Jawa 42 & Classic motorcycles to get dual channel ABS soon!

Jawa recently held their first media drive and review session where we got the chance to ride the bikes in real life conditions. The company launched three bikes last month and created quite a hype among the masses. The Jawa made a comeback with three bikes, the 42, the Jawa and the Jawa Perak.

After the launch, one of the main complaint people were having with the Jawa bikes was that it did not come with a dual channel ABS or even a rear disk brake. However, the company is now set to resolve that issue and has revealed that the bike will be equipped with dual channel ABS system.

This will be done during the second quarter of 2019, before the new government rules become mandatory. The new law states all new two-wheelers displacing 125cc and above will need to be equipped with ABS from April 1, 2019 onward. This will make the already great Jawa bikes even more better.

However, the dual channel ABS equipped variants would get a price bump of around Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 15,000. The current prices of the Jawa are bang in middle of the Royal Enfield territory. The Jawa 42 is priced at Rs 1.55 lakh while the Jawa will set you back by Rs 1.64 lakh (both, ex-showroom Delhi).

The third bike in the company’s portfolio, Jawa Perak already has these features but it has not been made available yet. Also, it is priced at Rs. 1.80 lakhs and will be India’s first affordable Bobber motorcycle in regular production. Both the Jawa and the 42 are powered by a 293 cc single-cylinder, liquid-cooled engine that is tuned to produce 27 Bhp of power along with 28 Nm of peak torque.

The engine is paired to a 6-speed gearbox and is BS VI ready along with a catalytic convertor in place. The Jawa Perak, on the other hand, uses the same engine as the Jawa and the Jawa 42, but has a bigger bore. It displaces 332 cc and churns out 30 Bhp of power along with 31 Nm of peak torque.

The bike features a 280 mm disc brake up the front and a 153 mm drum brake set-up at the rear. Because there is no disc brake at the rear, the bike comes with only single-channel ABS. However, at its price point a dual channel ABS would have made more sense, especially since the bikes are powerful enough to do high speed runs.

Also, its main competitor Royal Enfield has updated the whole model lineup with dual channel ABS system. Therefore, it has  become a necessity for Jawa to do the same in order to stay competitive enough. If the company keeps the difference between single channel and dual channel ABS bikes at or under Rs. 10,000, it would lead to more people choose the safer dual channel setup.

Moreover, dual channel ABS set-ups are more safe than single channel ABS units, and are a lot more effective in real world conditions. It’s a good thing that Jawa is not compromising on one of the most important safety feature that a motorcycle can have.