The Kind of Response Every Motorcycle Company Wants
Jawa recently released two new models. The one-time Czech company, now owned by Classic Legends Private Limited, a subsidiary of Mahindra and Mahindra, seems to have struck motorcycle gold. Its two new models sold out until November without the company even rolling one motorcycle off the assembly line.
The company set up a site for people to preorder the bikes, but after overwhelming demand, Jawa took it down. Some of the people who did manage to preorder bikes will have to wait until September to get them and the two models are sold out up to November of 2019.
Jawa wanted to sell 90,000 bikes a year, and by the looks of things, it should be able to. Demand for the motorcycles is high. Buyers in the Indian market where the bikes will be sold want an alternative to the classic 300cc Royal Enfields that have dominated the market.
Small, Efficient, and Highly Sought After
Jawa has a long history in India, which is probably one of the reasons they preorders went so fast. The new bikes, the Jawa and the Jawa 42, stick close to the classic formula. The bikes come with a new 293cc single cylinder, liquid-cooled engine that makes 27 hp and about 20 lb-ft of torque.
Mated to that engine is a six-speed transmission. The bike gets a twin exhaust, rear drum brake, front disc brake, and ABS is available. The bike also has a 3.7-gallon tank and gets almost 95 miles-per-gallon, meaning it would be an inexpensive bike to operate. It has a top speed of 80 mph. Speaking of inexpensive, the bike starts at about $2,170 for the base Jawa and $2,300 for the Jawa 42 once you do the conversion from rupees.
The models are bikes built for efficiently getting you around, and looking super cool while doing it. Jawa doesn’t seem to have plans at this time to bring its bikes to the U.S., but I wish it would. Although the price would probably go up for the U.S. market due to the cost of shipping and importing, I would love to see a lower-priced classic alternative to what’s out there currently.
These look like killer little bikes. I’m a sucker for cool-looking low displacement machines, though. I doubt the response in the U.S. would be anywhere as positive in the U.S. With that said, more and more small displacement machines show up on motorcycle showroom floors. I would definitely consider dropping a few grand on one of these.