Made in Belarus

The 125cc single cylinder two stroke Minsk motorcycle was copied from the pre-WWII designed and built German DKW RT125. This same DKW spawned many other copies by such as BSA, CZ, WSK (Poland), Harley Davidson, Yamaha (model YA-1). Although many of these were copies stolen from DKW after the WWII, the Minsk copy may have been before the WWII and even with permission. The DKW factory became the MZ factory after WWII – but that is another story.

The Minsk is made in a factory in the city of Minsk that is the capital of the ex Soviet state of Belarus. The Minsk motorcycles have now become quite advanced with early introduction of electronic ignition and 12 volt electrics. They seem to be quite reliable. Belarus is also famous for its tough tractors sold under the name of the country.

Some of the more modern Minsks are shown elsewhere in this publication, here we see models from 1946 to 1960. Aside – MZ were the first manufacturer to develop 200bhp per litre, with 25 bhp from their 125cc racing engine. One of the MZ designers and racing motorcycle riders defected from MZ to Suzuki in the around the late 1960s. He helped design and develop the Suzuki 500cc square four two stroke that Englishman Barry Sheene rode to victory in the 1970s. It used the same bore and stroke as the MZ and DKW and developed just over 100 bhp!