Yezdi Adventure, Scrambler, Roadster Road Test Review – YEZDI’s are back !
You already must have seen a few of the all new Yezdi Motorcycles doing rounds around the city as Classic Legends began deliveries of their all new 3 offerings, the Adventure, the Scrambler and the Roadster. All these above 3 motorcycles run on a 334cc mill, yet they deliver a experience world apart. Well, Yezdi & Classic Legends has paid special attention to detail in making each of these motorcycles special and distinct right from looks, to rim sizes, to rake angles, to segments, to engine connecting rods and valve terrains to specially designed pistons with dintinct compression ratios to deliver what they deliver. I wish, they could have paid the same kind of attention to welding finishing, which at places was rough and looked ugly, when asked about, Yezdi says these are the first lot bikes, and these small niggles will be ironed out in the coming batches. Well, we ll believe you on that one team Yezdi, looking at the Classic Legends customer feedback on after sales support and service.
Design
I will tell you about the bikes all together as we go ahead. Starting with the design part for the Adventure, as the name suggests, its an offroad friendly motorcycle which looks heavily inspired from the Royal Enfield himalayan for sure with a similar 21-17 inch wheel setup. Though, this one gets a LED headlight with LED tail lamp & indicators, which himalayan misses out on. The Headlight also gets a protective grill for additional safety. The Headlight sits on a metal grill designed somewhat to what the himalayan looks, with proper protection for engine and fuel tank incase you drop it off. The radiator too gets protection in the form of a metal pipe structure covering it, the lower end of the engine gets a metal bash plate for further protection. It gets a 15.5L fuel tank with tank grips on it to make it easier for you to saddle. Paint scheme is similar to that on the Himalayan, thankfully color tones are different and are called Slick silver, Mambo Black and Ranger Camo in ascending order of pricing from 2,09,900 Rs to 2,18,900Rs for the paint scheme itself. The footpegs are straight set, giving you a very comfortable riding posture. You get this tall windshield above the headlight to deliver a good buffeting free ride. Behind that sits a adjustable digital console with viewing angle adjustment. The adjustor is made of hard plastic, which didn’t really give me a sturdy feel in the long term. The tail section is similar to himalayan, with a mudguard, Round LED tail lamp and indicators along with a small grab rail for mounting top box and saddle stays for luggage.Yezdi has made sure, you don’t need to add any accessory after you buy the bike, since anything and everything you may want, is already a part of the package, even a rear master cylinder protector, which usually other OEMs sell as accessories. Though as a package, I think it could have looked better and matured, but then again its subjective and shall differ person to person .
Moving to the Scrambler now, the front end gets a beak sticking out that screams out the scrambler intention of the motorcycle. A LED headlamp with grill as on the adventure sits above it. The scrambler gets a small windshield which adds to its scrambler looks. A non-centered single round display cosole sticks out besides the windshield making it look very attrractive. Behind it sits a cross-bar equipped handle bar ticking another box from my set of scrambler requirements. Its foot-pegs are rear set giving it an agressive riding posture. It gets a 12.2L fuel tank, with big tank grips expressing its scrambler intentions. It gets a single flat seat with a similar side panel as on the Adventure. Though the tail is clean, it gets this small grab rail on the behind below which sits the dirt type small mudguard with the round led taillamp and indicators sitting there. To guard you from all that mud that can come up, it gets this stylish tyre hugger adding to the scramblers looks as well as practicality of the product. As a package, looks cracker of a motorcycle with vibrant & 6 different colour options namely Fire Orange, Yelling Yellow, Outlaw Olive, rebel red, mean green and midnight blue starting from 2,04,900 to 2,10,900 in ascending order of color choice.
