Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Vladimar Ylashrovits (below), president of the Lutz Motorcycle Club , sporting his MIG fighter pilot's helmet and flight suit, waited two days to meet the fore ign contingen t. His 1981 350cc CZ (left) displays over 200,000 kilom eters on the odometer. did enjoy riding. H e said he sings Kristofferson so ngs whi-le riding and often ta kes the lon g way hom e. Hi s wife doesn 't reall y like it, bu t he does it a nyway; she kn ows it's important to him. Once a week, he ta kes a longer trip through th e mountains, usually abo u t 1000 km (620 miles) in length. Iron Curta in iron horses Ilya' s bik e would be co nsidered ancie nt and obso lete in comparison to our technology-fed diet of hyperbik es, yet simple and reliable by Sovi et sta nda rds. Ameri cans might scoff at what the Russians ride; even a few Sovi et riders took disdainful swipes at th eir own machines as they compared th eir bik es, to ours! (We had mostly BMWs, one HarleyDavidson, two Honda Gold .Wings and a coup le big-bore dual-sport bik es.) The Soviet motorcyclists 'k new' how mu ch different a nd better o ur bikes ,were, a n d thi s realization seemed to fru strate and sadden more than a few of them. Their bikes were pl ain , spartan, bereft of all th e sh iny add-on s we're so ac customed to seeing o n our sleek plastic-laden speed ships. In contrast, th e Ru ssian motorcycles are inexpensive, capable of being repaired by the owner , and bulletproo f. Castings are cobby but substantial; mat eri al s are selected for longevity a nd durability. The Sov ie t market allows th e im portation of a coup le of mod els from Czechs lova kia (Jaw a-CZ) and East Germany (MZ). In 1985, th ere were eig h t Soviet motor cycle facto ries ch u rn i n g out their ow n marques, usuall y nam ed for their home .to wn, a river or a nearby mountain range - KMZ of Kiev produces th e Dnepr sidecar, IMZ of Ir bit th e Ural sidecar, Ish of Ish vesk the Jupiter a nd Planeta 350, MMVZ of Minsk the M 125, (We were told we m ight tour this factory but it didn't work out; we were, however, permitted to visit a giant earth mov er Iactory .), Kovrovetz of Kovrov produces the Voshk od 175, Verkhovina of L 'vov makes mopeds, Riga of Riga another mak er of mopeds and Tula of Tula makes scooters. Most Soviet motorcycles are copies , of other makes. Among the marques whose designs have been borrowed are .BMW , DKW, Jawa -C Z a nd Vespa. During the Soviet reconstruc tio n after th e 'w ar, th e government formed a central orga n ization devoted to th e research and testing of new designs . Some race bikes were bu ilt a nd research was done on a rotary model bu t th ese were never mad e ava ilable to the public. The curre nt models contin ue to be pumped o ut of a tim estrangled mold. H owever, with Perestroika (Gorba ch ev' s plan for eco nomic ' and socia l restructuring) and Glasnost (new openess), perhaps the Sovi ets will find an o pen window for their dream - new bikes. In the meantime, th ey do enjoy what they have. I think th ey realiz e something we sometimes forg et it 's th e action that cou nts , not th e g loss and glitter. Their motorcycles do th e tri ck and give th em th e universal thrill s of 'mot or cycling which unite us all. Red Riders The first difference I noti ced abo ut th e Ru ssian motorcyclists was th at th ey all w o re helmets, th ough I never found ou t if this was a law or just a demonstration of good sense. Most of th e helmets were full-coverage types or had a chi n bar . Most wore goggles wi th glass len ses. I didn 't see to o many Lex an a n d carbo n i te mat erials which allo w o ur p lastics to last so lon g. It seemed funny th at most of the three-whe eler riders wore pudding bowl-style helm ets. Many of th e helmets had European stickers such as AGV and J aguar; I don 't know if these were the actual brand nam es or just stickers. The Soviets loved stickers a nd we had quite a few to hand ou t. I took lo ts of Cycle News, Fuji