[ebonho]

Originally Posted by rahulcmoulee

Yezdi Adventure First Ride Review by PowerDrift
https://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=Sv1yMma-biY

So let me get this right ....

We have a lighter, punchier, faster, more modern ADV that does not charge any premium over a long in the tooth heavier, slower ADV with a chassis that breaks like a toothpick.

Today.

But somehow CL is guilty of not moving the game on.

And yet we need to keep harping on a mythical 450 cc gen 2 that's nowhere on the scene yet.

It's embarrassing now.

Cheers, Doc

[KayEss]

Originally Posted by ebonho

So let me get this right ....

We have a lighter, punchier, faster, more modern ADV that does not charge any premium over a long in the tooth heavier, slower ADV with a chassis that breaks like a toothpick.

Today.

But somehow CL is guilty of not moving the game on.

And yet we need to keep harping on a mythical 450 cc gen 2 that's nowhere on the scene yet.

It's embarrassing now.

Cheers, Doc

Exactly. It's so absurd that I'm actually at a loss for words. What did they expect CL to do; come up with a 160 kg, 45 PS dakar rally bike ? That costs as much as a Dominar?

For perspective, let's just imagine how much Honda would charge if they were to locally manufacture CRF300 rally (not that they would ever do that).

CL should be commended for even trying to come up with a product that presents a real alterative to the old horse RE has been flogging since birth but still can't seem to remedy of its gremlins.
We will see if it trumps the RE, but to take that leap when other manufacturers are playing it safe is something to be acknowledged at least by auto journos. What we do have though is nitpicking, amplifying things that would obviously be ironed out in time and in fact dissing the company that they didn't break the market.

That's just bizarre !

[drt_rdr]

Originally Posted by surjaonwheelz

Hey Doc,
Just ride the Yezdi s and share your views, no? It'll help the forum to understand the differences. Neel already did a skillful review, not everyone will be able to do that from the word go!

The paltry couple kms of test rides that showrooms provide you is nowhere enough to make a good appraisal of vehicles. If media\youtube test rides are honest and balanced, they would then help you out when you go for your test ride, and all you have to do is verify what they say about the bike and riding dynamics. Otherwise, there would be a lot to look for and process if you're discovering it on your own.

I had a close look and a few kms test ride of the scrambler and adventure. I agree with other members who posted their impressions as far as build finish goes. Not that great. I spotted rusted screws on the exhaust, kind of meh quality of paint on the chassis, engine and exhaust, paint already rubbed off the sidestand, footpegs and brake pedals, non-uniformity in manufacturing of certain peripheral parts between different units, the screen of the instrument pod seemed flimsy and prone to scratches, switches were cheap. But, keeping in mind you're getting a competent 300cc bike for this price, these can be lived with, I think.

Now, build quality in terms of durability and longevity is a different matter from build finish. This, I cannot comment on from a mere looksee and test ride.

As far as riding went, again, I agree with the opinions that the Scrambler's the engine is gruff and the throttle needs better calibration. The engine gruffness or lack of "refinement" comes from the amount of mechanical noise it makes, but I didn't notice any bothersome vibrations or anything like that. So, I don't really care about this as long as the bike runs well. But if you compare this to the CB300R, the Honda engine is just sweeeeeet. The engine heat on the Yezdis, though, I think heat management is something that CL needs to work on, I felt a lot of heat on my legs. Also, the gearbox is not something I notice if it works well. But something about the shifting didn't sit well with me, can't articulate what.

Anyway, apart from a jerky throttle response at the low end, the bike rode just fine, atleast the way I rode today, which is with heavy doses of throttle and clutch. The power felt unimpressive compared to the CB300R, so much so that I was slipping the clutch looking for more go at some points even when I thought I was in the powerband. That's not to say this is a slow bike or anything, just that this ain't got enough poke for me. But on the bright side, the power is not overwhelming for our roads like the abortion punch to the theoretical womb-gut you get when you go WOT on the KTM 390s (really a wonder what kind of eye-bulging difference just basically 50 ccs can make to the riding experience). Then again, getting off the yezdis and getting on my Impulse felt like I was riding a bicycle. So...

Brakes lacked feel but otherwise are adequate. Bybre equipment, steel braided lines as standard. ABS kicks in too early on the rear though which is irritating. The brakes on the FZ25 and Pulsar250 are beautiful in comparison. Clutch is heavy and requires effort, but not as much as on the Himalayan.

The stiff suspension really isn't as much of a bother as powerdrift made it out to be. If you can live with the Duke, this one didn't feel bad at all. The rear did feel a bit rebound happy and bucked me off the seat over a couple small humps, but atleast the seat felt soft and comfy to compensate for the stiff suspension. The seat is roomy and seating position is comfortable.

