[arjab]

One thing which i miss nowadays is; the ubiquitous front - hinged "quarter glass" of Ye Ole Amby's and Fiat's!
It was pretty useful in teeming rain preventing the windscreen from fogging up. As the vehicle used to age, the "quarter glass" hinges invariably used to weaken and the "quarter glass" used to "flop back" if vehicle speed exceeded 40kmph or thereabouts. Solution: use an empty "matchbox", preferably "SHIP" brand which used to slot in exactly between the fully open "quarter glass" and the window frame preventing it from flopping back!

[VinodDevil81]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

The kick gear lever combination had the unique ability to act as the clutch too. Slot in first and hold on to the "play", don't let the lever travel back. This held the clutch. It was super useful as the clutch cable used to snap quite often.

That's really cool!
I rode an yezdi once, and so am aware of the kick-lever/gear-lever combo, but I never knew this clutch function existed in the gear-lever.
Was it a feature given by the company or was it just that it used to happen this way in most yezdis as time passed, or something like that?

Anyway, thanks for sharing this interesting trivia.

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by VinodDevil81

That's really cool!
I rode an yezdi once, and so am aware of the kick-lever/gear-lever combo, but I never knew this clutch function existed in the gear-lever.
Was it a feature given by the company or was it just that it used to happen this way in most yezdis as time passed, or something like that?

Anyway, thanks for sharing this interesting trivia.

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

The kick gear lever combination had the unique ability to act as the clutch too. Slot in first and hold on to the "play", don't let the lever travel back. This held the clutch. It was super useful as the clutch cable used to snap quite often.

Another Yezdi trivia!
Yezdi had an autolube model called the Yezdi Oilking. I had separate oil tank for 2t oil and premixing wasn't required. The Oilking evolved into Roadking when they did away with the Oilking's autolube pump.

Yezdi was the only motorcycle on which you could carry a fully assembled spare wheel and use it at either the front or back end! The fully assembled spare can be mounted in place of the crash guard. If you have a puncture/damaged wheel just take out the bad wheel and install the spare

[Roomy]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

The kick gear lever combination had the unique ability to act as the clutch too.

This is a feature known as the 'Auto-Clutch' which I hear is patented and quite useful when you end up with a broken clutch cable. Also useful when you are unable to easily slot into neutral at a traffic signal and desperately need the use of your left hand.
Speaking of neutrals, the Yezdi had two neutrals, one between the first and second and the other between the third and the fourth meaning you can go into neutral from any gear in one shift.

I feel this was a rare case of the crank turning the wrong way round when we were pumping the pedal. As you know, it was a task to start the D250.

This was the case I believe with advanced timing causing the flywheel to turn the wrong way when you kick it in a particular way. Have seen lots of roadside showmen tun the bike in reverse.

Originally Posted by DRC

Ideal Jawa used to make a step through called Yezdi Colt. It also made 175cc Yezdi, 250cc variants as well as 350 cc Monarch.

The 350cc version was called the Jawa 350 Twin. It had the body of a Monarch which from a 250cc version., not entirely sure though.

The Jawa 350 is different from the Yezdi 350 as the former had essentially a Jawa chasis/tank/tyres as we know it whereas the latter was a different bike altogether. The Y 350 is much rarer to find compared to the J 350.

The monarch on the other hand is a Frankenstein of sorts as it is a Roadking in a Y 350's clothing. Ideal Jawa motors had a lot of leftover body parts from the Y 350 and they decided to plonk the Roadking engine on it. Voila, here you go. The Monarch.

However, a stock bike used to smoke too mainly because of the hot oil in the pipes . They also had a 'flute' which was a metal pipe with holes in them that could be screwed and un-screwed from the exhaust tip. This was essentially the muffler in these bikes. Remove them and you have the lovely de-acceleration hum from a Roadking.

The bike smokes even after it is switched off, probably due to the residual oil as mentioned. The note when you close the throttle is to die for, especially when you have the flutes removed, and the idle speed at a low setting.