Film, Chase Harper, Brooks Cycle Sports, Answer Products, Whozee and Widder stickers and saw them immediately ap plied to bik es and helm ets. The Soviet cyclists didn 't have match ed leather suits lik e o urs but wh at th ey did wear appeared to offer good protection. Their gloves were thick and looked to be mo stl y for warding o££ the co nsidera ble cold. Their clothes lack ed color but evo ked a purposeful appearance. I noticed tha t the j ackets they wo re we re long a n d very thi ck. Man y o f th e bikes were eq uipped with a lu m inum or fiberglass fairings and plates a ttach ed to th e cras h bars for Iuther knee and leg protect ion from the prevailing elemen ts. Their desir e to at least wish for o the r makes of motorcycle s wa s apparent th rough th e various badges I saw on some of th e bik es belonging to the younger riders. One parr of youngsters were aboard a CZ bearing a BMW logo o n th e gas tank, while ano ther CZ had J aguar badges. Yet another sported a punk-rock moti££ bearing th e word " Kill" o n th e tank. One Soviet rider kn ew we were co mi ng, a nd had been waitirig in the city of Min sk (cap itol of Byelorus- . sial. We had been dela yed by rai n a n d over boo ki ng i n th e Min sk In tourist H ot el , so we stayed in a nother city a nd left for Min sk a day late. At a rest sto p th is Soviet rid er spotted o ur group and p ulled in. H e'd come looking for us. H e was a sight to behold. U p rode a man in hi s mid-40s, wearing a MIG fi~h ter pilot's helmet and a converted fligh t su it. On th e knees, shoulders a nd elbows he had sewn articu lated rubber pat ches. His bi ke, a 1980 350cc CZ was festooned with eq ui pment in large, bulbous ru cksacks. T hrown across the seat was a ruggedlooking Yak skin. (Well, ma ybe it was a lon g-h aired sheep, but th e th in g looked wild ·enough to be a Yak l) Th r ough o u r intepreter s we learned that th is rider, Vladimar Ylashrovits , was th e president of th e , motorcycle club in Lutzk, His bik e showed its 200,OOO-plus ki lom eters. Vladim ar to ld us that he had been o n some very lon g journ eys on th is bike - the last o ne was 14,000 kilometers (8680 miles) to th e Chinese frontier in Middle Asia in 1985. Vladimar was a Six-Day Trials rider, a speedway enth us ias t and had als o raced motocro ss. In addi tion to pursuing his motorcycling interests, Vladirn ar , a radio en gineer an d father of two , also hang glides and races ice boats in th e winter. H e told us th at parts were hard to obtain for th e bik e and wh at he and his club members were not able to get, they would make. Vladimar was exactly th e kind of - enthusiast I had hoped to meet someo ne who lives to ride. H e was obviously excited a bou t meeting us, too , and o££ered me a co up le of flags . One was from his h om etown and ano ther depicted an event he'd been in. He wondered if he could ride one of our bikes and though I o££ered my rented BMW KIOO, th e tour guides declined th e offer saying he wasn 't insured. One of th e West Germans offered hi s 600cc Suzuki dual- sport bike. When Vladimar returned he was grinning from ear-to-ear. H e liked the way it shifted. H e th en offered us a rid e on his bike wh ich we all shy ly declined. We shook hands, wished each o ther well and were off. As I rode away , I regretted I hadn't taken him up on his offer. Comradery In th e U.S., we have o ur version of outlaw bikers as dep icted in " Easy Rider " and "The Wild One." In th e Soviet Un ion th ey al so have their underground bik ers. They are called " Ro ckers." Or as it was pronounced in Russia, " Rockieers." These riders were usually in their lat e teens, and rod e around th e lar ger ci ties o n 350cc two-stroke tW In S som etime s painted in wild schemes. I was told th at when th ey r ide tog ether, th ey hav e liule regard for the speed li mits. T hey ge t their name because wh en not riding, the y enjoy listening to loud rock and roll music. 39

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