I jumped over a few roadhumps and bad patches and this thing felt absolutely confident. I see how petrolhead_neel was impressed by this. Also felt this thing can take hits and hold up, thanks to the stiffness. Rear sus is from Gabriel. Let's keep in mind this is a scrambler, not a dirt bike or dualsport. This is a package that's built to do a lot of roads and some dirt inbetween. Stiff sus is not out of place, people's expectations are. Curb your enthsuiasm, men. Overall, I'm not gonna complain about the suspension. I think I can live with the package.

The handling dynamics felt quite friendly like typical honda, suzuki. Easy to live with, not a drama queen like Duke. The 180 kg heft is felt while parking and moving it about, especially for hopping off from my 135 kg bike. But on the move, it's quite alright and no big deal for average joe. U turns are easy. But if this jerky throttle at low revs is a feature and not a fault of the bike, then you gotta have the leg strength to keep yourself from falling when the bike stalls. I kept blipping to keep the revs from falling too low for low speed turns.

The adventure seems to be running a slightly more mellow engine tune and a softer suspension. Linked monoshock at the rear. The linkage allows more travel on the suspension. It really does one up the himalayan. It's the more gentlemanly bike among the Yezdi duo. Feels markedly more difficult to move around the parking area, but the riding feels well sorted as far as big front wheel setups go. Throttle felt less jerky but still needs better calibration, learn a thing or two from Bajaj, guys. U turns easy here too, and come with the same caveat. I think this is a great travel bike for the money if things hold up well in the long run.

Conclusions: Overall, for the scrambler, not overly impressed, but far from underwhelmed by the ride. I've not got much to complain, would gladly have taken a chance on this if it came in 20 kgs lighter. The looks, though, killer for the price, to say the least. And the Adventure seems to be quite the well rounded package for the price. I'd anyway pick this over the Himalayan if I had to choose. But I'm not buying either, safe to say.

And even though the grunt is a bit lacking for me, honestly, power doesn't account for much at the end of the day, rideablity does. These bikes seem to be enjoyable packages if CL sorts out the low rpm throttle hitches. Then again, the older KTMs and CB300R feel jerky too.

These are just my impressions based on a few kms of roads and bad roads. Take it with salt per your taste.

[Nilesh5417]

So I got new tyres for my bike last week of Jan and decided to ride around a bit and stopped by at the Yezdi showroom to check out the new bikes. The KP showroom was expecting them only in Feb btw so maybe they have the bikes now.

I didn't try the Roadster cause - I really don't know why! Just kinda ended up totally ignoring it. And I didn't try the riding modes either - i just forgot about it. This isn't a review - you could have a totally different experience with these bikes.

The scrambler looks smashing - probably that's why I ended up ignoring the Roadster. The Adv looks like a twin of the Himalayan. I took a test ride of these two.

The good things first:
- The engine is smooth, eager, revs freely. Builds up speed nicely. I managed to hit 70kmph on a longish stretch and felt planted. Not vibey either but will reserve that for a longer ride.
- Some might say Himalayan has better low end. Probably true but doesn't mean the Yezdi isn't easy to ride in traffic, you would probably use a little more of that clutch.
- The gear shifts are smooth, they slot nicely with a positive feel. As usual, the neutral is hard to slot into but not frustrating.
- The clutch is easy to operate and soft.
- The brakes are progressive, i liked them a lot. There is nothing abrupt about them. Maybe some people would expect more bite but for speeds I would do, they were very predictable.
- The screen on the ADV is good, legible in bright sunlight. Didn't fiddle around much through the menu though but all basic information seemed covered. The pod on scrambler not so useful - too busy, too small, offset to one side. I would probably ignore it except the fuel gauge.
- The adv has a USB port (type-c!) and it has been placed where it works well.
- LED headlight, looks neat. Don't know how well it works but seemed bright (Activa still has the most blinding lights though!)
- Riding / seating stance on the Adv is amazing. The foot pegs, the handlebar, the brake/gear lever - it all seemed well placed. Completely felt at home from get-go. So much that I took it over a broken footpath true puneri style. Seat seemed comfy but true judgement should be reserved until after a long ride.
- Suspension on the Adv is comfy - didn't break a sweat when I got off that broken foot path. I won't be jumping off here and there esp off-road. On bad roads that i expect to encounter, the Adv won't break a sweat I feel.
- The scrambler is not as plush as the Adv but isn't meant to be either. So if you ride them back to back, you would find the scrambler stiff. The adv gets an adjustable mono-shock at the rear i think?
- The stock screen on ADV might work - am 5'9. But need a longish ride to be sure.
- The mirrors on ADV seemed better than the round ones that come on Himalayan. Better visibility I felt - didn't get a chance to see if they become useless with vibrations as you hit crusing speeds. The ones on scrambler should just manage to do the job.
- The 6th gear is a plus - didn't get to cruise but it should help the engine run relaxed at cruising speeds.

