Trending Topic: Ex-Soviet two-strokes

Well. A kind of. Or maybe. Ex-CCCP/USSR motorcycles were always on the sidelines of the motorcycle world. In the margin. Or on the roadside. With bad luck. But they were dirt cheap.

The – let's call it Russian for convenience – engines were dated, substandard in terms of finish and reliability. At least, according to Western standards. In their home countries they drifted obediently and slowly over largely unpaved roads. With an IMZ or KMZ (Ural or Dnepr) you were a boss and you had transport for your work and/or your family. With a two-stroke IZH (or ISH or however freely you wanted to interpret the local name) you rode a simple, solid two-stroke of usually 250 or 350 cc. The 350s were available in one- and two-cylinder versions and were futuristically called Planeta or Jupiter.

Some searching revealed that at one time not only Urals and Dneprs were made in large numbers. Many of those machines, those expensive, heavy machines, were supplied as sidecar combinations to the military and other government agencies. Hundreds of thousands were made. The two-strokes were more civilian oriented. And 1.2 million of the Planetas alone were produced.

IZH Planetas and Jupiters are now very slowly starting to come into view. They completely fit in with the ideas of the early Dutch Ural and Dnepr riders: They don't cost a dime and no one, well, almost no one, wants them. Oh yes: There are people who now find used Urals and Dneprs unaffordable, but who are still charmed by the ex-Soviet technology. It won't be the styling. But here they - with 25+ years of ex-Soviet experience - had been on the wish list for a while. The offer is limited. The machines that are for sale are often a kind of barn finds, not running, incomplete and/or without a Dutch license plate. And how does the RDW react if you arrive with such a smoking rabbit to have a license plate placed on it? And what about the parts supply?

Well: More than 1.200.000 of these motorcycles were made. And in the context of the communist planned economy, ten times as many parts must have been made. Minimal. However, almost all of them are still in their old homes. And those are just not the countries where you want to be for pleasure. Outside of the war zones, the ex-Soviet republics are all thoroughly corrupt. And if you don't speak the language, you're completely screwed.

So it remained a dream until the section 'readers help readers' from 'De Gelderlander'. I had already made a few people happy there with some leftover stuff. In a corny mood I put out a call myself: “Happy AOWs is looking for an old Russian two-stroke engine from nostalgic dreams”.

I typed the email away and forgot about it. Until a while later a message arrived in my mailbox. The sender had a Planeta 5, but didn't have the courage to do anything with it. He wanted the thing to end up well, but said that the free collection approach on which the section is based was a bridge too far for him. I emailed back that his response made me happy and that I never assumed I wouldn't have to pay anything. Some photos came. Plus the comment that there was a Dutch license plate on the IZH. A price was named and accepted.

In the meantime, there is an IZH350 of the Planeta 5 type on the bridge. The thing is complete. The block is loose. He sparks. First it will be cleaned and inspected. And then it's time for the spring ride. And after that? Then the Planetas and Jupiters become sought after and expensive. That could take another 25 years. Yet….