2018 Jawa Special 350cc cafe racer: Picture gallery

Czech-brand Jawa has just introduced the 2018 Jawa Special 350cc cafe racer in the European market. The motorcycle is essentially a fully faired, retro motorcycle designed to capitalize on the cafe racer craze that’s sweeping most parts of the world. The motorcycle is built around a 397cc, single cylinder, four stroke, air cooled engine sourced from Chinese supplier Shineray.

This motor makes 27.6 Bhp of peak power at 6,500 rpm and 30.6 Nm of peak torque at 5,000 rpm, enough to give the Jawa 350 Special enough pep to reach a top speed of 130 Kph. As of now, there’s no word if Mahindra – the Jawa brand’s selling rights holder for South East Asia, will launch the Special 350 in India.

Key styling features on the Jawa Special 350 cafe racer include a long fuel tank, a ribbed seat with cowl, a plexiglass half fairing, and engine fairing, satin finished frame, chromed front and rear mud guards, spoked wheels and clip-on handlebars. Each element of the motorcycle’s design comes together to give it a period-correct, retro stance.

There are two chromed exhausts running on either side of the motorcycle while the twin pod instrument cluster also gets a chrome finish. Suspension consists of telescopic front forks and twin, gas charged shock absorbers at the rear. An electric starter and disc brakes on both wheels are other concessions towards modernity.

Mahindra is likely to start manufacturing the first Jawa motorcycles meant for the Indian market by the end of this year. Instead of using mechanicals from Shineray, Mahindra is said to be considering the Mojo’s 292cc, single cylinder liquid cooled four stroke engine for the India-spec Jawa motorcycle range.

This technologically advanced engine, which also gets fuel injection, twin overhead camshafts and a four valve head, is ready available. Moreover, the cycle parts of the Mojo have been localized by Mahindra and are ready to be used on the new Jawa retro range of motorcycles. Styling is expected to be the main change on the India-spec Jawas, which are likely to be introduced here by 2019 at the earliest.