2nd BuyVintage Online Auction: 2015 Onwards

1964 KMZ Dnepr K750 Flat Twin Combination

Frame number 34728

This K750 was restored in Russia and imported to UK by the previous owner some years ago. I had it serviced recently and it’s in good running order. Further down the page you can see a few short videos of it running and driving.

You can use it as it is, or dress it up with easily-obtainable accessories to turn it into a WW2-style military outfit. It’s a lot cheaper than buying a WW2 BMW R71 combination!

It’s an impressive beast and draws a crowd wherever you take it.

The engine on the flat-twin is quite distinctive and makes it instantly recognizable.

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ROAD TEST

Terry from Everest Motorcycles serviced it for me, and I followed him with the camera as he took it for a spin.

SHORT VIDEOS of K750 RUNNING and DRIVING

If you haven’t got flash player on your computer (it’s free to download) you may not be able to view the above videos.

Alternatively, you could try youtube –

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu18ChWiHUs

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KMZ – Kiev Motorcycle Plant

This 1964 K750 was manufactured in the Kiev Motorcycle Plant. The Russian name – Kyivskyi Mototsykletnyi Zavod – is commonly abbreviated to KMZ. The KMZ designs were derived from the 1938-1941 BMW R71 sidecar outfit (illustrated below), which Russia apparently licensed in 1940, and named the M72.

Compare the BMW R71 above with the M72 below. The M72 was used with great success by the Russians during WW2.

The East German EMW, which also emulated BMW designs, was apparently made without license, and licensing issues were unclear with the Russian company Tula, who took over production of the Goggo scooter. (I used to own a 3-wheeled Tula, a Tula Muravey. To read about it, PLEASE CLICK HERE).

I read on a website that researched KMZ that the first KMZ motorcycle was a 98cc Wanderer. However, this would simply have been a Fichtel & Sachs powered machine similar to other lightweight German motorcycles with the same engine made by over 35 other German manufacturers. If the Russians then built a copy of it for domestic use it would have been the Fichtel & Sachs engine that they cloned.

Here’s a potted history of the M72 (which became the K750 when it was made available to the public in 1951):

In 1939, the Soviet Union was preparing for war against Nazi Germany despite the Molotov-von Ribbentrop Pact. Stalin had ordered full military preparation for the defense of the Motherland and ground mobility was an important aspect. The Russian Defense Ministry began studies of plans for modern vehicles, and chose the German BMW R71 motorcycle design for their military model. According to ‘official reports’ 5 units were covertly purchased through either Swedish or Scandinavian intermediaries and Soviet engineers then duplicated the BMW design, creating facilities to produce their own engines and gearboxes in Moscow.

An alternative version of this acquisition suggests that the BMW factory actually supplied the construction drawings and casting moulds as a result of the Molotov-von Ribbentrop Pact. Soviet engineers had previously been allowed to tour German factories, and as BMW began series production of the R75 in 1941 supplying the Soviets with the older R71 model would not have been unlikely. This could also explain why the Soviets also duplicated the Wehrmacht sidecar. In either case, the entire motorcycle was reversed engineered and early in 1941 the first trial M-72 motorcycles were reviewed by Stalin, who approved production, and a factory was built in Moscow for military production (MMZ models), rolling out 1753 bikes prior to evacuation.

After the Germans invaded Russia in late summer of the same year the factory was moved east for security reasons, eventually relocating to the small town of Irbit on the edge of the Siberian steppes. On October 25, 1942 the first M-72 motorcycles went to the front and during WWII a total of 9,799 M-72 motorcycles were delivered to the front for reconnaissance detachments and mobile troops, although production during the war also took place at Gorky where all sidecars were produced, both for the M-72 and Lend-Lease motorcycles. The M-72 was available mainly to the authorities up until 1951 when the KMZ plant in the Ukraine took over Red Army production.

At this time the Irbitski Motozykletny Zavod (IMZ) began to concentrate on bikes for domestic consumption and by the 1960s the full production of the plant was turned over to non-military production. In 1961, the Irbit plant became known as the Ural plant due to its location. This factory continues to produce motorcycles under the Ural name.*

The name Dnepr appears to have been used by KMZ for their models from 1967 onwards.

Between 1973 and 1979, the British company Satra imported Russian motorcycles. Ural, Dnepr, IZh, Voskhod and Minsk were some of the former Soviet Union manufacturers whose bikes were imported and rebadged in the UK as Cossack or the Cossack Ural.

Various websites now provide copies of literature for the K750. For example, I have a full-size print-out of the K750 lubrication chart seen below, and also an M72 workshop manual in English.

Chang Jiang 750 – Chinese Clone of the M-72

The Russian IMZ plant supplied military bikes to the PRC (China) until a proper M-72 production line was started in 1957, and they continued to supply parts to the PRC until 1960. Personally, I tend to avoid Chinese motorcycles due to their shoddy workmanship. But I did have the opportunity to ride in one in 1996, in Kashgar in eastern China, near the border with what used to be the USSR. The local Uighurs Muslims use old motorcycle combinations as taxis. My main memory of the journey was that the driver stopped halfway through the journey to re-negotiate the fare. I photographed the Chang Jiang above in a Kashgar backstreet.

The Chinese connection has helped modern spares availability, and the various Dnepr/ Cossack/ Ural specialists in the UK are very supportive should you require spares or accessories.

Russian M72s in Action

* This text, period photos & manuals thanks to http://www.russiancycles.com

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I removed the sidecar when it was recently in the garage for a service.

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FRONT END

The top of the front forks have a number stamped in.

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ENGINE & ENGINE NUMBERS

Below you can see the kick start and the foot gear change.

There are two numbers prominent on the engine

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REAR SWINGING ARM & FRAME NUMBER

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MORE WARTIME M72 PHOTOS

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REAR END

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RUSSIAN PHOTOS

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