My KMZ (Dnepr) K-750M. The M signifies she was a military variant and in fact she has parts from three different bikes on her.

History

KMZ (Kiev Mototsikletniy Zavod or Kiev Motorcycle Factory) is a license built copy of the more famous Ural (IMZ or Irbit Mototsikletniy Zavod) which was itself, depending on which history you believe, a license-built or stolen-and-reverse-engineered copy of the famous BMW Motorrad R71.

Engine

My bike (“Sasha”) has a horizontally opposed flat twin displacing 750cc, a very distant cousin of the current BMW 1.2L flat twin. The KMZ has all the inherent problems of being a shitty copy of a shitty copy of a prewar BMW, but once it’s running, it will take a literal bomb to stop it. I’ve seen people run their engines - rather unhappily - on neat gin or vodka, as the compression ratio is only about 4:1. The engine developed 17.5HP when new, and I reckon a few of my horses have run away.

She is a fun, semi-reliable, robust deathtrap.