Handling and ride-quality wise, both the bikes are identical. The front and rear suspension are set on the firmer side, which means that on ultra-smooth roads it provides decent ride-quality. However, on slightly bad roads to proper dirt paths, the ride quality becomes bumpy as every little undulation filters through to the rider. The rear suspension is adjustable but, despite being set to the softest setting, the bike still felt quite firm. One would expect the handling to be quite good given the fact that the suspension is firm, but that wasn’t the case with both the bikes. It feels quite lazy to turn in and I did feel the front-end twitching at times, which doesn’t really inspire any confidence to push the bike hard into a corner. The main reason why the bike doesn’t really handle that well is because of the design. The new Jawa features a taller 18-inch front wheel and a smaller 17-inch rear wheel. This shifts the weight from the front to the rear. When the rider sits on the bike, there is a greater load on the rear than on the front, which makes the front light and also the reason why it twitches. If Jawa address the weight-bias issue, the bikes will certainly handle better.
Leave a Reply