iF Rodgers and Hammer stein wore motorcycle nuts, their famous song’ may. weil have’ boon titled . There's Nothing lke a Twin’. Gut take hoart. Now there's hope at last for the thousands of you who are astride Yerdi 260cc ‘Road- have really done fe te larger imported engine on the basic— but slightly modified 250 Roading frame. Except for a Heath Fobinson-like rubber pad between engine bottom land frame to damp out vinra tions, mounting arrangemants are identical. At 65mm the stroke is nearly the same but the cylinder bore is reduced by 112mm to give a displacement of 343.47cc. Wheel diameters ‘re two inches larger. Tyres ft- ted are3.00x 18frontand 3.25, (or optional 3.50)%18 rear. ‘Themost striking feature, how. fever, is an impressive conical alloy casting for a new front brake, It houses 8" twin lead ance. And anenginewithanex- ing shoe ‘drum’ type anchors. tracylinder Then there Isa 12 volt AC/DC With the introduction of their electrical system, ravised hand Yexdi 350ce Twin aliveries to controls, smart new instrumen- begin from April}, ideslJawa tation, batter silencers and a (india) Put Ltd gives up-market steering damper... But a Indian motorcyclists an inter- strong family resemblance is esting new option, Allthat hey retained. The four-speed pear- Photograph bythe cute Kings”. We bet you are a titie tired of the ‘chung-chung- ‘chung’ two-stroke warble from, its one-lunged engine. But for you, tha 7-10bnp itsy-bitsy 100cc bikes may have always looked tao skinny; the ancient Bullet too agricultural... and the rorty Rajdoot-Yamaha 350 too temperamental and expen: sive. What you really yearned for was a more powerful bro- ther to your 250ce machine, A stalemate with the same no- onsense ruggedness, ral | sbilty enc ease of maintens ‘box, foot levers, eluich os: sembly, front and rear suspen. sion, rear brake, carburetor ‘and side panels are all ‘stan dard Roadkina components. ‘Styling changes are restrict ed 1 a slightly modified Tus! tank with anew lid that merci. fully clicks shud, a ribbed tall light and revamped rear end, Colours are flashier and pret tier with contrast striping. Be: Cause the wider engine casing is not easily discernible | was stopped many times during test ing by people with the curous query “...Moditied Yezci? ‘When | expiained that twas @ ‘new ‘twin’ all of them stepped back for a better Iook. Reac- tions randed from "Superb, really nice” to "So, so... the finish tooks poor.” But every fone raved over the new front brake that warked as well a8 it looked. ‘The addition of 12 vott gen ‘orator and a strong 45W/35W) headlight that ie claimed to be ‘as strong as that of a Marul! removes one of the malar bug- 2:b008 that had bedeviled the 250 Yerdi, Though this was progress ic make the battery Indispensable. But_my own Jawa has been running meri jor 20 years without one. Be ‘sides, this new 350 used up all the space in the ett side com- pertment for its rectifier, regu- [stor and mesh air intake. The toolkithas been relegatedtoan ‘awkward spot under the ceat ‘Sowhth the battary and fuse lv Ing In the right nend compart mont, the drawback was that whan | took the bike to Juhu beach where Igo jogging, !had ‘no haven for my T-shift and chappals. On the road though, the bike was fun, Stepaing up tram the ld ‘single’ the immadiata sen: sation wes of diving, sient, vibration-free progression. ‘This, thought, is what a Jawa ‘ought to feel like. The accolera- tion may not be as impressive as that ofits Japanese opposi- tion. The Rajdoot 3601s 2 more refined machine with betler quality castings and compo- nents, but this Yeedi Is ade: quate. The old dolight af heel: ing Jawas into bonds and ‘swinging through curves was intact and the added urge trom its 25 horses mace it delicious. Yet 2 ‘super-bike’ itis not. in fact ‘adequate’ is the key word to describe it. When | voices ‘doubts about the old front sus- ension’s capacity to absorb 92, DEBONATR MAY ‘87G Manufacturers: Ideal Wawa) Pvt Ltd, Mysore. COMPARATIVE DATA ON THE INDIAN