The Rebirth – The Jawa Motorcycle
Mangaluru: There’s something about being retro, that appeals to many. Throw in a machine, a nice throaty engine with an exhaust note that gives rise to goosebumps, comfort and nimble on the road… and chrome… lots of chrome! Oh, and yes, a logo – the brand, that seemed to have disappeared over the years, washed out like many other things in this world – a forgotten logo, but a name that has oft been spoken and remembered with almost revered awe – the JAWA!
There is a lot of history to this world famous brand name, but to keep it short and sweet, Czechoslovakia based Jawa motorcycles were first brought into India in 1961 and assembled at the Ideal Jawa factory in Mysore in the 1960s. The next step was after acquiring the license to manufacture, in-house production was started and the iconic legend rolled out in 1968 by the name of YEZDI – a modest little 60 cc Yezdi Jet B Series. This kick-started the manufacturing process to produce one the most magnificent machines in 1974, that may have seemed very basic, but can still throw a solid punch even today – the Yezdi 250 B Type. The factory went on to produce many different models, that ruled the roads and racetracks till 1996, when they had to shut the doors, due to lots of issues. The once great factory, with the many spares and discarded motorcycle models, was a sight that was heart-rending to many fans, who vowed to keep the brand going as long as they could.
And they did.
In mid-October, a picture of a reworked 300 cc Jawa engine was released, with a promise that the Jawa was going to be back with a bang.
In the coming weeks, pictures of camouflaged trial bikes were captured and went viral, giving rise to a lot of conspiracy theories. And then with a deadline given, with lots of teasers splattered across the spectrum of social media – like a phoenix rising – the JAWA made its comeback, on 15th November 2018.
“Jawa Motorcycles has enjoyed a huge fan following and generations have relished riding these iconic motorcycles. Modern classics are becoming more popular since people today are looking for character, style and fun.”
It is this very thought of the person who made it possible – a company called Classic Legends Pvt. Ltd, founded by Anupam Thareja in 2015, and a lot of research and groundwork had gone into making this happen. Among many others on the Board of Directors, is Boman Rustom Irani, who owns the rights to the YEZDI brand, being the son of the original founder of the Ideal Jawa name. Another well-known name is Anand Mahindra, Chairman of Mahindra Group that had signed the licensing deal to launch the motorcycles under the ‘JAWA’ brand name in India and other East Asian countries. In his words “It’s rare to get an opportunity to resurrect a legend. Jawa is an authentic and iconic brand that represents the desire and yearning in all of us for freedom and adventure.”
Quoting Ashish Joshi, Chief Executive Officer, Classic Legends Pvt. Ltd.- “It is indeed a historic moment and we are happy to bring Jawa back in India. This seems like the right timing to have come up with this range of motorcycles, as the Indian premium motorcycle market is not only growing but also evolving in consumer tastes and preferences. We are quite upbeat to offer these classics to the motorcycle enthusiasts in the country.”
After the JAWA, CLPL plans to concentrate on the BSA motorcycles, that would be more inclined towards the International markets and at a later stage, relaunch the YEZDI too.
The launch was at Mehboob Studio, Bandra – Mumbai and just like the brand itself, this special occasion was indeed different, unlike any other product launches. At 11 am, the event was a close circuit one, just for the Press media, that streamed it live around the world – just simple and basic. At 3 pm, that was when it made sense, as John Abraham had remarked much earlier to Anand Mahindra – “the Jawa is in your blood yaar, it is in your blood!” Yes, there were no high profile guests, no politicians, no fancy Bollywood entries to raise the glamour quotient.
First of all – it was Adil Jal Darukhanawala, editor of Fast Bikes India and Consultant Editor of Times Auto, who compered the very informal function. The people he called onto the stage to be felicitated were the mechanics from in and around Mumbai & Pune, the wizards with their amazing hands that kept the Jawa & Yezdi bikes going strong, not just during their heydays in the races, but all these years though ! And some as old as 75 years of age, had today come biking on their Yezdi, 150 km away from Pune.
And the people who were called in to unveil the motorcycle models for the biking community, were those who wouldn’t be known to many in today’s world, but were geniuses on the roads and tracks in the 80s – Pravin Karkhani, who in 1977, took an 8-man strong team on 2 Jawas and 2 Yezdi B Models from Mumbai – Rome – Mumbai, ace racers – CK Chinnappa, Subash Bose, Nisha Sutaria, Sohail Sarooshi and Somender Singh. It was indeed a stage like no other when all these living legends shared the same platform for their passion of the brand.
And the actual crowd or the public? Oh yes… Classic Legends had roped in all the different Jawa Yezdi club moderators and admins, spread along the length and breadth of the country, to be present and check out the new models personally.
Manufactured at M & M’s production facility in Pithampur, M.P., two models have been rolled out – The Jawa and the Jawa 42, priced at Rs. 1,64,000 and Rs. 1,55,000 respectively. While these would be available from early next year, a third model that was also unveiled simultaneously, had heartbeats racing and a cumulative gasp of appreciation – the factory custom Jawa Perak, which would be available for Rs 1.89 lakh, but launched much later.
Both the launched Jawas are powered by a 293cc, liquid-cooled, single-cylinder engine with a double overhead camshaft (DOHC) configuration, which increases the efficiency of the engine at higher speeds, generating 27 bhp of power and 28 Nm of torque. And keeping in line with the norms of the 4-strokes, they are of course BS-VI compliant. The upcoming Perak would have a 334cc engine that develops 30 bhp and 31 Nm of torque. And as any die-hard fan of these bikes would breathlessly ask, what about the sound? Yes that very distinct exhaust note that was the trade mark of these iconic bikes… going all out to ensure that retro and classic remain the same, with the same charismatic appeal, including the sound, the word is that Classic Legends roped in an Italian designer, who designs engines for the big daddies of motorcycles MV Augusta and Italjet, to recreate the 4-stroke engine, that would give out a similar sounding grunt, unique to the Jawa motorcycles.
While bookings were already made available online, by logging onto jawamotorcycles.com on the day of the launch, new dealerships would open only in December around the country. And for Mangalore, the date is 15th December, when the showroom would open and the locals would get the first glimpse of these beautiful machines.
However, it was for two members of the local Jawa Yezdi community, who had the good luck of being invited for the launch at Mumbai. Birosh Sebastian and Yours Truly ( Shawn Fernandez) from the Mangalore Jawa Yezdi Motorcycle Club with my 6-year-old son Kian Fernandez, represented Mangalore, among the different cities to be present there and it was indeed quite an experience of listening to the introductions, hearing the experiences of the veteran racers and mechanics and their awesome achievements and checking out in person the build quality, stance and comfort of these new very tempting works of art!
And yes, being together as one from the entire fraternity or as the company puts it ‘Kommuniti’. Riders, bikers, proud owners who have come closer across the miles, all thanks to the Internet, meeting each other for the first time, since 2003-4 onwards or more…
… yep, the JAWA brought everybody closer, through their love of the same motorcycle that set hearts racing many decades ago, since the 60s!
Report by: Shawn C. Fernandez-Member, Mangalore Jawa Yezdi Motorcycle Club