Originally Posted by VinodDevil81

That's really cool!
I rode an yezdi once, and so am aware of the kick-lever/gear-lever combo, but I never knew this clutch function existed in the gear-lever.

It was present from the day a Yezdi was assembled.

Originally Posted by Sankar

Another Yezdi trivia!
Yezdi had an autolube model called the Yezdi Oilking.

The oil king was a failure as we Indians weren't open to the concept of a separate oil tank and proffered the good old way of premix.

Also, to avoid confusion attaching the pics of the Yezdi Monarch, the Yezdi 350 twin and the Jawa 350 twin in the order.

[DRC]

Like this thread to discuss beyond Yezdi, One more trivia associated with Yezdi.
It had something called a tickler instead of choke. It was used to run rich in cold conditions like choke. Instead of reducing the air for the same amount of petrol, this tickler spilt over some excess petrol to tweak the ratio.

[Valkyrie]

The Tata Indica, when it was launched, had almost similar styling DNA with the Fiat Palio. The reason being both was styled by IDEA of Italy, almost in the same year.
I had read this in Auto India.

Overdrive was the first automotive magazine which did road tests with testing gears, and accurately posted top speed, acceleration etc.

Also I guess, they were one of the first Automobile magazine in India to conduct long term tests. Tata Safari and Honda City were among the first cars.

As mentioned in the opening post by GTO, OEM tyres are procured at almost one third price compared to the market value. Also their QC while procurement is very strict and most of the borderline samples which didn't get selected are retailed in the aftermarket sector.

The acronym for the "NE" in Premier 118NE was Nissan Engine.

The styling elements on top of the Micra roof are there to provide stiffness and thereby allowing Nissan to reduce weight for the roof cross members.

Early Ambassador cars till the Mark III, had a slot in the front bumper to manually crank up the engine in case the ignition was not working.

In India, only the full frontal crash is a regulation, as compared to other developed countires where offset, small overlap, side, rear etc are a norm. This is the reason of most of the cars being sold without airbags and with less stuctural reinforcements too.

The reason why many facelifted cars have a logo placed in place of the side indicator is that it is cheaper to put a plastic part then to change the die for the fender. Read i10, Ford Classic etc.

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by directinjection

Never heard that before. Can you please cite the source? I have doubts about the authenticity of that info. Thanks!

I Really can't recall the source right now. If you have reason to believe that it is incorrect, I'll have it edited.

[DRC]

* There was a step through called Street from Hero. It sported 4 speed geard box cyclic pattern. Like, you shift N-1-2-3-4-N Could directly come to N from 4 and shift to 1.

* Similarly styled was Kinetic K4-100. An auto journalist (Dilip Bom, Auto India) tested it and reported it returns 104kmpl though company advertised less than that. This made it sell in quite a few numbers and many of them were disappointed
* There was a scooter called Narmada. I think manufactured by PSU Gujarat Scooters. The TV ad went like 'the scooter pulling a tractor'

[zenren]

Originally Posted by DRC

* There was a step through called Street from Hero. It sported 4 speed geard box cyclic pattern. Like, you shift N-1-2-3-4-N Could directly come to N from 4 and shift to 1.

If I remember correctly, Street didn't have clutch lever.

Another Hero Honda product during that time was Sleek. My neighbour had one and I liked the design more than the CD100 but apparently, most people didn't want it and the product flopped.

[tilt]

Originally Posted by arjab

*SNIP*

Floor-shift was available in Standard Herald's. FIAT also offered a PREMIER PADMINI DELUXE BU (Bucket Seat) with floor shift gear lever.

It was also available in the Ford Prefects, Standard 8, Standard 10 etc.

Talking about Jawas/Yezdis, the following:

1. My dad had a Jawa with leather pads on the sides of the fuel tank, and a leather thingy on top of the tank which had an ammeter and also that is where the ignition ket used to go, not on the headlamp dome. The ignition key was cylindrical, not flat.

