An old Russian - A brief restoration story
I had been looking around for a bike to restore for
a few months - I wanted something unusual but also that I could take
for the occasional ride. I found this old Russian M72 (A copy of the
1939 BMW R71) which had been imported from Russia some years ago but
the importer had never got around to getting it running. The
bike was basically 90% complete if somewhat rusty and clogged up with
50 odd years of grime - It was missing the rear carrier and pillion
seat, few controls horn switch, dip switch etc, and wasn't running. I
bought it from Queensland from just a couple of pictures so took a bit
of a risk but I fell in love with the style and look of the bike - Love
the back to front clutch and brake levers.

Once the bike arrived my first thought was to get it
running but with the fuel tank full of rusty dirt and all the cables
seized and/or missing I wasn't too optomistic - at least it turned over
ok. After a couple of days of pulling the fuel system apart and
cleaning out the tank and carbies I did manage to get the bike running
(on 1 cylinder) so at least I knew the engine was a goer.
So I
then started in earnest and stripped the bike down to its component
parts - I stripped everything back to bare metal, removed all the rust
and started on the restoration in earnest. I'd never restored a
bike before - In fact haven't riden for about 30 years since I ran
around on trail bikes back on the farm (I think its called a mid life
crisis). My plan was always to do everything on the bike myself as I
think the satisfaction is much higher that way when you look at the
completed project.

I spent my Christmas holidays in 2013 stripping, bodyworking and
painting. I Painted it in 2 pack which was a first for me as I have
only ever used acrylic paint before - It came out pretty well but I
think acrylic is much easier to use - 2 pack takes forever to dry
which is fine if you have a spray booth but a hassle if you don't.



I had the engine soda blasted which cleaned it up nicely and
everything went back together reasonably painlessly - I found a great
resource on the internet (cvkustoms) which had a service manual and heaps of other documentation which was invaluable in setting up the timing, carbies etc. I
finished the bulk of the restoration fairly quickly but then spent the
next 12 months or so tidying up and adding a few additional items. I
had to modify a carrier from a later model bike to fit then add a new
pillion seat. I had to do some work on the mechanical regulator to get
the battery charging reliably. I bought new cables over the internet
which I was assured would fit the bike perfectly and when they arrived
of the 6 cables the number that actually fitted without modification
was exactly zero. I had them modified by the local cable guys to suit
so not a total loss.
I wanted to add indicators to the bike
as a small concession to safety and wanted to use LED style ones as
they were smaller and more discreet and so didn't detract from the
overall look of the bike - Only issue was the bike is 6V positive
ground and LED indicators are 12V negative ground. I managed to get
around this eventually by purchasing a 6V to 12 V DC converter ($5 off
ebay) which I hid inside the headlight. I then mounted the indicators
totally isolated from the bike frame and fed them with the 12V from the
converter via some fancy switching.
Some other challenges
along the way included having to try and source metric exhaust tubing
as apparently Australia only has imperial size pipe which would't fit,
finding 6V globes to fit the custom holders for the speedo light, and
not to forget trying to get the Transport department to recognize IMZ
as the bikes manufacturer to get it registered. - I finally gave up and
registered it as a URAL which isn't technically correct but got the job
done. Other than that there were just the usual plethora of stripped
and broken bolts to drill out, broken parts to reweld and sundry bits
to manufacture to make it all work. The engine turned out to be in
pretty good condition - I cleaned it up, put new head gaskets, plugs,
etc on and just cleaned up everything else. The distributor was seized
but after dimantling and a good soak it came up nicely.
My latest addition was to add a couple of (Australian) Ammo bokes as Panniers to the bike as I found there was no room to carry much
in the way of tools etc as the only storage was the small toolbox in
the fuel tank (Always a good idea to carry at least a basic tool kit
with a bike of this age - amazing what you can fix on the side of the
road with a pair of pliers and a roll of wire as the bike is pretty
basic and agricultural). While these aren't exactly period correct I
made them so that they can be easily removed as I mounted them on a
custom made frame which bolts onto the existing mounts for the pillion
seat. I also got the local printers to print me a couple of Russian
stars and CCCP text to give them a slightly authentic feel.
Have ridden the bike quite a few times
now and am working out its idiosyncracies - such as brakes that rather
than stopping tend to impede progress slightly and a clutch that
doesn't like sitting in gear not moving for any length of time (as I
found out on last years toy run when it kept binding up on me whenever
we would stop for any extended period - To complicate matters it's
almost impossible to get the bike into neutral when this happens
without stopping the motor and restarting).
I also have a
small oil leak (not uncommon on Russian bikes so I'm led to believe -
You start worrying when they stop dripping oil apparently). I may pull
the engine out in the near future for a minor rebuild. I've had the
heads off and the pistons, valves etc are all good but it could use a
new gasket kit.
All in all though I have defintely fallen in love with the bike - Has a lot more character than the new modern bikes.