Classic Legends revives Yezdi
The trend of reviving deceased bike brands has spread beyond the obvious global names with the relaunch of Yezdi - a big name in the history of domestic Indian-sold, Indian-made motorcycles.
Yezdi has been revived by Classic Legends, the Mahindra-owned subsidiary company behind the revival of Jawa and BSA. From 1973 to 1996, Yezdi was the name used on licence-built Jawas manufactured by Ideal Jawa in India, which had been making the Czech-designed machines since 1960. With Jawa itself now an Indian-owned enterprise, it makes sense for the Yezdi name to be reintroduced for the Indian market, although it's not yet clear whether the company will be offering it elsewhere.
Since Classic Legends has taken a very retro approach to the new Jawa range, the Yezdi brand is an opportunity to sell some less overtly old school machines; all three initial models have 17" rear wheels and are very traditional in their styling and engineering. The Yezdi Roadster is effectively a modified version of the Jawa 42, with an 18" front wheel and similar chassis and styling. The 19" front-wheeled Scrambler has a more off-road look, but similar mechanicals, while the rear mono shock Adventure, with its 21" front wheel, is a very clear competitor for the Royal Enfield Himalayan, right down to the styling and the luggage racks either side of the fuel tank.
Mechanically, all three Yezdi models use the larger 334 cc version of Jawa's single, with a 5 mm bore increase to boost capacity from the 293 cc of most current Jawa models.
