As an Indian, to know about 2 stroke legend Yezdi is one thing but to be one among those very few who have driven them is another level thing. I have been quite lucky as I have driven almost all the variants of Yezdi motorcycle in its 2 stroke avatar – Roadking, 250 Deluxe, 250 Classic, CL II, Yezdi 350- except the Yezdi 175 and Monarch.
करोनोलोजी समझिए, Back in November 2018, classic legends brought Jawa back to life and it all started here in India. Since then, it was quite logical to wait for the return of Yezdi’s on Indian roads. Today it happened and for once I personally loved the online launch event which had Cyrus Barocha as the host. Now the biggest question which many people and analysts had was how classic legend is going to justify the brand YEZDI. Well, this question is quite difficult to answer as the old Yezdi’s were 2 stroke motorcycles and the ones launched today are 4 stroke motorcycles, made according to the norms and standards of the 21sts century. So for once, let’s not compare oranges with apples.
The 3 new variants of Yezdi are Adventure, Roadster, and Scrambler which cost Rs.2.09 lakh, Rs.1.98 lakh and Rs.2.04 lakh respectively – all ex-showroom Delhi. All have a 334 CC capacity engine with different torque and Power settings.
Adventure is available in 3 colour options – Slick Silver, Mambo Black and Ranger Camo; Roadster has 5 colour options – Smoke Grey, Hunter Green, Steel Blue, Sin Silver and Gallant Grey; Scrambler has 6 colour options – Fire Orange, Outlaw Olive, Yelling Yellow, Midnight Blue, Mean Green and Rebel Red and prices of all bikes changes according to the colour you would opt.
We will be talking about the bikes in detail once we get our hands on them in the time to come.
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.
