M-72 Motorcycle
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The M-72 was a
motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...
built by the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. Conceived as a replacement for the two heavy motorcycles used by the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
, the TIZ-AM-600 and
PMZ-A-750 The PMZ-A-750 (Russian: ПМЗ-А-750) is a heavy motorcycle that was made in the USSR in the 1930s by Podol'skiy Mekhanicheskiy Zavod (" Podolsk Mechanical Plant", or PMZ). It is the first heavy motorcycle to have been manufactured in the USSR. ...
, both of which had performed unsatisfactorily during the
Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...
against
Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
and were considered outdated designs. The replacement chosen was the
BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...
R71, which had been rejected by the German
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
as a replacement for the
R12 R12 may refer to: Automobiles * BMW R12, a motorcycle * Renault 12, a French family car Aviation * Bell R-12, an American utility helicopter * Caudron R.12, a French experimental biplane * Republic XR-12 Rainbow, an American experimental ...
. As a result of the
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, officially the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and also known as the Hitler–Stalin Pact and the Nazi–Soviet Pact, was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Ge ...
, the necessary legal, political and economic procedures were in place for BMW to provide the design, tooling and training for the manufacture of the motorcycle and military sidecar.


History

The M-72 was intended to be built at three factories located in
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
,
Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
and
Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.
, with ancillary items coming from several other factories. Only the MMZ factory in Moscow produced any complete motorcycles prior to the German invasion in 1941 and commencement of the Eastern Front. Then, the Moscow factory was moved east to the town of
Irbit Irbit (Stress is given per the ''Dictionary of modern geographical names'', entry o().) is a town in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, located from Yekaterinburg by train or by car, on the right bank of the Nitsa. Population: It was previously kno ...
in
Western Siberia Western Siberia or West Siberia ( rus, Западная Сибирь, p=ˈzapədnəjə sʲɪˈbʲirʲ; , ) is a region in North Asia. It is part of the wider region of Siberia that is mostly located in the Russia, Russian Federation, with a Sout ...
, becoming the Irbit Motorcycle Factory ( IMZ). The Kharkiv and Leningrad factories were relocated to Gorky on the outskirts of the
GAZ Gaz may refer to: Geography *Gaz, Kyrgyzstan Iran * Gaz, Darmian, village in South Khorasan province * Gaz, Golestan, a village in Bandar-e Gaz County * Gaz, Hormozgan, a village in Minab County * Gaz, Kerman, a village * Gaz, North Khorasan, a ...
plant, becoming the Gorky Motorcycle Plant ( GMZ). During the war, motorcycles were produced at both factories. However, all sidecars for both the M-72 and
Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (),3,000 Hurricanes and >4,000 other aircraft) * 28 naval vessels: ** 1 Battleship. (HMS Royal Sovereign (05), HMS Royal Sovereign) * ...
bikes were produced at Gorky only. In 1952, 500 M-72 engines were shipped from the IMZ to the KMZ factory in
Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
to produce their first batch of M-72s. KMZ produced the M-72 until 1956. A closely related model, the M-72N, was produced later. In 1957, the Soviets sold the M-72 production line to the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
. The IMZ plant supplied M-72s to China up to the transfer of the production line in 1957 and continued to supply parts to China until 1960. Production continued in China through the mid-1980s. The M-72's current descendant is the CJ750 of the
Chang Jiang The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...
series.


Design

M-72 motorcycles were predominantly produced with a sidecar attached, although some solos made appearances for escort duties and the like. M-72 were produced at IMZ in Irbit from 1942 until 1955. A subsequent model, the M-72M was produced from 1955 until 1960.


See also

*
List of motorcycles of the 1940s This a listing of motorcycles of the 1940s, including those on Sales, sale, introduced, or otherwise relevant in this period. Motorcycle *Acme motorcycle (1939–49) *AJS 18 *AJS 7R *AJS Model 16 *AJS Model 20 *AJS Porcupine *Ariel Red Hunter ...
*
List of motorcycles of the 1950s This a listing of motorcycles of the 1950s, including those on sale, introduced, or otherwise relevant in this period. * AJS 18 (1949–1963)


Notes


References

*Энциклопедия Мотоциклов. Фирмы. Модели. Конструкции. - За Рулем - Москва (2003) *"Entsiklopediya Mototsiklov. Firmi. Modeli. Konstruktsii.", Za Rulem, Moscow (2003). *"Encyclopaedia of Motorcycles. Firms. Models. Manufacturers. Za Rulem, Moscow (2003). *Historie der M-72 und ihrer Nachfolger. J.Pevsner und R. Rodenkirchen; Motorrad-Classic Heft 2/2000. *


External links

*{{Commonscat inline, IMZ M-72 Dnepr motorcycles Motorcycles of the Soviet Union Germany–Soviet Union relations (1918–1941) Sidecars Motorcycles introduced in the 1940s Military vehicles introduced from 1940 to 1944 Germany–Soviet Union military relations