It
all started with the German BMW R71 sidecar...
As
early as the 1930's, a Russian company, Uralmoto Zavod, was producing
motorcycles & sidecars in co-operation with BMW, Germany. The rising
German administration of the 30's, needed military equipment, but the
terms of surrender imposed under the Treaty of Versailles at the end
of World War I prohibited Germany. They then developed a strategy to
get around these restrictions by pursuing joint ventures with Russia.
This was achieved by the signing of a 7 year trade agreement known as
the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, (also known as the Hitler-Stalin pact or
Nazi-Soviet pact & formally known as the Treaty of Nonaggression
between Germany & the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). It was
signed in Moscow on 23 August, 1939, by the Soviet foreign minister
Vyacheslav Molotov & the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop).
Despite
this agreement, Germany apparently only ever willingly shared information
about the then new BMW R71 design. This model was only built in Germany
for a short time & in limited quantities (from 1938 to about the
end of 1939); it was a migration from the stalwart Wehrmacht BMW R12
model. The R71 signalled the move away from the conventional pressed
steel frame bikes to the higher strength oval tube frame design which
was easily able to cope with the additional stresses of a sidecar attachment.
And
then came the Russian Ural sidecar...
Germany
of course, never shared the design of the newly developed successor,
the BMW R75 with the Russians. The BMW R75 was introduced in the spring
of 1941, built according to German war ministry instructions, without
cost limitations. This high performance war machine had incredible off-road
capabilities due to its driven sidecar wheel drive, locking differential,
reverse gearbox & selectable low range gearbox.
The non-aggression treaty with Russia lasted until Operation Barbarossa
of 22 June 1941 when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union.
In
response, Russia joined forces with the Allies against Hitler. By then
Russia had obtained certain BMW tooling & the designs for the R71
& the Russian militarised R71 versions was renamed the M72. This
was almost identical to the original BMW R71.
After
the German surrender, the Allied occupation forces had "access"
to the shattered remains of Germany's once impressive automotive industry.
The BMW motorcycle factory, which had been relocated to Eisenach during
the war (where they produced the superior BMW R75), fell into German
territory occupied by the Russians. The Russians then took possession
of all the BMW blueprints & tooling & shipped the few remaining
BMW R75 motorcycles & all the production parts & blue prints
left at the factory back to Russia.
Ending
up with the Classic Chinese Changjiang CJ750 sidecar...
The
R75 dual wheel drive system design technology was also then used to
create the relatively advanced, Russian military dual wheel drive overhead-valve
"Ural" & "Dnepr" models.
During
1950, the Chinese "Peoples Liberation Army Beijing No.6 Automotive
Works" had been attempting to develop a suitable military motorcycle
by "reverse engineering" a Zundapp KS500 military motorcycle.
This machine entered production in 1951, & a total of 4248 machines
were built before responsibility for the manufacture of military motorcycles
was transferred to the Hongdu Machinery Plant & the Xingjiang Machine
Plant. Both of these factories are subsidiaries of the State-run aeronautic
manufacturing industry to this day.
Back
in the USSR, now that the original side-valve model had become obsolete,
manufacture of the old M72 (BMW R71-based) was offered to their Chinese
communist neighbors who wasted no time in dropping the KS500 based machine
for the tried & tested BMW R71/M72 design motorcycle. The BMW R71/
M72 sidecar, now renamed the "Chang Jiang" entered production
during 1957 at the Chinese Nanchang aircraft factory.
Cape Sidecar Adventures fleet of 25 sidecars is made up by these ex
PLA sidecars, all manufactured between 1965 and 1975, that have been
salvaged & lovingly restored to their former glory. Sidecar owners
the world over have the communists a lot to thank for!
HISTORY
OF THE CJ750 SIDECAR