Motorcycles - Russia: books - history, types and construction

Motorcycles and Motorcycling in the USSR from 1939 - A Social and Technical History

This book is the first accessible English-language account of motorcycles in the Soviet Union. Focusing on the period from World War II to 1990, it explores Soviet motorcycle production, domestic use, and exports. It covers wartime production, different models, the social role of motorcycling, and Soviet motorsports.

Rather than following market demand, Soviet manufacturers based their designs on pre-war German BMW and DKW models, producing hundreds of thousands of durable, practical motorcycles. These were significantly different from the more style-focused machines in the West. Factories in Ishevsk, Kovrov, Moskva, and Minsk manufactured various models, while the well-known Ural and Dnepr brands came from Irbit and Kiev.

Richly illustrated with Soviet-era photographs, many from private collections, the book offers a glimpse into a lifestyle shaped by ideology and state planning. It also features images of popular imported models such as Jawa from Czechoslovakia and Pannonia from Hungary.

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Motorräder des Ostblocks - Bulgarien, Polen, Sowjetunion 1945-1990 (Typenkompass)

It was not only MZ and Simson that drove in the former GDR: in the course of so-called compensation deals, vehicles were repeatedly imported from Eastern Bloc countries.
Since the GDR was given sovereignty over motorcycle construction up to 250 cc by the CMEA states, the CZ and Pannonia, the CZ and Ural were hardly to be found on the road, but all the more so in the countries of origin.

In his usual meticulous manner and extensively documented in numerous, often historical photos, Frank Rönicke offers a comprehensive overview of two-wheeler production in the Eastern Bloc in this Typenkompass.

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