And now to the design of the Roadster variant, or the Cheapest Yezdi money could buy you today. From a far, it looks somewhat like the Jawa 42, we rode some months back from Jawa motorcycles, Yezdi’s sister concern brand. Its like history going around again. Just like Jawa and Ideal Jawa came together, the Roadster is actually a hybrid of Jawa’s and Yezdi’s heritage. The twin exhaust setup is identical on the Jawa, so are the side panel and body styling, , only difference being the fuel tank and instrument cluster. The roadster gets the 12 litre fuel tank with tank grips from the scrambler. To sum it up, looks like a Meteor competitor to me, and the way it rides, can definitely make a huge dent on its sales. It gets the Similar LED headlight unit as on the other 2 Yezdis, just the protective grill is missing out here. A small windshield over the headlight, makes the front end look complete. Behind the Windshield sits the centrally positioned instrument cluster, similar in design to the one of the scramber, but with different features. The handle bar is tall and wide, giving you a cruiser kind of look. The rear mudguard apron is large and covers the wheel completely. The Roadster also gets a backrest for pillion comfort and safety, which will appeal couples who do touring and travel together. On the front too, this Yezdi gets a single mudguard close to the tyre, clearing stating its a for-road bike only. As a whole, looking cool and quite retro styled, specially loved the color schemes yedzi offers for the Roadster. They are Smoke grey, Steel blue, Hunter Green, Gallant grey with chrome and sin Silver with chrome. The roadster range starts at 198,142Rs and goes upto 206,142 Rs.
Of the 3, I loved the scrambler, but this is just the design and looks I am considering to make this statement.
Suspension and brakes, Tyres and Ride Quality
The front gets this 41mm telescopic suspension with gators for additional protection from dust with a whopping 200mm of travel, while on the rear sits a 5-step adjustable linkage type monocross suspension with 180mm of travel. The suspensions on the adv are progressively tuned, with both the suspensions moving in tandem to delivers the right control and comfort when needed. I personally found the Adventure to be better in handling and control than the HImalayan specially in the offroad section where controlling that 198kgs with a higher CG becomes difficult, and changing directions even more difficult. While the adventure seems very nimble and easy to control and change directions just by sliding the rear wheel around. You’d always want your adv bike thats easy to manage, has a lower Center of Gravity and has good low end torque.
The 320mm disk brake on the front provides good feedback and control, while the rear 240mm disk brake provide excellent bite and feedback on pedel while in offroad mode. The Adventure gets 3 different modes of ABS, namely the Road with both ABS ON, RAIN mode with more ABS intrusion and less aggressive braking bite for those rainy rides, and OFFROAD mode where you get the liberty to slide your rear wheel around. As a whole, the ride quality and comfort along with handling and control is on spot, and a notch higher than the benchmarks set up by the Himalayan years ago. Though for proper world experience on roads in corners and ghats, I would hold my opinion on those as I feel i didn’t get enough time to explore these capabilities of the adventure.
Moving on with the scrambler now, it gets this 19-17 inch spoke type tyre combination with MRF Zapper curve tyres slapped onto them, which are semi offroad-tarmac tyres earlier seen on the CB350 from Honda.In terms of suspension, it gets 41mm forks with 150mm travel on the front, and 5 step adjustable dual suspension with around 130mm of rear travel. The overall suspension is pretty stiff, so not the most comfortable ride I’d say, but definately is fun filled once. The scrambler comes with ABS modes as on the adventure, making it a fun motorcycle to ride offroads and rainy conditions.
Braking configuration too is similar to that on the adventure and similar is the experience in terms of braking bite and feedback. Quite sufficient and confidence inspiring, through the front brakes act crazy at times in offroads, but I guess proper offroad- tyres will solve that issue of abs being too much intrusive. The scrambler gets a 100 section tyre on the front, and a 140 section tyre on the rear supplied by MRF of Zapper Curve brand, these are a size up from the other Yezdi’s in terms of tyre width. With width increasing, the tyre becomes heavy too and it can be felt specially when you push the scrambler hard in corners. The engine vibrates a lot on the scrambler, as it pushes itself hard to pull and spin that heavier rear tyre. This one aint the one you’d like to have a pillions on during rides, or would it be more appropriate if I say the pillions wont like the suspension comfort the scrambler offers. Also, cornering lovers would also want to shy away from the scrambler, since the side stand gets scrapped quite easily on the scramber, even with a 200mm ground clearance.
