1.01.01 A brief history of the Chang Jiang and its predecessors
From Sidecarwiki
There have been many sites on the Internet during the past five years that have included histories of how the BMW R71 led to the Ural M72 and then to the CJ750 M1. A few of the better sites have since disappeared or their history pages have since been removed. Many of these have involved the capturing of vehicles during the war and reverse engineering them; many others have spoken of "technology exchanges" between Germany and Russia and between Russia and China. I have been told by word of mouth that some of the machinery in the factory at Nan Chang is cast with German words and some BMW logos, other machinery is cast with Russian writing on it, and still other machinery is cast with Chinese characters only. This leads me to suspect that some form of technology exchange happened way back whenever. I shall begin by listing main points and approximate dates. Later I plan to add links to the various history sites.
1. BMW produced the R71 from 1938 to 1941 as a civilian bike with foot gearchange and a hand gearchange change near the rider's right heel.
2. Technology exchange with the Soviet Union in the late 1930's early 1940's.
3. Most of the German production line moved to Moscow, Leningrad and Kharkov together with extensive drawings and plans.
4. 1941 Production of M-71 (?) commences.
5 .1941 Germany invades the SU and production from Moscow moved to Irbit and Leningrad and Kharkov moved to Gorkiy. 1753 motorcycles were produced in Moscow prior to evacuation.
6. Improved M-72 model had strengthened frame, larger tank and a few other mods. Date? 1943?
1949 Gorkiy plant closed and production transferred to KMZ in Kiev.
1951 First M-72 motorcycles produced at KMZ with delivery of 500 engines from IMZ.
7. M-72 produced until 1956 when the M-72M was introduced in Irbit and the M-72N in Kiev.
8. 1956 Russia opts to produce OHV bikes and declares M72 obsolete.
9. Technology exchange with China. Production line machinery and several trainloads of spare parts to Nan Chang.
10. Production of CJ M1 commences 1957 with high incidence of Russian parts.
11. During 1957 to 1959 more and more parts of the bike were produced in China.
12. Type II engine (with higher oil filler) is developed.
- . OHV 6V engine developed
- . M1M 12V
- . Reverse gear added.
- . OHV 12V M1S developed
- . 900cc OHV engine developed
- . M1Cool water-cooled engines
- . various variations
- . so-called "Plastic Changs"
- . the rise of the "re-building" factories.
A lot more detail and some formatting will be added next time I get a chance to login and spend time here. I welcome anyone else who wants to help me research and add dates and details.
