Upcoming Jawa motorcycle spotted testing in India, to take on Royal Enfield?

Jawa Motorcycles is all set to start its fresh innings in the country. The classic motorcycle brand along with the British BSA, are owned by Classic Legends, owned by the Mahindra Group. At this time, Classic Legends will use the BSA brand primarily for international markets and an Indian introduction isn't being discussed at this time. The upcoming Jawa motorcycle will be revealed at an event in Mumbai on November 15. And yes, team OVERDRIVE will be there to cover the event.

Little is known about the Jawa engine but the release that was shared earlier carried the essential specs. In sum, this is a 27PS, 28Nm single-cylinder engine displacing 293cc with liquid-cooling, fuel injection and a four-valve DOHC valvetrain. Classic Legends chief, Ashish Joshi told OVERDRIVE that the engine has a flat torque curve and will prove ultra-reliable. The company believes these two elements are crucial for the new motorcycle to speak to the blend of classic and sporty traits that is characterised by the old Jawas. Classic Legends also mentions that the sound tuning has been a special endeavour for the engine. Since Jawa India has all two-strokes, creating a BS-IV compliant and BS-VI ready engine that speaks with that voice was essential to the project. And the new engine promises to offer a delightful soundtrack.

The latest set of spied images that have surfaced online do give us a strong idea of the production-spec design. Interestingly, the upcoming Jawa (Should it be called the Road king?) borrows heavily from the motorcycle sold in the yesteryear. Something that will attract a lot of Jawa purists as the company has not deviated away from the classic design but has added modern bits into it. The front gets USD forks while the rear gets a conventional layout. Instead of alloys, the 2019 Jawa motorcycle rides on spokes for the old school appeal. Further, the beautiful exhaust pipes flowing out of the 293cc engine.

It gets a large single unit headlight much like the classic Jawa motorcycles. Though only the side profile can be seen, we believe that it will have LED detailing in it. The cluster is heavily covered leaving us to believe that it will have a similar digital-analog layout as on the Mahindra Mojo. It gets a muscular large fuel tank and the shape of it nice and retro, sufficient for long trips on the highways. The other interesting bit has to be the single seat finished in dual-tone tan leather with grab rails underneath. The side panel on both sides look a bit off, though we are not sure if that is the final production design or the angle at which these pictures were taken. The tail end of the upcoming Jawa motorcycle gets a nice classic fender.

From these images, it is evident that the upcoming Jawa will be a retro-styled roadster. It surely looks promising for a 300cc offering. What needs to be seen is whether the new-age Jawa will take on the most popular classic brand sold in India, Royal Enfield. Though the Jawa is a 300cc offering while the Royal Enfields come in the 350cc range, the Classic makes 19.8PS and 28Nm. Prices? Officially, there isn't any comment but a 27PS, 293cc single should fall in the Rs 2.5 to 2.7 lakh ex-showroom price ballpark ? we are expecting Jawa to select a slightly premium price rather than a Rs.2 lakh or similar price point.