Surprising fact is that the roadster gets a 175mm of ground clearance, still the side stand on it dosent interfere with the fun you wanna have with it on the corners. On the front, the Roadster gets 41mm telescopic suspension just like the other 2 Yezdis, but this one gets just 135mm of front wheel travel, while on the rear wheel it gets a 100mm of travel. Clearly, this motorcycle aint built for the offroads, but for roads and highways. The suspension setup is plush and it provides good damping, ride delivered is quite comfortable as it manages to flatten out most of the bumps on the road.
The overall feedback too is good on the handle bar, giving you good confidence to push the bike. The roadster gets Road spec MRF tyres with 90 section tyre on the front and a 130 section tyre on the rear, making it more nimble and easy to control, making your ride less stressed. In simpler words, if I need to explain how much I enjoyed riding it, try riding from amby valley to lions point and back in 25-26mins and you could clearly imagine what I was doing. I was pushing it throught the corners at a good 75-80kmph, the setup inspired good confidence in corners, much more than the scrambler I’D say. Its the tighter rake angle here that makes the Roadster more controlled and nimble to control and throw around the corners, also the wheel sizes makes it more stable if what my feel is.
Overall, the ride feeling each of these 3 motorcycles offer are distinct and unique and cater to a different segment of customers. But they all offer a good experience as a whole, with adventure being my favourite for Offroad, and the Roadster being my choice of weapon for highway cruising while the scrambler would be my daily usage city bike. Each one appeals to a different part of me, which 1 appeals you more? Havent ridden one yet? Go to the closest showrooms and choose which of this legendary classic legend appeals the inner you.
Features
In terms of features, the Adventure gets dual screen cluster with a digital tachometer, odometer,clock, 2 trip meters, fuel gauge, gear indicator, distance to empty and digital speeodometer. The other console on the cluster is the bluetooth display, which displays Turn by turn navigation when connected to the Yezdi Adventure mobile app. Additionally, it also gets 2 ports for USB and USB-C type charging in the form of a seperate box sticking out on the handle bar, which could have been placed well on the instrument cluster itself, since it has a lot of unused space. There is also a side stand engine cut off which will make sure you take the stand up when ever you wish to ride.
Now about the scrambler, it gets a similar instrument cluster as on the adventure, just that its a monopod on this one. You wont get bluetooth connectivity, so no other display either. ABS modes are present, so is the dual USB charger, lighting is all LED type, though I personally didn’t like the tail-lamp and indicator design on the scrambler, its same as on adventure, but somewhat I feel something better could had been done in this department.
Now to the Roadster, its the cheapest Yezdi as I said, its also the one with least features as expected. It surely gets a dual channel ABS, but it misses out on the riding modes, the other 2 yezdis offer. Blue tooth is absent here as well, so is the USB charger absent on this one. Indicators too are Bulb type, while the taillight is the same LED unit as the other two. This one does get a Side stand cut-off featurea along with the instrument cluster features like on the other 2 yezdis.
As a whole, I felt all the features that the adventure has could have been installed and offered on the other 2 offering too, offcourse it would have added costs, but I am sure economies of scale and similar technology on all 3 bikes would have made the other Scambler and the roadster too more appealing as a package.