2. Jawa/Yezdi auto-clutch, you just held the lever pressed inwards with your ankle and release it slowly. It took some practice and then it was a lot of fun. Also, because of the auto-clutch, you could shift gears without using the hand-clutch, and it you did it without closing the throttle completely, it sounded fantastic. I used to do it often at slow speeds (keep changing up and down) and try to actually "play" a tune with the engine sound.

3. The "flute" in the exhaust is called the "core" and we used to remove it so that it had a throatier sexier sound. And we also used to turn the idling completely off (meaning you had to keep blipping the throttle while in neutral or else your engine shuts off). The reason for this is, while in gear with the throttle closed (meaning, while not accelerating or maintaining speed), the engine had one continuous hum instead of the typical Jawa sound of hum-thupthup-hum-thup-hum.

Regarding the "upside down" gearshift in bikes (one down, the rest up), the old Rajdoot 175 (which was the crappy Indian version of an equally crappy Polish bike - SHL M11) was the first one to have the one-down, two-three-up.

The Rajdoot 175 also had a front-suspension that was weird - the fork used to have an elbow bending backwards towards the back of the front wheel, and it used to have shocks connecting the elbow to the front axle. Talk about brake-dive!

Cheers

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by tilt

the old Rajdoot 175 (which was the crappy Indian version of an equally crappy Polish bike - SHL M11)

Was the preferred bike of rural India.

The Rajdoot 175 also had a front-suspension that was weird - the fork used to have an elbow bending backwards towards the back of the front wheel, and it used to have shocks connecting the elbow to the front axle.

Earle's fork.

Talk about brake-dive!

??

By now was expecting some mention of the oddities like the Fantabulous and the Bond. And all the non Bullet Enfields.

Regards
Sutripta

[zenren]

Originally Posted by tilt

The Rajdoot 175 also had a front-suspension that was weird - the fork used to have an elbow bending backwards towards the back of the front wheel, and it used to have shocks connecting the elbow to the front axle. Talk about brake-dive!

Rajdoot's front fork design is called Earles fork (wiki link) and it actually reverses the brake-dive. The advantage of this design is that you won't be thrown forward during heavy braking. The usage of front brakes causes the front end to actually rise instead of compressing the shocks, preventing you from being lunged forward.

EDIT:
In case anyone is wondering what this "brake-dive" is.

If the motorcycle is equipped with telescopic forks, the added load on the front wheel is transmitted through the forks, which compress. This shortening of the forks causes the front end of the bike to move lower, and this is called brake dive. telescopic forks are particularly prone to this, unlike leading link designs.

Brake dive can be disconcerting to the rider, who may feel like he or she is about to be thrown over the front of the motorcycle.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspens...le)#Brake_dive

Were there any other bikes in India that didn't have telescopic forks?

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by zenren

Rajdoot's front fork design is called Earles fork and it actually reverses the brake-dive. The advantage of this design is that you won't be thrown forward during heavy braking. The usage of front brakes causes the front end to actually rise instead of compressing the shocks, preventing you from being lunged forward.

Is it something similar to the trailing arm types found in the Honda Activa where the vehicle doesn't dip rather raises when using front brakes?

Anurag.

[zenren]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

Is it something similar to the trailing arm types found in the Honda Activa where the vehicle doesn't dip rather raises when using front brakes?

Anurag.

Yes, its something similar. Both belong to the same family where the front wheel is suspended on a link with a pivot point.

In case of a trailing link fork, the front axle is behind the pivot point while in case of leading link fork, front axle is in front of the pivot point. Earles fork is a variation of the leading link fork.

[sschivate]

Originally Posted by GTO

• The Tata 407 was well-priced, overload-friendly, reliable, quick and had unmatched after-sales support. It singlehandedly demolished the LCV dreams of Toyota (DCM), Nissan (Allwyn), Mazda (Swaraj) and Mitsubishi (Eicher). Related Thread.

Wasn't there one Hindustan Isuzu as well?