NGC Jawa Motorcycle resurgent

[drdwb]

If interested in Jawa motorcycles follow link. Good story, at least someplace on earth there is a lust for our favorite transportation.


https://jalopnik.com/mahindras-jawa-motorcycles-are-selling-way-faster-than-1834189029

[Lannis]

If interested in Jawa motorcycles follow link. Good story, at least someplace on earth there is a lust for our favorite transportation.


https://jalopnik.com/mahindras-jawa-motorcycles-are-selling-way-faster-than-1834189029

Hard to get excited about it.   "Mahindra" also owns the BSA name, and are starting to make bikes they are calling "BSA"s with the same sort of modern single-cylinder motor ... and nothing about the bike has anything to do with the old Birmingham Small Arms bikes.

They apparently own the "Jawa" name too, and so are making generic "Mahindra" bikes and slapping a "Jawa" badge on the tank, even though it has no link whatsoever to the old Czech Jawas that we remember.

They may be competent, popular motorcycles, but I can't understand why folks think it's such a great thing to slap a Jawa or BSA or Gilera or whatever name from the past on them ... ?

Lannis

[Sasquatch Jim]

 Because it helps them sell.  Would you buy a Mahindra motorcycle?

[Lannis]

Because it helps them sell.  Would you buy a Mahindra motorcycle?

I considered buying a Mahindra tractor, but they've gotten so popular that the price is the same or higher than the equivalent Kubota I ended up buying.

I'd consider buying a Mahindra motorcycle if they had one that filled a gap in my fleet, although there would have to be a good dealer behind it.   But the "marketing" ploy of sticking a BSA or Jawa name on a generic Mahindra just to sell it, wouldn't sell one to ME.

But that's just me.   I'm not the 100 million people they WILL sell one to, folks who have never seen or ridden a real Jawa or BSA ....

Lannis

[drdwb]

My interest in the story was the number of bikes they are producing and selling. I’d really like to see a resurgence of interest in entry level bikes. A lot of us eventually got into our beloved Guzzi’s after starting on  70 and 80s Japanese bikes, probably some old British ridders also. In rural Mn seeing a BMW or Guzzi was rare,usually when touring out of state or in the Twin Cities metro area. The more I rode and met riders of these exotic bikes my interest increased, eventually leading to purchase and now owning 4. I have no intent on selling ours,I appreciate and have enjoyed the experience of learning how a well sorted Guzzi feels on the road. This all started from our entry level bikes. I don’t see a lot of younger folks getting into bikes in my area. I think part of it is the younger generations interest in electronics, and the cost of new entry level bikes. I know there are lots of used bikes out there to be had for little money, but most the younger folks I meet ( teens to 30 something) have little mechanical skills to restore or maintain, or interest in an older bike. So getting more younger people into cheap starter bikes would eventually revive the interest in our classic bikes and perhaps stabilize or increase the value of ours. Just my thoughts on ways to fix the world. Maybe not maybe were like dinosaurs and riders like us are a dying breed.
Dave

[Tusayan]

Jawas are still made in the Czech Republic as well.  Interestingly to me they still produce a two-stroke twin 350, and somehow sell it despite emissions regulations in the EU.   I have no idea how that is possible.

http://www.jawamotorcycles.co.uk/retro.html

[Lannis]

My interest in the story was the number of bikes they are producing and selling. I’d really like to see a resurgence of interest in entry level bikes. A lot of us eventually got into our beloved Guzzi’s after starting on  70 and 80s Japanese bikes, probably some old British ridders also. .......

 ..... So getting more younger people into cheap starter bikes would eventually revive the interest in our classic bikes and perhaps stabilize or increase the value of ours. Just my thoughts on ways to fix the world. Maybe not maybe were like dinosaurs and riders like us are a dying breed.
Dave

I agree 100% with all of that and I'm all for getting people riding on cheap starter bikes, from whatever source.   And I suppose it doesn't matter what name the maker puts on them.    Mahindra, for example, could call their next 175 a "BSA Rocket III" if they want.   It's just that to us who remember riding the originals, it seems like a cheap marketing ploy .... and sort of "cheating", since the new bikes have 0.0 to do with the originals ...

Lannis

[JJ]

C'mon now...these are way cool!  I want one!!

[Siamese]

Thanks for posting.  That's interesting.

Certainly intriguing.  I want the red one.  Nice looking engine...wonder if it's smooth. 

Must be the Jawa name means more in Europe, as it doesn't mean much here.  There are plenty of riders here in the U.S. who have never heard of a Moto Guzzi, and certainly not a Jawa. 

[Lannis]

C'mon now...these are way cool!  I want one!!

I'd have one in a second if it were possible to import one .... Two stroke twins are the bikes I started out on, and would make good ones to finish up on someday ....

Lannis

[Roebling3]

It's a 2 stroke! Yes, it is smooth running. If it were not for VT I wouldn't be running 3; one being a Gilera (not the fast one, the unusual one.
   R3~