Dealer } deal Motors. Bomay-—Tre co-operation ee ee regulon andcferet we S00cC BIKES fectoke was relfeshing and welcome Change rom ihe tghttsted atttudes of he Goalors of tho 1000e Japanese bikes aay a, Prieeastested —: fie 71.700, iluswe of texes, Insurance. ae ATO izes, sarderash. guards and win ion mors. renee st Typeorerane ~~ aaks ~~ atroke = atohe feetbike + Brand now. ey Mes aie, May Testeonditions —: Warm and windy. Bele) ee Zoxso gt Toaier BA ere eis on teste bed wnetirnt) seca CONT Taare ‘Spend rune were one by Kishen a0, Fu see, en ees ScraumpiontigurosweretakentySuresh Geatox ee meee Gunter fae oP Bfas tont 6 trams tont (erumstont S hscar grater dos shea tn Gackeang, foivati” esting yoemn = Re | eee See tent Hae Swany BERRIES ay 3.0018 Frant 3.25x19FroAt 3.00x16 Front nasaeraioe Ged Baer how S2oushear ason8 hear fae ot as Eecticalsyetm els Taos 2 vats Siounpn we 18.99 aici, 185 vas eo Maximum Speed 720.00 7320) iy weiht teeta teak 1809 ten verano! Fovoat ee ote a mowey i) ‘Wosbee {Sener 1aronm —_Taeomm Fue Consanpiion ‘uimediop spond 1@2ph—*120Koh—*190 kmh tsp Fur consumion st inate 200 7090 HGistinh cooks 90.95imant 22.28 matt Senay oh foo eee sao Gino Site tina ‘ecamrasontwoogh ~~ negear —rdarar ‘Win gaar Bez170OIRe28.o00rRe95,850° Genre auc) iG teen ca inner. Sundog. Spprox $520 kmeh 270 san tary tens el ‘rat ets or so okam aa Seg Shvomsngions Sout pron Sbaumeh oh nee Fe oncber fpeekney ________*}___*= Staats amare: Matin seed, acceler, ond fuel contunpton tures Stes and Eat Geatected io inrave ay 58-10% as enn loosen phd Sonar ov Sri 280 tne when ote Scr ‘om rigid mounts. (We, however.. found the flasher unit to be an Unreliable dud but were told thatan improved electronic unit was being davelnped.) A vast improvement and supcemely ‘adequate too la the new tacho- ‘cum-speacia instrument pod. With nice orange night lumina tion and lights for ‘battery ‘charging’ ‘neural’ and ‘main ‘beam’ this is an asset to the the higher spaads and bumps, Kishen Rao, owner of 8 garage which deals only in big mobkes, ‘and wha helped me testthis bike, reassured me that they were ‘adequate’ Andheshould know, for he remembers sampling similar 250 twin Jawes about 20 years ago! “The seme adjective also des- cenias the turn Indicators fitted the olg-fashioned —way—on Dika’s Weeks. But the doaeg hand levers and switch as- sembly sil look and foo! ar- chaic. Once again “adequacy” 's he word that comes to mind. ‘A novel and useful extra Is, horn button that doubles as @ headlight flasher for day or night overtaking . and after Gecades, this Yezdi has been ‘ven a steering damper. With its basic engine desian dting back to the ‘SOs, and ‘ack of features like a lube oll pump, electronic: ignition or fancy’ rotary discireed valves ‘Yezdi 350 has no preien- sions of being a ‘modern’ bik Yet its 120 kmph top speed, 100 kmph cruiseabilty and 0-60 kmph in 4.64 seconds performance stil commands attention. lis engine pokes out ‘maximum power at alow, rest- {ul 4,500 rpm. At an indicated {30 kmphit spins at alazy 3,000 ‘revs and in the same iVth gear can potter along below 30 mph in trattic! This low-speed cababilty and decent fuel ‘Sonsumption when added to the postive glamour of a “twin” Takes i agod competion for the other 360ce Indien-made bikes, ‘After throe days and a few ‘hundred kilometres on its sad- dle would sum up this Vezdi as a decent buy for Rs 21,700 (which is the lowest price ‘among comparable 960s). Whatever be their motivation, the philosophy ofits cost con scious manufacturer in up- grading a proven existing ‘model while retaining a Targe percentage of interchangeable ‘and easily avalable parts ‘makes good sense todey. Said ‘Sheray Irani (Chief Executive Officer, Ideal Jawa: “We guarantee the availabilty of Spares: everywhere.” Of ‘course. any up-to-date 2506¢ bike wil probably best this machine on almost all counts. ‘But until an Indian manufac turer puts one ofthese into pro- duction, this Yezdi 350 may ‘wellcarveoutaniche ots own. DEBONAIR MAY 87