The not so good and the bad things:
- Doesn't have much engine breaking. I wouldnt rely too much on downshifting to slow down esp downhill.
- The fit and finish seems poor. The plastics used all around seem ok, not sure how durable. But the quality of black paint on the engine / gearbox casing / exhaust was poor. No where close to the Himalayan. And nope, no chance of getting the chrome or aluminum finish. The fork gaitors were so poor that it's hard to imagine Yezdi fit them on a bike costing upwards of 2lakhs!
- In general, the Himalayan and Meteor seemed leagues ahead when it comes to paint quality and general fit-finish.
- Exaust note - i personally don't think it's anything worth paying attention to esp on small bikes. And nothing really exceptional about the Yezdi either.
- If they have changed the engine characteristics on the Scrambler vs. the Adv, at least I didn't notice. They felt no more or less eager over one another.
- The Adv navigation seems not very feature rich. Just some arrows. Missed opportunity here I feel but I didn't fully try it so would like to give it a try.
- The scrambler looks hot, the performance seems acceptable but just couldn't feel at home on it. Maybe it's just me but I could sense myself not riding it to test it as much as i did in the Adv.
- Wonder what's with that sloping seat on the scrambler. It's not as if pillion is going to fall off if you accelerate. I just didn't understand why would Yezdi give it that slope.
- Why couldn't Yezdi make the Adv look different from the Himalayan. That makes the difference in fit and finish even more in your face - no where to hide!
- The staff at Yezdi hardly bothered to come along and explain the features. The security gaurd had the keys to the bikes.

You would have noticed that there is more good to say about the Yezdi triplets than bad. And that in itself i feel is no mean feat. I also think it's a really smart move from Yezdi to launch all 3 bikes together. But am not sure if i would feel comfortable actually betting my money on any of them yet. Only if CL had paid attention to their fit-finish, i would have probably not been reminded of the issues that the owners of the Jawa 42 had to face. I think I will take a couple of more test rides for sure to get a better sense of these bikes and hope that we get positive feedback from the early owners about them holding up good.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by Nilesh5417

So I got new tyres for my bike last week of Jan and decided to ride around a bit and stopped by at the Yezdi showroom to check out the new bikes. The KP showroom was expecting them only in Feb btw so maybe they have the bikes now.

Nice review Nilesh. So is that your Ducati in the photos?

Cheers, Doc

[sukiwa]

Originally Posted by ebonho

So is that your Ducati in the photos?

Yes Doc, that Ducati monster belongs to Nilesh.
You are missed in Pune motorcycling circle, enough of pedal power in last few years. I will ask Surja to talk with you when you two meet this week.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by sukiwa

Yes Doc, that Ducati monster belongs to Nilesh.
You are missed in Pune motorcycling circle, enough of pedal power in last few years. I will ask Surja to talk with you when you two meet this week.

Lol thanks man. As I recall, you were the original pedal power.

The reason I asked is that it's always nice to know what bike a guy rides as his own personal ride when reading a review.

Which is why I personally give a lot more credence to rider reviews than juorno/media reviews.

The latter are also riders. That's how they started off at least. But when you keep hopping on and off hundreds of bikes day in and day out, as part of your day job, the lines often get blurred.

Then of course is the issue of bias whenever industry and it's network are involved. In any field. Including my own. No different.

Cheers, Doc

[drt_rdr]

Originally Posted by ebonho

So let me get this right ....
It's embarrassing now.

Originally Posted by KayEss

Exactly. It's so absurd that I'm actually at a loss for words...

Yeah. Seems like it's better to ignore media reviews at this point.

When Zigwheels man says the bike is vibey at 100 in top gear compared to the Himalayan, I just don't know how to believe him. We are talking about the same mojo engine that can cruise at 110-120 without stress, right? Now, it's suddenly more vibey than a RE at 100? Did CL mess up the engine or its press relations?

And though they seemed honest in pointing out the bike is faster than the himalayan as far as acceleration figures were concerned, they just had to make a special category just to show off the himalayan's supposed strength, 60-100 in top gear. Who gives a shit how slow the bike goes in the overdrive gear. You want speed, downshift and blast off.

