The State Polytechnic Museum has an exhibition "Age of Motorcycles", which demonstrates the "productive" (from the word products) activities of the Kiev Motorcycle Plant. The collection was kindly provided for temporary exhibition by a collector, a long-time friend of the museum Anatoliy Shumskyi.
Kyiv Motorcycle Plant was founded in September 1945. By 2018, the plant has produced more than 3.5 million motorcycles, mostly heavy class. However, his first profile product was a light motorcycle K-1B "Kievlianin" - a copy of the German motorcycle "Wanderer-1Sp" (not presented in the exhibition). Since 1949, mass production of the M-72 heavy motorcycle was organized in Kyiv, which determined the field of activity of the plant for decades. M-72 was used in the Soviet Army for motorization of infantry units, reconnaissance, communications. Until the end of the 1950's, the motorcycle was not sold to the public.
In 1955, during a foreign visit to Yugoslavia, Soviet leader Mykyta Khrushchev was accompanied by an escort of motorcyclists. This practice has already been widely used abroad. Therefore, it was not surprising that the decision to arrange a similar one in the Soviet Union. The Kyiv Motor Plant received an order to create an escort motorcycle.
The M-72 motorcycle presented at the exhibition is an escort one. Engineers were given little time to work, so the escort motorcycle differed from the serial military only in the absence of a weapon mounting system, improved performance and slightly different colours. Escort M-72 - black with white stripes on the tank and wheel guards, with an increased number of chrome parts. The motorcycle was operated with a side-car only on slippery roads (winter). It was made in a small series of 25 pieces, with the same number of motorcycle kits for repair. This practice continued in the production of all subsequent models of escort motorcycles. Such motorcycles were witnesses and direct participants in the epoch-making events of the twentieth century (hence the name of the exhibition). For example, a motorcade of motorcyclists accompanied the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, subsequent astronauts, as well as foreign government delegations on Red Square in Moscow.
The successor of the escort M-72 - motorcycle Dnipro-955, unfortunately, can not boast of such a rich biography. However, as an escort for motorcyclists, he accompanied the visit of Pope John Paul II to Kyiv, and witnessed the fall of the Iron Curtain and the collapse of the USSR. Made in the amount of 25 pieces was also used by the Kyiv traffic police to patrol the streets.
The experience of development and production of escort motorcycles for special purposes has found its application for the introduction of civilian products. The Solo civilian motorcycle embodied KMP's attempt to reach young people. The fact is that the main products of KMP were heavy motorcycles with a side-car, which young people did not like in terms of price, size, speed and dynamics. The Solo model without a side-car with reduced diameter wheels developed a speed of up to 125 km / h and became the fastest serial domestic motorcycle. But the price of a motorcycle in the 90's was too high, and the consumption of scarce gasoline, which the motorcycle consumed with a huge appetite (6-7 l / 100 km), did not give it a chance to become popular and mass-beloved.
Kyiv Motorcycle Plant is still remembered as a manufacturer of heavy motorcycles. The collection also includes one of the most popular models - the most powerful domestic motorcycle MT10-36. In the late 1970s, Soviet technology tried to enter world markets. So this motorcycle was actively promoted through advertising, participated in the rally, it was the part of the own collection of the famous Italian actor Adriano Celentano. And for Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute students, the motorcycle is a vivid and concise illustration of the contribution of Kyiv Polytechnics to motorcycle construction. The technology of manufacturing the crankshaft, engine block, bimetallic sleeves is the development of the department of foundry production of ferrous and non-ferrous metals of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. Moreover, the vast majority of the plant's engineers from the 1950's, including the plant's chief designer, were Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute graduates.
Motorcycle builders in the heyday of motorcycles, and especially in the period of its decline, sought to cover the widest possible areas of use of their products. The M 156P fire motorcycle is a clear example of this. A fire motorcycle had more mobility than a car in urban conditions, and would also be appropriate for extinguishing fires in rural areas and forests. A small motorcycle is a good alternative to an expensive car for fire service in small villages and in enterprises. However, it did not work out ... It did not advance past three-models series and the total number of dozens of motorcycles.
The MT-16 all-terrain motorcycle is an interesting example of the conversion and use of military equipment in the civilian sphere. In place of the military M-72 for the army, KMP engineers developed the MV-750 motorcycle (military motorcycle). To increase the passability of the motorcycle, it was equipped with a drive on the wheel of a sidecar. Such motorcycles were used only in the army. With the subsequent introduction of new overhead valve engines, serial production of the MV-650 was established. From the mid-80's on the market you could buy their civilian counterparts MT-12 and MT-16. Interestingly, the civilian analogue, having lost the standard mounting for the machine gun on the side-car, kept the equipment with an additional capacity of 10 litres of fuel and mounting for it. The MT-16 motorcycle had an advantage over the MT-10 and MT-11 in terms of cross-country. And today this motorcycle is appreciated by fans of active rest, and is irreplaceable for tourist travels. In terms of cross-ability, it is superior to certain types of off-road vehicles.
In September, the exhibition was replenished with two more motorcycles: motorcycle of the Kyiv motorcycle plant K-750M and the motorcycle which was made in the 80th years of the last century in Czechoslovakia, "Jawa-350".
Of course, connoisseurs of rare motorcycles will be primarily interested in the K-750M motorcycle. The K-750 motorcycle has been manufactured since 1958. It was a profound modernization of the M-72 motorcycle, which in turn was a copy of the BMW R71. Accordingly, the domestic model received the number - 72. The letter "M" in the name (according to some data) - "model", but more likely - "motorcycle". And the name of the K-750 motorcycle included the city of Kyiv (as a place of production) and the volume of the engine (rounded, in fact - 746 cubic cm). Presented in the museum, the K-750M is an upgraded motorcycle, the production of which was started by the plant in 1963.
However, the "Jawa-350" can not help but arouse interest. This motorcycle was once extremely popular in the republics of the former USSR. Its engine power is 26 hp and speed is up to 130 km / h. Dynamic, fast, easy and reliable, he was recognized by young people and even became a hero of songs and sayings. For him motorcyclists did not regret to pay 900 rubles, so he was among the scarce goods (for comparison, in the mid-80's. Motorcycles prices were: "Ural" - 1750, "MT-11 Dnipro" - 1640, "Izh Jupiter" - 1000, "Minsk" - 600, moped "Karpaty" - 228 rubles)…
However, the main one at this exhibition is, after all, the collection of KMP motorcycles. It covers most types of machines of the enterprise, demonstrates a number of interesting projects and is the largest among the collections of museums in Ukraine. For example, the Museum of Technology in Zaporizhia exhibits five KMP motorcycles. There is four KMP motorcycles in "Yanukovych's garage".
The exhibition of motorcycles at the State Polytechnic Museum highlights the epoch-making social changes through the prism of motorcycle construction. The equipment is complemented by posters with technical data and images of motorcycles in operation. The exhibition demonstrates the origin, prosperity and decline of domestic motorcycle construction through bright models - tangible monuments of the era. It will work until the end of the year.