Alrightly, Ill try one of these things. Intro: My Russification started years ago; the spreading into the motorcycle world started with a Dnepr purchased years ago. I used it for a daily rider for years... then there were more. This particular story is about my MV750. For many a Soviet/Russian moto-fan, this model is desirable; produced in the 60s at the Kiev Motorcycle Factory for the Soviet military with a 750cc flattie and all the cool military trinkets including differential 2WD with a locking lever for full time 2WD. One became available last year - I snagged it not caring about condition. Few days later, off to Colorado to bring her back to Kansas. Home Wheels are not correct, the axe was mine and a few other things were glaring at me, but actually much more complete than I expected. The plan, get it running and ride it. Love the patina, no plans on changing that. Next - initial startup... Next - initial startup...
That looks really slow and under-braked...I love it! Reminds me of an old CJ- is it related in any way?
Awesome. I'd love to understand how the flatheads work. And can't wait to see more details on the 2wd thingie. Tom
notarex: The Chinese CJs are made from tooling the Russians sold to them after the Soviet M72s were no longer produced (plunger frame). This design came just after M72 production - note the swing arm. Wrangler: Those are Ural wheels. That design starts in the 50s and stayed into production I believe into the 90s. BTW - nice looking URal! That is the "real deal" and the way they are in Russia! Tom: Standby... :)
Yep. It all started with the old BMW R12, or R71, which was used in the wwII Blitz to Moskou. The Russians made a copie and engineered it backwards, called Ural or Dnjepr, soon after that the Chineese did the same from that copie, called it CJ. That brought them back to the middle-ages. Paul.
Shooooshalaaaala, flash forward... If you have been over to the Friday Picture Thread today, you know current state: What next is obvious, how did we get here?
Gee... ...that camshaft looks pretty gnarly from here ..so is it ready to go? I'm seein' slingers...what's up with the crank?
That figures. I bought it in Kyrgyzstan. The photo is in southeastern Kazakhstan. Never heard of the MVs before. That's one bitchen looking ride though. I'm also looking forward to some differential/fulltime 2wd shots. Enjoy.
Oooooh, I'm really REALLY going to enjoy this thread. Make sure you take lots of pics. Where are you in Kansas? I'm a wichita native and my family is still there. I usually tell people that Kansas is a nice place to be from... far from. Take lots of pics!
Kansas - some are drawn to it, others are repelled Datchew, I am up near KC. From KS to SC - upgrade... Well back to it. The trip out to CO and back was a whirlwind; virtually drove out, slept, exchanged product and franklins, loaded it then east bound. Once home, finally time to give the machine a good looking over. First the placard - Basically it says "Attention Comrade, don't be dicking around with the 2wd engaged. Only engage short distances going straight on crappy roads. Turning with it engaged can cause accident". This is concerning the locker final drive. It is a differential until engaged, then it is a locker (both rear and sidecar wheel turn at same rate). Of course the question to me is "how much of this thing is really a MV750?". One thing one learns after owning old Russian stuff - originality is often lost. The MV750 differs from its K750 sibling as the MV is the military variant and the K is the civilian version. To denote military parts stars were stamped onto the components. Although I knew about this, over the years, I had only managed to obtain a few parts with star stamps. The search began: Tranny Head Stars also noted on engine and a few other parts. This is excellent news! Seems a lot of the original parts are here! This is tooooo good to be true. Waiting for something heavy to fall one me. . . wait, what is all of that orange stuff between all the mating surfaces. . . . . ok, ok that's crazy - stay on mission. Time to plan for the startup - why the orange stuff? Stop obsessing, man! Off to hit the books to read up about valve settings, timing, carbs in prep for the startup. Plus, were in the hell do I get a 6V battery...
Paul, you know that this isn't entirely precise, right or better to say, this is one of the urban myths. Basically, the Wehrmacht used the (much newer) R75 and Zündapp for the war against Russia as the old R12 and R71 were long taken out of service and most likely some found their way from Norway via Sweden to Russia. @FlyRescue: You know, that you can adapt the Type2-Ural-Ignition for the 6V system, you just need a different coil (any proper 3 Ohm, 6Volt , dual outlet coil will do). Bike is looking nice. If you google about MW750 you will find quite a few german pages about the bike. Cheers, Greg - former Dnepr MT11 and MT16 rider...
My ride to work this morning. Nice to be riding again - the winter has been brutal. Back to the MV story. With the good comes the bad. The initial home inspection found a lot of good however from this photo of the final drive you may notice - no locking control; some говнюк (govnuk) snaked my MV final drive! I am pretty certain of the candidate, oh well. Any-a-ways I have a solution for that - stay tuned. Prepping for start: Manuals read, valves adjusted, carbs cleaned. Timing... well virtually no mention of the method in the manuals (English or Russian). Unlike the OHV Dneprs and Urals, the Soviet flatties did not have sight holes in the engine case and marks on the flywheels for timing purposes. Timing altogether is a bit different on these. Here is the control mechanism on the handle bars. Referred to as the manual advance a lot of times, it is more precisely a manual retard as the mechanism is sprung to go advanced. You pull back on the lever to retard the timing for starting then release lever and timing goes advanced for rest of running cycle. On this bike, you only set the max advance and max retard settings down on the points plate. Again, no mention of method in manuals. So I do the calculations to convert degrees of advance into piston travel and pull the head to determine TDC and use a micrometer to set the piston at this calculated point and then adjust the points plate. Also for fun, I made a timing wheel. Both methods matched each other so I was confident. I was happy to see this stamp on the cylinder. Time to button all up and attempt a start...