Jawa 42 FJ Launched At ₹ 1.99 Lakh

Jawa has expanded its 42 series of motorcycles with the launch of the new Jawa 42 FJ, honouring the man who gave birth to the brand: František Janeček. The new Jawa 42 FJ’s pricing starts at ₹1.99 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), with the most premium colour variant priced at ₹2.20 lakh. Here are the prices of all of the colours:

The new Jawa 42 FJ will go up against the likes of the Royal Enfield Hunter 350, Honda CB350 RS and Triumph Speed 400. While the Hunter 350 remains the most affordable one of the lot, and the Speed 400 is the most powerful one of them all, the 42 FJ aims to offer a neat middle ground by offering a polished neo-retro motorcycle.

In that regard, the new Jawa 42 FJ has become beefier than its regular 42 counterpart. It looks larger, more proportional, and cleaner and retains the iconic Jawa shape. The new Jawa bike gets modern touches with all-LED lighting, a fully digital instrument cluster and USB charging. It gets brushed aluminium bits like the grab handles, footpegs and fuel tank cladding that elevate its premium quotient.

Seat height remains fairly accessible at 790 mm with the 184 kg weight being decent for a motorcycle of its size. However, the biggest improvement in terms of daily riding can be noticed by the raised 178 mm ground clearance, a marked improvement over the smaller Jawa 42 that ends up rubbing its belly over gnarly speed humps.

The new dual-cradle chassis houses the 334 cc Alpha-2 single-cylinder liquid-cooled engine that makes 28.80 bhp and 29.6 Nm. Much like other Jawa and Yezdi bikes, this 42 FJ also gets gear-based engine mapping. The six-speed gearbox is equipped with the assist-and-slipper clutch. The exhaust system is upswept that gives it a rather rugged take on any road appeal.

Simple telescopic fork-twin shocks suspension setup hold up the chassis. Only the base spoke wheel variant runs on tube-type tyres while the rest give you the convenience of tubeless tyres. And on the top trims, the alloys get lovely machine finish spokes. Wheel sizes remain the same for all trims: an 18-inch front and 17-inch rear. Disc brakes are found at both ends with dual-channel ABS being standard across all trims.

Judging by how Classic Legends has gone about in 2024, the company has really worked on itself and are now finally giving us neat motorcycles to appreciate. Hopefully, the Jawa 42 FJ is in the same direction. Whether it is or not, we will verify that with a detailed road test coming soon on Acko Drive.