Photographs by Classic Legends
‘It is such a bad idea, it’s brilliant,’ I blurted out as soon as I came back after my first session with the Jawa 42 FJ. Someone at Classic Legends had a bright idea of letting a bunch of journalists loose on the handling test circuit at NATRAX with almost the entire line-up of Jawa and Yezdi motorcycles along with the BSA Gold Star 650 for two days! No new motorcycles or updates to test, no ‘agenda’… this was new.
I started the session with the FJ, the only bike I had not ridden out of the entire CLPL portfolio and also the least outrageous choice amongst the other bikes using the 334cc engine. The first lap was all about understanding the track, and as soon as the ride leader broke away from the pack and went into the pits, we shot off like hounds chasing game. But, unlike the usual motorcycles meant for the track, the FJ didn’t really have the correct suspension settings or tyres. But was that going to stop me from pushing the bike and my luck? Hell, no!
The FJ was all bouncy through the corners, sometimes scraping the exhaust or the side stand. But that engine was surprisingly up for the task at hand. Belting through the straights at 125 kph, slamming down three gears to prepare for the next corner and getting back to full throttle, lap after lap, for each journalist’s 20-minute session, the engine survived through it.
I thought the Gold Star would be a good upgrade now that I was familiar with the track — good performance, more low-down torque for the tight sections and grippy tyres. So, off I went for what turned out to be a borderline-scary outing. Everything on the Goldie wanted me to go fast, and I did, clocking over 160 kph down the straight. But the tighter sections proved to be a bit challenging. Slowing down and shooting through the tighter turns felt more bouncier than the FJ, and the torquey engine didn’t help. For the next few laps, instead of treating it like a hooligan, I tried a slower, but more flowing approach, and that worked like a charm.
Would that formular work on the Jawa 350? It was the least powerful of the lot, so going really fast wasn’t on the cards. Barely 100 metres after exiting the pits, I felt this was wrong. It was running out of steam even before I approached the first corner. The straight felt neverending at the 110-kph top speed I could achieve. It was agile and easy to turn, but the moment I scraped that beautiful chrome exhaust, I decided to retire this bike, only to pick one that was even more out of place here — the Perak.
It took more than a couple of corners to get acquainted with this feet-forward low-seat setup. I was very mindful of not scraping anything on this bike, at least initially. Couldn’t do that for long, though. In fact, on the second lap, it came to a point where the footpeg hit the ground on a corner and folded, throwing my foot away from the bike. That was it for me with the Perak.
Retro motorcycles are clearly not meant for the track, and though I was well aware of this, I signed up anyway. What I did not expect was how much fun I was going to have breaking that rule. The bikes were wiggly through corners, shredding parts, sometimes feeling out of breath, but I guess all of that added to the good times. Despite their shortcomings, none of these bikes felt like they would give up on me or the stupidity I subjected them to. Two days of scraping sounds, screaming engines, and good laughs post the sessions thanking the stars… sounds familiar? Guess CLPL had an agenda, after all — a reminder of why we love riding in the first place.