The Heart
Moving to the most important part of the motorcycles, the Adventure gets a 334cc single cylinder liquid cooled 4 valved engine which generates 30.2PS@8000rpm and 29.9NM@6500rpm and is mated to a smooth 6 speed gearbox. The power and torque curve for the Adventure is sharp in the lower rev range, and as you climb the revv range flattens out delivering peak performance at a higher rpm. Basically you gotta push that throttle hard if you wish to go fast, also gear ratios are short, so you gotta keep shifting between first 2 gears in offroads. There are no suprises, and the ride delivered in quite matured. The bike when pushed can easily do 130kmph on top gear, but it requires to be pushed hard in every gear to get there. The exhaust by looks will surely remind of the one of the himalayan, though this one sounds much better. The engine is noisy as on the Jawa’s are, and tends to generate vibrations on handle and footpegs as you cross the peak torque at 6500rpm. But that is something, I believe better engine oils can help to dampen out. Mileage is something we cant yet claim since we didn’t get that much time to test that. Overall, Adventure is my favourite of all 3.
Now the scrambler engine is a 334cc as the adventure, its also liquidcooled and runs with 4 valves on the top, but this one generates 29.1PS@8000rpm and 28.2Nm@6750rpm, which if you compare is 2PS less and 1.7Nm less than the adventure. The pistons and valve train is diferent here, which allows the Scrambler to deliver a unique experience. All the power and torque is delivered very steeply in the first few 1000’rpms, and then its a flat declining curve. Its make to be ridden hard, with crazy power delivery and acceleration, but a flatter mid range and an even flatter top end. The engine on the Scrambler vibrates a bit too much from the other Yezdis, since there aint much juice left to deliver in the engine in the higher rpms, the heavier rear tyre pushes the engine even more. But, the best part about this engine is its low end torque and the beautifully designed 1 by 2 exhaust design, which not just looks classy, sounds really nice too.
Now to the Roadster, Well the same 334 cc engine with liquid cooling and 4 valves again, but this roadster churns out 29.7PS@7300rpm and 29NM@6500rpm mated to the same 6 speed gearbox. This motorcycle is just a pleasure to ride on highways and ghats equally, there is power and torque delivered throughout the revv range. The power curve is flatish throughout the rev range. The lighter rear wheel allows the engine to breathe more easily and deliver more power on the rear wheel. I couldn’t stop myself from not loving the experience what Roadster offered. I was expecting it to be on similar lines of the Jawa, but this ones completely opposite. If Jawa 42 is the Angel, the Roadster’s the devil side of it, with continous supply of power from a sweet vibe free engine. The engine on the roadster loves being pushed hard, dosent vibrate or dillute the experience on higher speeds as much as the scrambler did.
For Whom?
As I See it, the adventure is designed for the touring and explorer community, who want to travel distances and explore the hidden corners no matter there is a road or not to get there. Comfort and ground clearance ticks the right boxes, so does it tick the boxes in suspension, handling and comfort along with control department. The power delivery curve too is for initial fun and top end fun, while the mid revs are flat, as you’d want from your adv tourer, power in both extreme ends of the charts.Sitting at a good 815mm seat height, most of indian customers would be easily able to ride one of these.
Moving ahead to the Scrambler, its a proper looking scrambler with short chassis, upswept exhausts, 19-17 inch wheel setup. It would definately cater to the young and style conscious sect of the customer segment.. It would make for a classy daily commute bike, easy and small, light weight and nimble, and stylish and raw looking. With a seat height of 800mm, this one would cater to a wider segment of customers with height issues and not comfortable with the adventure ride height.
Finally, the Roadster is a completely new riding experience. When I rode the meteor by Royal Enfield, it was definitely miles ahead of the experience the outgoing TBTS did, and I thought it cant get better. But, finally we have the Roadster from Yezdi, which sets new benchmarks in terms of riding experience, thrill of riding and comfort for both thr rider and the pillion.
The adventure, the Scrambler and the Roadster are 3 unique motorcycles, and Yezdi has taken great efforts to make them more unique in the experience each of these deliver. Looks like the Classic Legends are all ready to spread heritage and gather some market share from the Royal enfield’s HImalayan,Meteor, classic and the yet to be launched Scram. Ktms Adv series and Honda Cb350 and Highness, all together at the same time. The bikes look and ride good, though I’d say each one of these could have looked better, but I’d let that go, because they ride definately better.
