent agility in the corners and good nimbleness in the city.

Again, finding a balance like this which helps in both ways is a great attempt by Jawa. The highway stability with this setup should be impressive as well, but that we will confirm in the road test. Brakes are good, rubber hose used in the front along with bybre brakes and nylogrip MRF tyres means braking is good but feedback isn’t there from the lever.

Jawa Jawa Review, Verdict

Overall, there is a new benchmark set in this category. The rivals are heavily outdated and Jawa has a chance to shine with its unique setup. Sure there is need for polishing all around and the prices could be slightly better. Jawa assures repeatedly that things will change with production version. We will wait how that happens for now, Jawa is back and how!