Q&A: Anand Mahindra says Jawa Motorcycles are love at first sight

The last two days have been marked as an important chapter in the history of Indian motorcycle industry. On one hand, an iconic brand has launched two excellent twin cylinder price at jaw dropping prices. On the other, another iconic brand has made a dramatic return after 22 years.

You got it right, we are indeed talking about the Royal Enfield 650 twins and the Jawa motorcycles. It can be said that finally, we are living and experiencing better days of the motorcycle industry in India.

Talking about Jawa, the company has launched three motorcycles of which the Jawa and Jawa 42 are available immediately while the Jawa Perak will be made available after some time. Naturally there has been a lot of hype about the bikes and the web world is flooded with them. To save you the pain of going through all that, here are 10 things that are unknown about the Jawa motorcycles launched yesterday. Read along to get a headstart and bragging rights as well.

India’s cheapest production Bobber: Perak!

As interesting its name may seen, the Jawa Perak is in fact the cheapest proper bobber styled bike in India that will make it to regular production. There is an interesting story behind that quirky name but that’s saved for the next sub head. As for the pricing, the Jawa Perak is available for a starting amount of Rs. 1.89 lakhs, ex-showroom, Delhi. However, the bike will be made available after a while and not along with the other two motorcycles.

Perak is actually name of a vintage Jawa

We weren’t bluffing when we said the Perak name has a story behind it. Actually, the original Czech Jawa company designed a 250 cc motorcycle during the World War II and named it the Perak. It was first showcased to the public in 1946 at the Paris Motorcycle Show, where it was awarded a gold medal. It was given the name Perak, Czech for “spring”, as a reference to the sprung rear suspension it featured. So now you know why this name, it really has a cool history behind it.

Guess what, former Royal Enfield employees have come together to run Jawa now!

Whether that may sound good or bad for you, but that is a fact. Many people who are now working towards making Jawa a success again were actually Royal Enfield employees at some point of their life. Notable names include Anupam Thareja and Ashish Joshi. Anupam is the man who founded Classic Legends, the company which has a major hand in the revival of the Jawa brand. Ashish Joshi is the current chief of Classic Legends. Both of them have had stints at Royal Enfield with Ashish also having worked for Triumph in past.

Named after the first bike by the company back in 1929

During the launch event, both Anand Mahindra and Anupam Thareja emphasized many times on the fact that they wanted to remain true to the original Jawa roots. Therefore, the more vintage styled motorcycle among the trio has been simply named just ‘JAWA’, after original 500 cc Jawa bike of the 1929, which was the first ever motorcycle by the company (pictured above). According to the top boffins, they wanted to keep that old feeling intact and hence haven’t bothered much with the name but rather have focused on the aesthetics and mechanics of the motorcycles.

One of its kind Instrument pod in India

One of the most aesthetically pleasing detail of the motorcycle is the absolutely gorgeous retro-esque instrument pod. The flush, chrome ringed unit with a golden background is unlike anything we have seen till now on a production motorcycle at such price point in India. It gets a unique little circular fuel reserve gauge and a small odometer on top. Attention to detail is on a whole next level. Notice those beautifully crafted needles and nicely marked speed readouts. Masterstroke we say.

Power to weight ratio better than some performance bikes

The Jawas are no slouches either. The old Jawas were known for their performance and ride experience and while there is still some time before we tell you how well the bikes ares to ride, we certainly can give you a lowdown on some stats. Both the Jawa and the Jawa 42 weigh 170 kgs and have a power output of 27 Bhp. This gives them a power to weight ratio of 158.8 Bhp per tonne. Comparing this to Bajaj RS 200 which is a performance oriented bike, which weighs 164 kgs and has a power output of 24.5 Bhp, the bike has a power to weight ratio of 149.3 Bhp per tonne. Surprised, you would be even more taken aback had we compared it to the Royal Enfield Classic/Thunderbird/Bullet 350.

Pricing matches with Anand Mahindra’s birth date

The Jawa 42 has been set as most economical offering among the trio, priced at Rs 1.55 lakhs. This, in fact is also the birth date of Anand Mahindra. The actual number stands at 1/5/1955 or 1st of May, 1955. However, it’s not a coincident that the company has set such pricing for the bike but that’s a deliberate move to honor the man, according to Anupam Thareja. This one had us too, relax.

Power comparable to the Classic 500 but very light weight than it

Now back in the day when Jawa/Yezdi and Royal Enfield used to be the only bikes on sale in the country, the Jawa was considered as more sporty and performance oriented among the two. The company has maintained that this time too and the 293 cc engine on the bikes produces a good 27 Bhp of power along with 28 Nm of torque. To put things into perspective, The Royal Enfield Classic 500 with much more displacement churns out 27.2 Bhp of power but a much higher torque of 41.3 Nm. However, the Jawas weight 170 kg where as the Classic 500 weighs a good 190 kgs. The answer is quite evident, without even going into power to weight ratio figures.

No Scrambler or Adventure Tourer for now

Classic Legends had done quite a good job at maintaining curiosity and interrest among people through regular social media updates, pictures and videos. Based on that, it was being highly expected that the Jawa would include a unconventional styled bike in its launch lineup, either a Scrambler or an Adventure Tourer. However, no such thing is happening for now as the company wants to initially focus on rebuilding the brand and keeping the original Jawa spirit alive. A Scrambler wasn’t a bad idea though, we wished badly for it, phew.

Retains majority of the style elements from the original

The new breed of Jawa is all about maintaining the original retro-sporty feel of the Jawas of old while being modern and upmarket. The makers have been fairly successful in that and the model which has been named just as Jawa definitely looks like it hasn’t forgotten about its ancestors. The bike retains a lot of the design elements of the original Jawa 250 sold in India. This includes the fenders, headlamp casing and instrument cluster design, handlebar design and placement, twin silencers, engine silhouette, tank shape and exclusive red-chrome shade among many other details. Hats off to the designers as they have done a commendable job at making this bike a perfect blend of retro-modern.