You Have to Become One With The Beast You Are Riding

We believe the first thing a motorcycle should have is that it should appeal to the rider, and the rider and the motorcycle should be as good as one, says Boman Irani, Founder of Classic Legends in an exclusive interview with Deccan Chronicle.

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Kerala has been chosen as the national launchpad for Yezdi’s 2026 range. Does this signal a bigger shift in how Yezdi will prioritise regional riding cultures over metro-centric strategies?

The South of our country has a special place in motorcycle riders’ hearts. You have everything here, from the sea to the mountains, forests and beautiful winding roads.

Kerala, especially, has a very strong riding culture. Karnataka and Kerala have a strong community of riders who enjoy their machines, love them, understand quality and appreciate the finer nuances of motorcycling.

We are also at the beginning of a beautiful festive season. It starts with Onam in August and builds towards the festival season that India will see going forward, with Ganpati and then Diwali.

Our three new launches have been designed for different kinds of riding. The Scrambler is one of the most beautiful machines, in my mind. It can take you through city streets, highways and terrain where there are no roads. The Adventure is meant for a long trot. If you are visiting the mountains or riding 300 to 500 kilometres a day and want to see the countryside, that is the motorcycle you might want to ride. Of course, you can ride it to the office as well. The Roadster is more of a city bike, but it works very well for intra-city riding too.

Roadstar- Green Mamba

The Alpha2 engine powers both the Roadster and Adventure, while the Scrambler gets the katar engine. Katar is a fine Indian knife that was made for short, powerful punches. The engine fits that character. It has beautiful low-end torque, great acceleration and a great feel when you are riding where there are no roads at all.

Yezdi motorcycles have also featured prominently in Malayalam cinema. What do you make of that connection?

In South India, passion is seen in everything people do. We have watched South Indian movies and even when we did not understand the language, there was so much colour, action and drama around them.

We are fortunate that our riding brethren in the South have always loved what Yezdi stood for. Yezdi has stood for a personality, something that helps you build your emotions.

They say you first get the motorcycle, the Yezdi, into your life and then the Yezdi shapes your life. You become more adventurous by spirit and more outgoing.

Malayalam movies have always portrayed a hero with his fantastic steed, and that steed has often been the Yezdi. We are very happy that it has always been the Jawa and Yezdi, and I can tell you that more of our motorcycles will be seen in other languages as well in the future.

If riders could vote on the next most requested upgrade after tubeless cross-spoke wheels, what do you think would top the list?

We have continuous engagement with riders. As we progress, we have moved from instinctive and aggressive riding to more cultured, technology-aided and sophisticated riding skills.

Tubeless tyres are a great way of knowing that you will be able to go on longer. You are less susceptible to punctures and even if you have one, there is an easier way to fix it. So it is an upgrade in that sense.

We already have ignition with a button start. In the old days, you had to kick the motorcycle to life. There is also a lot more navigation technology coming onto motorcycles.

Given what we are doing in our country by building so many new roads and routes, people want navigation to be handy. Going forward, a small portion of riders may also start preferring gearless rides. Let’s see when that happens.

Today, our customers are extremely driven by the fact that our motorcycles are super hardy, super safe and malleable in terms of individual styling. They are looking for more and more oneness with the motorcycle. Their personality has to be reflected in their steed as well.

If you look at the Adventure, it is like a hockey goalkeeper, fully kitted up, totally safe and still extremely powerful as a motorcycle. That shows the connection people have with their motorcycles, what they look for in them and how their personalities come together.

As a company, we are definitely working towards more finesse for riders who are looking for it, while keeping the classic lens. Classic is where design sensibility is, where excellence and time are given to the machine. We believe we are on the right path towards greater growth in the future.

Yezdi has leaned into names like Yellow Falcon, Green Mamba and Grey Panther. Are you building motorcycles with personalities rather than simply product variants?

The product has to speak for what it is. When we are designing, our engine on the Scrambler is named Katar because it has the essence of that short Indian knife used for fast, powerful attacks at close quarters. It was a very capable dagger that has its place in history.

That is how Katar sits on the Scrambler. You have to give a characteristic to the motorcycle.

When we talk about the untamed, we are talking about your wilder side that comes out of the machines you ride. By wilder side, I mean the more spirited side of you.

So yes, our motorcycles do reflect a bit of that personality. The Adventure is something that will help you soar very high. The Green Mamba is about speed, agility, good looks and the ability to take the twisties.