Only real rideability issue I see is the low rpm tractability. No arguing Himalayan's got it beat in terms of ease of use. But it's not a big deal from the overall perspective.

There's much better things to nitpick. For example, how CL is tooting its own horn with the "Legendary Yezdi" and such stickering tomfoolery. Who are they kidding? These are no legendary yezdis, these are just hybrids of the Indian imagination and business savvy. This reeks of quick cashgrab by playing the Indian rider's heart like a fiddle. I hope people go into the showrooms knowing that this yezdi and the yezdi of yore have little connection but the name and some styling cues.

The overall paint quality is disappointing and I hope that's just a cost cutting measure made to offer the other nice things the bikes come with for the price. I hope the bikes turn out to be well engineered for the long run and they sort out niggles quick. Considering Mahindra has a controlling share in the company, I think that hope is not out of line.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by drt_rdr

There's much better things to nitpick. For example, how CL is tooting its own horn with the "Legendary Yezdi" and such stickering tomfoolery. Who are they kidding? These are no legendary yezdis, these are just hybrids of the Indian imagination and business savvy. This reeks of quick cashgrab by playing the Indian rider's heart like a fiddle. I hope people go into the showrooms knowing that this yezdi and the yezdi of yore have little connection but the name and some styling cues.

To be fair, CL is a venture between 3 old school bikers themselves. Just because they are very rich or very famous on their own hard work and merit does not take away from the fact that it's 3 bikers who have gotten together to breathe life back into legendary brands of their youth.

If it works for Royal Enfield when Sid Lal young debonair richie rich son of tycoon rides into Arambol with a bandana on the then as yet unlaunched LB 500 circa 2004, then it should work for Mr Mahindra and Mr Irani as well in 2022.

Unless what's sauce for the goose isn't sauce for the gander.

After all, what's remotely Bullet about the RE bikes over the past decade except for the paint schema and tinwork shapes?

Cheers, Doc

[drt_rdr]

Yeah, have to agree there. And RE's done its share of rebadged goods in the past as well.

Still, it doesn't stop me from cringing when I see the "Legendary Yezdi" sticker and the "1936 scrambler" or something like that on the bikes.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by drt_rdr

Yeah, have to agree there. And RE's done its share of rebadged goods in the past as well.

Still, it doesn't stop me from cringing when I see the "Legendary Yezdi" sticker and the "1936 scrambler" or something like that on the bikes.

Nothing a good hairdryer and some patience cannot solve.

At least CL have taken the extreme pains and investment into the R&D and tooling to make sure the Mojo/Perak engine is housed in period perfect Yezdi shaped engine casings.

The same died in RE with the UCE and everything after that, looking like a mishmash of gearbox and sump casings of all old British bikes put together.

Cheers, Doc

[drt_rdr]

Not a vintage connoiseur, so I can't tell if its period accurate or even which bike it's inspired by. But yeah, points to CL for the distinct faux-air cooled appearances on both the Jawas and Yezdis. But the Yezdis could definitely use more chrome.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by drt_rdr

Not a vintage connoiseur, so I can't tell if its period accurate or even which bike it's inspired by. But yeah, points to CL for the distinct faux-air cooled appearances on both the Jawas and Yezdis. But the Yezdis could definitely use more chrome.

I'm not talking about the top end ... which is totally different.

I'm talking about the bottom end rectangular period perfect engine casings on both sides.

For those complaining about paint or weld quality (no plastics I can recall), you should have seen the Yezdis of the 90s.

If you want a retro classic, embrace the look fully ....

Cheers, Doc

[i_rock098]

Originally Posted by ebonho

To be fair, CL is a venture between 3 old school bikers themselves. Just because they are very rich or very famous on their own hard work and merit does not take away from the fact that it's 3 bikers who have gotten together to breathe life back into legendary brands of their youth.

If it works for Royal Enfield when Sid Lal young debonair richie rich son of tycoon rides into Arambol with a bandana on the then as yet unlaunched LB 500 circa 2004, then it should work for Mr Mahindra and Mr Irani as well in 2022.

Unless what's sauce for the goose isn't sauce for the gander.

After all, what's remotely Bullet about the RE bikes over the past decade except for the paint schema and tinwork shapes?

Cheers, Doc

You really hate RE with a passion don't you? Like almost every post somehow ends up with how RE is a piece of metal crap.

If you don't mind I would really love to read about what made you hate them so much that you would spend so much efforts in terms of critisizing them every chance you get especially in a thread which is not even about RE.

Whats up with the RE obsession?

[drt_rdr]

^^ My friend, Chill.

Everyone's entitled to their opinions. The man's expressed his because the context called for it. And I don't see a word of untruth there.