Jawa Standard Test Ride Review

Performance – This bike gets a 293cc motor and even though it gets twin exhausts, this is indeed a single-cylinder unit. Luckily it is a liquid-cooled engine so would survive the harsh Mumbai heat. But it’s really nice to see that the brand still strives to stick to the retro look by offering fins on the engine to portray an air-cooled engine look. This powerplant produces 27 BHP and 28 Nm torque. All this kicks in early in the rev range hence the low-end and mid-range are pretty good. But unfortunately, it runs out of breath in the top-end. If you push it close to the redline, there are a lot of vibrations that kick-in from the footpegs as well as the handlebar.

Dual exhausts have a bassy note while it also brings back sweet old memories

This Jawa has a comfortable cruising speed of 60-70 km/hr but can go up to 110 km/hr without stressing much. It will, however, top out at 120 km/hr and going from nought to the ton takes about 12.8 seconds. It also gets a 6-speed gearbox which is slick-shifting but the clutch is way too hard and it bothers a lot in stop-go traffic. You could get the best fuel efficiency of 38 km/l under sane riding while we got up to 35 km/l which had quite a bit of city riding too. Overtaking at 60 km/hr isn’t much of a task but downshifting and opening the throttle a little would be necessary.

Riding Dynamics – The ergonomics are very comfortable, but that doesn’t necessarily mean sports bike handling. The Jawa weighs 170 kgs but the double-cradle frame doesn’t translate that weight to the handlebars. The straight-line stability is excellent while it also tips into corners rather easily as it has one of the shortest wheelbases. The feedback from the handlebars is good but it isn’t that confidence-inspiring. It takes a little getting used to but once you do, it is a pretty easy bike to ride. The Jawa comes with covered telescopic forks at the front and twin hydraulic shocks at the rear. The front is really good at soaking the bumps that our roads have to offer but can’t say the same for the rear. It is rather stiff and transmits a lot to the rider.

Jawa has brilliant riding dynamics while it isn’t as comfortable for a long haul

There is an option of dual-channel ABS but the bike we had for the test had a single-channel ABS unit. The 280 mm disc at the front does its job well but the rear drum brake isn’t as confidence-inspiring. The bike does loose out the rear at times on hard braking. Luckily the front ABS is not too intrusive, so bikers new to ABS systems would not have a panic moment. The front gets an 18-inch tyre with 90-section rubber while the rear is a 17-inch tyre with 120-section rubber. To maintain that classic look, there are spoke wheels which means even though the tyres are tubeless they still need to have a tube in them. They do grip decently well but the risk of being stranded due to a puncture is quite high.