Yezdi Adventure: Test ride and initial impressions

I am genuinely impressed by what this motorcycle can do. The highlights for me were the handling and the suspension.

Thanks to the Team-BHP fan (he prefers to remain anonymous) who sent this information in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts via this Team-BHP share page!

Hey Guys,

I thought I would just pen down my thoughts on this bike and my views on it. I hope it is worthy of a post on the forum thread!

I was able to ride the Yezdi Adventure for quite a distance a couple of days ago. Must have covered ~300 km over all sorts of terrain. Here are some observations :

Disclaimers -

1. I have never ridden the Royal Enfield Himalayan for more than a few km.

2. I have ridden the KTM 390, Dominar 400, Meteor 350, Jawa 42 v2.1 and Perak on a few short breakfast rides.

3. I have done some off-roading till now. My primary riding preference remains solo highway runs and weekend rides.

With this background, let's dive into the Yezdi Adventure!

Short summary: Very capable all rounder! Excellent handling, suspension, brakes, road balance and power!

Long Summary:

Pros -

1. Build Quality - Good. Nothing broke or came off over the 300 km I put it through.

2. Suspension - Simply marvelous! 21 inchers at the front and long travel suspension at the front and rear make under construction roads, speed breakers, gravel patches and anything & everything Indian roads throw at us yesterday's news.

3. Handling - This was the biggest surprise. I got a chance to hit some ghats too during the ride. The chassis balance and nimbleness of this bike is simply brilliant! Comparable heavy bikes such as the Dominar / Mojo (and especially the Interceptor) make their weight known when attempting quick direction changes. From what I've read on the Himalayan's handling /
corner-tackling abilities, the general feedback is that the large 21" front wheel makes it a lazy handler. Not here though! I am not sure what trickery the folks at Classic Legends have done on the Yezdi Adventure, but no 21 incher with long travel suspension and 200+ mm ground clearance carrying roughly 200 kg of weight has any business cornering this easily. I was doing insane lean angles on this bike! I would even go so far as claiming that the Yezdi handles better than the KTM 390 Adventure.

4. Engine - Decent power / pickup. The 30 PS engine is rev happy and easily reaches triple digits. You can cruise all day long at 110-120 km/h. At WOT the vehicle should top out at 135-140 km/h. Off the line, torque is readily available and you find yourself at 60-70 km/h in no time.

5. Ergonomics - They're spot on for riding all day. The bike is easy to saddle too. I am 5'11" and I might just need 1" raisers for continuous saddling with this bike.

6. Instrumentation - It is clear to read with lots of information. You get a clock, odometer, trip meters (A & B) AFE (Average Fuel Efficiency) and DTE (Distance to Empty). I did get to try the navigation too. The speedometer also has brightness control and tilt adjustment.

7. Brakes - Excellent feel and do the job of stopping well - comparable to what I've experienced on the Dominar / Meteor / Interceptor.

Cons -

1. Seat is hard! - Yes, harder seats are good for long days on the saddle. But, this one could be a notch softer.

2. Windshield - Stock windshield has sufficient buffeting from windblast if you're 5'8 or shorter. Taller riders would need to add one of the extender clips or a taller windscreen.

3. Vibrations - The Mojo is the holy grail for single cylinder mills when it comes to NVH. There are barely any vibrations at 3 digit speeds on it. The Meteor 350 is also an extremely smooth vehicle and capable machine if not for the lack of power (~20hp) compared to the former.

With these two benchmarks in mind, the Yezdi Adventure falls a little short.

There are vibrations at the footpegs and under the seat as you accelerate. At triple digit speeds, you'll find some vibes at all three contact points. Enough to be noticeable, but not enough to leave you with numb hands and bum after a whole day of high speed riding on the highway. At WOT, there is an annoying under-seat resonance taking place. This resonance is also present when decelerating from triple digits.

Personally, I felt the vibrations are at par with the 390 adventure as well as the Dominar. In terms of overall refinement though, this bike is leagues ahead of the Perak.

Here's how I'd rate these bikes in refinement out of 10.

Mojo / Meteor / New Classic - 9/10

KTM Adventure - 7/10

Yezdi Adventure - 6.5/10

Dominar 400 - 6/10

Jawa Perak - 5/10

Thunderbird / Old Classic - 4/10

4. Fit / Finish - IMHO, RE has taken the giant leaps in fit and finish of their motorcycles since the Interceptor. The Meteor and Classic are very well put together motorcycles.

The Yezdi, while much better than Jawa, still has some ugly welds and splatters (under seat / pillion footrest etc).

5. Reliability - This is a question mark and only time will tell how reliable both the vehicles themselves and Yezdi's response to them will be!

Summary - I am genuinely impressed by what this motorcycle can do. The highlights for me were the handling and the suspension (in that order). Like I mentioned in the very beginning, I have not ridden the Himalayan much. But should I do so now, I doubt I will like it over the Yezdi Adventure! In fact, IMHO, this is an overall better bike than even the KTM 390 Adventure!

Some pics to follow up all that text -

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.