The most exciting part of owning a Yezdi or a Jawa motorcycle is that you don’t have to start the conversation rather these #beautiesonwheels act as the ice breaker. And when you have International Jawa-Yezdi day celebrations coming up then it is obvious that one would come across these rare beauties which would result in numerous conversations with people you are meeting for the very first time.
In our case, we got an opportunity to be a part of the International Jawa-Yezdi Day celebration which was held on 8.07.2018. We were lucky to spend our entire day with the Yezdi-Jawa Club, Delhi (NCR). The day started with all the members and participants reaching a designated point in Connaught Place and assembled there. The pictures below depict the beauties which we saw and tried to understand how important they are from Historical point of view.
From Connaught Place the group moved towards Rashtrapati Bhawan but because of some reasons all members along with their historical treasure assembled at the main entry point of North-South Block near Rashtrapati Bhawan. Pictures were taken, videos were made and the journey continued.
There were Jawa 350, Yezdi classic, Yezdi Deluxe, Yezdi B Type which were mesmerising for the eyes. The youngest participant was 4-year-old kids who were accompanied by their parents. This event was quite important for Mahindra also as recently Mr. Anand Mahindra had shared that Mahindra would be launching all new Jawa.
We hope that this association of Mahindra with Jawa brand would make whole process of owning a Jawa more interesting and lead to celebration of the International Jawa Yezdi day in a grand manner.
I have been a great admirer of automobiles, and by that, I mean literally anything which has an engine and runs on wheels. Such was my craziness for cars and bikes, when I was a young kid, that one day I entered a vehicle, a Mercedes or an impala, which was parked in a mechanics garage. The owner of the garage saw me and my brother inside the car and came charging towards us. My brother was lucky enough to run away but some how I got stuck and my brother had to rush back and open the door from outside. This was long time back ago, late 80’s and this incident happened in DDA CAR market of Zamrudpur, next to Kailash colony, a part of South Delhi.
Back in 2010, one evening a friend of mine, Hashim, shared that a jawa motorcycle was up for sale. It was a black 1973 jawa, UP registered, having the head of a Yezdi. As it was something which I always wanted to have there was no question of giving a second thought. I went to meet the seller and came back with this black beauty. This bike totally changed my perception about two stroke vehicles and my parents who were against buying a motorcycle let me keep it after I told them that the bike is 38 years Old. I used Jawa as any 4-stroke motorcycle being used by people around me. The picture above was taken near Nizamuddin while on my way back to home. I travelled length and breadth of Delhi on this bike. Not only this, I rode this bike in and around NOIDA and Faridabad also and not even once did it gave me any issue.
In 2013 I wrote on my facebook wall (above) that how nobody – auto magazines, is writing about Jawas and Yezdis and how important they are from history perspective. And exactly a year later #Topgear India printed and an article on Yezdi and Jawa by the name ‘The Last Soldier’. This forced me to write to Topgear and thank them for bringing out such a beautiful story. In return they published by comments in their magazine in the very next edition, as shown below.
One fine day in 2014, I got a call from a person who shared his story of how his beloved 350cc two stroke motorcycle was sold by his parents while he was out of India for further studies. He shared that he had emotional attachment towards his bike and would like to buy my Jawa for the sole reason that it is quite unique. As I had used Jawa for almost 4 years, I was interested in owning and riding a Yezdi. I decided to sell off my Jawa (picture below after its restoration) and bought a Yezdi, a 1978 D250 classic.
Restored Jawa
The day I bought a second hand yezdi, I took it to my office as I used to take my Jawa. One of my colleagues, who had some complications with his eye sight since birth and could not ride or drive by himself, whom I used to drop near his home, as we lived almost in the same locality, said to me that he has been on many bikes as a pillion but the level of comfort he got on jawa as pillion was quite commendable.
My Yezdi
These bikes were so lucky for me that one day I got a call from NDTV CarAndBike who wanted to do a Classic car and bike theme based ‘Independence Day Special’ shoot. As I had a Yezdi available with me and also as I was going to be interviewed, I straight away agreed. The show was streamed on 15th of August, 2014. This gave me confidence and helped me to achieve my dream to continue my passion. After sometime I sold off my 1978 Yezdi to a Government official from Delhi and bought a 1980 yezdi which I recently sold away to another ‘Two Stroke Nut Cracker’ from Jaipur.
The day I Shot for NDTV show
Today, I work in ‘Development Sector’ and have a 9-5 job, but my love for automobiles is still intact and I am currently, by my own self, running a website by the name www.automotivekeeda.com where I post review and news articles related to cars and bikes. #Automotivekeeda is also present on #Facebook, #YouTube, #Twitter and #Instagram with a very good amount of fan following.
Currently, I am looking for a #Jawa, the two stroke one, as I want to do an all-India tour. Want to relive the experience of traveling long distance on a Jawa. Hope my dream comes true.
‘Oh Yesssss, Legend Reborn’, that was our reaction when we saw the all new engine, which still resembles the old but dependable, of Jawa motorcycle. The design of the engine says it all, as it shows the kind of exercise done by the team from Classic Legend and Mahindra Automotive, the very DNA of the original bike is retained. The engine shows that the feedback of current and past owners has been taken up seriously and it is reflected in pure essence. We are very excited and eager to see how the remaining bike would look like.
Classic Legends Pvt. Ltd. and Mahindra automotive have done quite good research and have come out with an engine which looks promising. The best part was that the current owners and also those who once in their life rode this beautiful motorcycle were contacted and based on their feedback and keeping in mind the current state of norms and technology, a product is on its way to the market which still resembles the actual Jawa. The curves when compared with the original Jawa are almost same and the best part is that the silencers are so similar to the original two-stroke jawa.
The Engine itself is a piece of an art which is result of collaboration with Italian engineers. It is a 293cc liquid cooled, single cylinder DOHC engine with 27bhp and 28 Nm of torque which means that Jawa will be amazing for long rides and smoother during city traffic but one has to wait for the final product launch. We have heard that the team behind the product has gone miles so that the sound of this beautiful 4 stroke is at par with the original two-stroke engine.
That would be Music to our ears. Waiting eagerly.
And yes if everything goes as planned, we expect the official launch by next month.