Each motorcycle is given its own identity so that you can identify with it and become a part of the ride.

Scrambler- Rey Panther

As EVs dominate conversations, are you deliberately betting that emotion and adventure will outlast the industry’s obsession with electrification?

There is definitely a move towards electrification that our nation is thinking about. But that is still some time away. We will see it happen faster in cities. Perhaps larger automobiles should go electric faster, such as buses and trucks, because that part of the network may be easier to manage.

As far as ice engines are concerned, I believe they have a very long life ahead of them. Ice engines have become much cleaner and leaner today, and our machines are standing testimony to that.

To enjoy riding in the mountains, where there are no roads or across the countryside, it becomes easier, more convenient and, I would say, better for people to continue with ice engines.

There is also the emotional connection people have had with these engines. They have a long, long way to go.

Yezdi is built as much by its riders as by the company itself. What is one customer suggestion that genuinely changed your product roadmap?

These machines are not built by just any businessman. Anupam Thareja (co-founder, Classic Legends), and I are both riders. As riders, we can connect with other riders and we are constantly listening to what the present-day rider needs.

At the same time, our own riding instincts and experience allow us to pick out the finer nuances of what makes a good motorcycle.

We believe the first thing a motorcycle should have is that it should appeal to the rider, and the rider and the motorcycle should be as good as one.

This is true of horse riders too. You have to become one with the beast you are riding. That is exactly what one feels when one sits on a Yezdi motorcycle.

The other things a rider looks for are reliability, ruggedness and a go-anywhere feel because you want to be king of the road. Whether there is a road or not is for you to make.

Our riders are looking for something rugged, something that matches their identity and allows them to become one with the machine. They want the feeling of being able to hug the corners if they are on a Roadster, take on any terrain or climb if they are on a Scrambler or Adventure, and simply enjoy the ride with the wind in their face and all the elements around them.

I was looking at the beautiful greenery that has come up in Kerala because of the rains and said that maybe it is time for us to take a ride out here.

Yellow Falcon-ADV Tubeless

With a target of 700 touchpoints, how do you ensure Yezdi grows like a community-led brand and not just another large dealership network?

Jawa motorcycles have created communities in many parts of the world, and Yezdi and Jawa have that community in India. We have at least 19 very active riding clubs and many more that are smaller in nature.

We have the good fortune of interacting with these people. They look forward to us launching the next series of motorcycles that they can call their own.

They have a bit of history with them, while at the same time they have the most modern technology available. They can savour the old and still relish the new.

Anupam Thareja said Kerala is a tough market because riders ask a lot of intelligent questions and want the best. What makes customers here different from the rest of the country?

We are all aware that Kerala has the highest literacy rate. It is also one of those parts of our country that has been trading internationally for a long time. People here have the ability to see the world and come back.

People have been educated and there is a lot more boldness in the riding community because they are very critical about what they are looking for. They are aware of what they want.

An educated customer is always the best customer. We like an educated customer because not only is the customer enjoying the product, but they are also giving feedback on a constant basis.

It is through constant feedback and interaction that we learn. We can only ride so much and know so much. But if I listen to people, and our engineers and riders interact with us continuously, giving us those little nuances, that is what makes it interesting.

The customers here ask a lot of questions, and that allows us to give them the answers that show we have created these machines for them. I thoroughly enjoy my interaction with most of the riders.

Tell us about your recent ride with your son.

My son is about 16 now. Sometime in October last year, just after he had turned 16, we went on a ride. Father and son, along with another father-son duo. We started from Bangalore and came to Mysore. We went the same day to Ooty, stayed overnight and then went through the Mudumalai forest.

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It was about the cool landscape, the jungle, spending time with my son and getting him to ride along with me as pillion on routes his father had ridden many years ago. We talked about those routes along the way.

We also saw some beautiful, majestic elephants in the forest. Some of them were gorgeous, fully grown, gentle creatures.

He thoroughly enjoyed the rides because I think there is a little bit of me in him. As soon as he gets his licence, I am sure he is going to say, “Dad, where’s my motorcycle and where can I go?”

He already knows how to ride off-road on the track. I have trained him to ride, and I think he will become a much more mature rider by the time he is 18.

Who knows, someday I will send pillion and maybe he can ride.

You Have to Become One With The Beast You Are Riding

Boman Irani, Co-Founder, Classic Legends, on why Kerala was chosen to kick off Yezdi’s 2026 range, the emotional connect between riders and their machines, the future of ICE engines and how rider communities continue to shape the brand.

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