So yet again a wayward oddball thing finds it's way to me. This time a Russian Izh Planeta 5 cycle/sidecar. It is a 350cc, two stroke bike. She be kick start only, with a decompression lever too. Claims to only have 50 miles on it. Which I find suspicious, but the factory tires still have the nubs! I'm cleaning out the tank, and carb right now. Nothing like New Old Stock right? For now it is squeezed right beside me trabi.
It has a title, so yes on the registering it. As for a year,...... I really don't know. This is very common with odd imported vehicles here. The paper work says one thing, when you kinda know otherwise. At best guess early 90's. Either way it started last night. Sounds like 4 angry trabi's in a tug of war. Quite the racket!
Currently on E Bay, there are two of those for sale. Neither have a sidecar, but the gasser is $13,000 plus and the diesel is $100,000. I had no idea they were that valuable. They are listed on motorcycles under "other" for brand.
Yeah somehow I don't think they are worth that. In Russia a decent condition one is a few hundred $'s. Notice they are in Russia? Mine was in NY.... For crap sake, mine has 50 miles on it..... Now it isn't a one off factory diesel. Or exactly rare by the brand.... Just obscure for this part of the world. Not to mention I plan to ring every bit of life out of it too!
I've had a few things to straighten out on the IZH. Finally got all the rock hard varnish out of that tank. Put on new tires & tubes. New wheel bearings all way around. For what ever reason those factory bearings were simply crap... I finally went to my local DMV(motor vehicle department). Found out they had to put in IZH into the system. This means it is the only one in registered in the state. . Rebuilt the carb, so now it doesn't puke fuel everywhere. Whenever it was imported someone had a Harley fuel petcock bung welded onto the tank.... Did a good job though.. Replaced all the bulbs. Really think this bike skipped quality control. The throttle grip had plastic flashing/ tremendous burrs that held the grip open. Had to disassemble the ignition switch. Didn't come with a key... A hand filed blank works for now(same as Ural)... Still trying to track down a tool kit. These seem much more rare than the bikes. I'm on the fence about replacing the engine oils seals. Yeah there "New" but near 30 years old... Might leave it for now. The switches on this bike already feel like they may fall apart at any time... Has almost no use.. The steering is like somewhere between trying to stir cold mashed potatoes, and arm wrestling a bear.. It runs on 1:25 mix. So its loud, drinks fuel, smokes like a freight train, and the quality is very suspect... I love it!
I thought about bidding on this! Glad it went to a good home! I saw a ton of Izh running around when I lived in Kazakhstan. I wish now I would have thrown one of those in the container with the other bikes!
I know what you mean about not having a bike in the system... MZ was not in their database and certainly not "M72". That bike is just officially called a "Ural" now. even though it far predates any motorcycle being called a Ural. As you can imagine, Trabants fared no better....
I got this Izh from a former Ural dealer. He said it was a bit "thinly built" for his taste. It stayed in the front of his dealership for near 15 years. Many wanted to buy it, but knew nothing about it. They all thought it was something you could just get on and go. So he always pushed the Urals more..
Sounds like it went to a good home! Do you know what specifically belongs in the tool kit? I may have at least SOME of the tools that belong with it.
Well kinda, here is one. Really don't need it, but of course it would be nice... I have the tire pump, it clips into the frame. Took it out and poof, it fell apart... I don't know if it's a good home but its here until something else shiny, old, neglected, or cheap obscure thing comes along..
Well, should it come up for sale... Not that I need an Izh, but I might be interested if I happen to have cash at the same time you want to re-home it.
I'll let you know if, or when it does- right now I'm waiting on spring... Plus I've never been around sidecars. Just takes some getting used to. Not to mention learning how to kick start it, without shattering your ankle each time. Even with a decompression lever-" It's scary!".
I know what you mean! The M-72 is quite an ankle buster! It has 750cc s though and a cantankerous personality. The nice thing about a side car is that mud, snow/ice etc. are much less of a problem. You can do things you never would with a conventional bike! I’ll take a look and see what all I have in the Soviet tool department.
Took the plunge yesterday, and went riding this IZH. Might have put 15 miles on. Was a quite chilly, right around freezing. The bike runs very well, with that said-it feels like a chain saw strapped to a wheel barrow! If I could describe it in a word " Rickety" would do nicely. A Trabi feels refined compared to this thing. Completely understand why the Ural dealer left it in his show room. Still like it though, just takes some getting used to... Can honestly say I didn't see it smoke at all going down the road. To be fair, the mirror went limp.... Right before I left the house, it fogged things up so bad the cloud should show up on a satellite image. That reminds me, last night I was checking the weather forecast. It said to avoid going outside due to "Poor air quality". Need I say more?
Wow! Sounds like fun! turned very cold in Kansas. Too cold for motorcycles or Soviet wrench hunting in the garage.
Had another go with it, here's a video: Quickly realized how badly aligned it is. Not beign around sidecars, I had no idea. It was leaning hard towards the sidecar. Thats a no no! Took all my strength to hold it straight with a passenger along. Watched a thing on how to setup Urals, so I got it straightened out. Haven't tested it out yet..
Here are the specifications for proper alignment. This is from a manual that pre-dates the Planeta, but I think the physics should be the same.
Thanks for that! I found the specs for my exact model. I set it up for 2 degrees lean out, 19 mm toe in. My book said a max of 25 mm toe . I'll report back soon.. Also that sidecar mount in your picture looks almost identical to mine. really a interesting design.
