Good old Jawa memories

Guest Post
Author: Richard Route

My first memories of a Jawa was when I was around 12, I used to hang around a friend's garage who used to specialize in repairing Jawas mainly. I was fortunate to own my first Jawa bike when I was 15. It was a restoration job, picked it in a junk condition for a few hundred rupees and brought it back to life.

 

Back in the day, there were only Indian bikes. Jawa, Yezdi, Bullet and Rajdoot where the prominent ones and getting the maximum power out of them was a preoccupation of all bikers. From fine tuning, changing the front chain sprocket to increasing compression, modifications to the mufflers to get the best beats, modifications to make it look different, we have tried it all.

Richard Route with his modified Yezdi

We also used to do a lot of cross country riding and never had any problem with the bikes. The Jawa is built strong and never gives up. We did stunts, jumps, wheelies and skidding. The Jawa was an all rounder. I remember extended the swing arm and fitting an 18 inch wheel on the rear and lifted the rear end just to give the bike a racy look.

I now live in Perth, Australia and own a Kawasaki ZZR 1200 which is awesome but the excitement of riding my Jawa / Yezdi is more memorable to me.

Richard's Kawasaki ZZR 1200 in Australia

I keenly follow the BJYMC Facebook page and feel nostalgic. Can imagine the sound and feel of the bikes when you all gather for the Jawa Day celebrations. What an awesome feeling that must be. I look forward to being a part of this year's International Jawa Day celebrations (9th of July 2017) thru all your photos and videos.

All the best guys, keep riding and stay safe.

A Jawa Fan,

Richard Route

richardroute@gmail.com

Largest Get Together of Jawa Yezdi bikes in India on 12th July

Yes, the 7th International Jawa Yezdi Day celebrations in Bangalore saw the largest get together of Jawa, Yezdi and CZ bikes in the country.
Organised for the second consecutive year by the Bangalore Jawa Yezdi Motorcyle Club, the event saw over 160 Roadkings, 70 Jawas and 60 Yezdi Classics with about 30 special category bikes like the 350cc twin Jawa's & Yezdis or the rare CZs.
By 7am the Kanteerva Stadium ground transformed itself into the '80s and '90s with all these rare beauties lining up according to their category. Each one was better than the other as their owners proudly showed them off to the other participants and visitors.

Cameras came out of the pockets and people went mad trying to get the right shot and angle to capture these unique bikes that had lined up. Media crew were not far behind as they covered the entire range and interviewed a few owners and organizers.
By 8.15am the registration counter had already run out of special Jawa Day T-shirts and stickers but requests kept pouring in. Soon the crowd was overwhelming and it was time to ride out to our destination Channapatna Coffee Day.

Ace Rallyist Chinnappa did the honor of flagging off these bikes which rode past MG & Brigade rd before connecting the Town Hall - Mysore Rd flyover. From here it was non stop ride to the destination which was about 75kms from the city.

By 11am most of the bikes had reached the coffee day on mysore rd and the riders went around admiring each others machines over a cup of hot coffee and some masala dosas. After another round of photographs, the riders returned back to Bangalore by 2pm with precious memories to last a lifetime.

Special thanks to the sponsors - Progressive Mines n Minerals for the venue and GreatEscapes Bangalore (A Travel Advisory Services Company) for the memorable Jawa Day Stickers.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures posted here and do share your comments.


for The Bangalore Jawa Yezdi Motorcycle Club

(From R to L - Lokesh, Brian, Amrit & Sam)