Jawa Yezdi Encamp - A Weekend Ride To Rajasthan

When I was told I’d be going on a ride with Jawa and Yezdi to the brand’s Encamp in Rajasthan, I was a bit ecstatic. This ride would be my first time riding over such a long distance and I was filled with excitement and a bit of nervousness as most of my riding has been restricted to the cityscape. 

Before the ride, I was curious as to which motorcycle would be offered to me by Classic Legends and my steed was a spanking-new Jawa 42! Although I have a classic Yezdi in my garage, I was looking forward to the performance of this modern Jawa in our ride. 

I thought it would be a great companion on the trip. The 42 isn’t a quintessential retro roadster like a Royal Enfield Classic 350, it’s more like a modern motorcycle dorning old clothes. It looks stunning but it isn’t really comfortable in any sense. The seat is too hard and the riding position felt a bit more committed than a RE Classic. More about the bike later.  

Since I have a soft spot for classic bikes, I was hoping to spot a few classic Jawa and Yezdi models and I wasn’t disappointed. Out of close to 100 participants at the Jawa-Yezdi Encamp, there were three classic models present. A 1969 Jawa 353, a 1979 Yezdi Model B and a 1983 Yezdi Classic were the star attractions for many. While my classic Yezdi is in a dilapidated state, unfortunately, looking at these old-timers being in attendance, it has rekindled my motivation to restore my bike soon!

We started from Delhi around 9 am intending to reach Amarsar in Rajasthan, the campsite, by 2:30 pm. The convoy consisted of multiple Jawa 42s, Jawa 42 Bobbers, Yezdi Roadsters and Yezdi Adventures. On the way, the convoy was riding at moderate speeds since there were a lot of first-timers and that led to huge delays in reaching our destination. We only managed to reach by 6 pm and as a consequence, we missed out on participating in the slow-bike race. The night ended with a barbeque, bonfire and dinner.

The next morning, I was adamant about not missing out on the off-road trail and I knew it would be challenging to tackle the sandy trail with the roadster I had. And I only felt the consequences the next morning; a sore derriere and a bad back. Nevertheless, the trail was entertaining and surprisingly, the old-timers managed to be more adept at it than their modern counterparts, no wonder every HR is behind an experienced candidate! Post the trail, we headed back and this time we managed to be slightly quicker, reaching back to Delhi in just five hours. 

Now a bit about the Jawa 42. It is a nice bike to look at, it ticks all the right boxes for a retro-modern motorcycle but it has some letdowns. The biggest one is the seat as it was the sole reason for the aforementioned sore derriere. Jawa needs to improve this as the suspension setup is fine but comfort takes a back seat (pun intended). The engine is tractable and has a wide powerband. Talking about cruising, you can do speeds between 80-100 kmph rather easily but the engine vibrations are a bit harsh and I hope Classic Legends engineers can fix this as the Jawa 42 has the potential to be a good tourer. 

So, my first-ever long-distance ride was fun and has given me the bug to do more motorcycle trips. And given a choice, I would rather like to do it again on the Yezdi Adventure as I feel ADVs are better suited for touring and it will help me hone my off-road riding skills as well.