Crankshaft Assembly-Russian M72 Motorcycle and Sidecar

grabcad

The start of the new project. Began at the heart of the engine, the crankshaft. Michal and Eugene are contributing to this project as well so it should end up as good as the Iz 350 project.In August 1939 a Non-aggression Treaty was signed between Germany and the Soviet Union in Moscow. As the R71 was considered a civiilan m/c and indeed was more or less obsolete due to the R75 development, it;s designs, manufacturing equipment & even engineers are assumed by many to have been included in this plan.IN 1939 some 1753 machines were ready for the front line, between 1942-1945 (IMZ) produced 7773 machines while (GMZ) produced 5576 machines.Yet in a bizarre twist, the IMZ Ural factory actually claims that they stole the design:"... after long discussion and debate, the R71 motorcycle was decided to most closely match the Red Army's requirements. Five units were covertly purchased through intermediaries in neutral Sweden and smuggled to Russia. Soviet engineers in Moscow busily dismantled the 5. They copied every detail of the design and made molds and dies to produce their own engines and gearboxes in Moscow. Everything about the bike was reverse engineered. Early in 1941, the first trial samples of M-72 motorcycles were shown to Stalin, who immediately approved production of the motorcycles."