There was a time when Jawa motorcycles dominated the Indian biking scene. They were known for their power and sporty handling which made them an absolute blast to ride. Their main competition came from Royal Enfield, but most people will agree that Jawa clearly had an upper hand during those times.
A well kept examples of Jawa bike can fetch lakhs of rupees in auctions today as they are quite rare to find. One such example is what we have brought here today. The Jawa you see below is an excellent example of restoration work done to perfection. Take a good look at this beautiful bike before we get onto further details.
The bike you see above is a 1973 model Jawa 250 Type 559 (Jawa Panelka). It is owned by Devashish Jethwani who has as many as 9 Jawa motorcycles with him. Devashish is a motorcycle enthusiast and has quite an impressive collection of bikes and cars. He’s a vintage car collector and a rally organizer too. Talking of his collection, it includes 17 cars and 44 motorcycles along with 13 Scooters in total.
According to Devashish, the total time taken for this restoration work was around 11 Months. The cost of the whole job was around Rs. 1.1 lakhs, which does not include the cost of the bike. The Jawa 250 has been restored matching the original specifications. It gets all original accessories along with engine specs. an example of the level of hard work and detailing done on this bike is that the original tail light and levers was bought directly from the factory.
The highlight of this beautifully restored Jawa is its gorgeous dual tone metallic purple paint job with a touch of blue and white. The various parts covered in brass gold like the gearbox housing took 2 months to get completed (brass gold hard electroplating), which goes on to show the level of effort put into the bike. This Jawa also has a reverse operating Smith’s speedometer from the 1950’s.
The restoration work was done by Devashish and his master mechanic. His mechanic has worked for only Jawa, Yezdi and Rajdoot motorcycles for almost whole his life and has over 40 years of experience in the same. The high level of craftsmanship is evident when you look at the bike. Even a single glance is enough to mesmerize the on looker and we are sure it is among the best restored Jawa 250s in the country right now.
Recently, the Jawa brand was reintroduced in India with a total of three bikes on offer, out of which two have been launched. The brand is now owned and run by Classic Legends, which in turn is owned by Mahindra group. The bikes which are on sale are the Jawa 42 and the Jawa Classic. The Jawa 42 is a more modern take on the original Jawa bikes but retains the key family DNA. The Jawa Classic, on the other hand is a modern interpretation of the Jawa bikes of the old like this Jawa 250 featured here.
