Recently, I was looking at another two-wheeled rarity of the Soviet era. So, in conversation, the seller casually has told that at his neighbor in a garage there is a practical new Izh Planet Sports of 70th years with run only 170 kilometers!
I've been trying to find a motorcycle in a state of "time capsule" for a long time, so this information literally shocked me: to find in our time even a stock PS-350 without a collective farm - is already a great luck. The next day we managed to reach an agreement with the owner of Izha about viewing the equipment.
However, as it often happens, the reality was a little different. Behind a garage gate I was really not bad Izh Planet Sports, but on an odometer froze figures of 6578 kilometers.
Nevertheless - a copy of a really good 1977 issue. Judge for yourself: a single owner, who in 1978 personally bought it in the Kiev store "Sports Goods" for 1050 Soviet rubles - it was a gift to himself on the Army de Na fast motorcycle actively rode just a few years, and then went to the family, work and cars. Izsak left his "stall" less and less often, and then went to the garage for a long time for a demo!
Nevertheless - a copy of a really good 1977 issue. Judge for yourself: a single owner, who in 1978 personally bought it in the Kiev store "Sports Goods" for 1050 Soviet rubles - it was a gift to himself on the Army de Na fast motorcycle actively rode just a few years, and then went to the family, work and cars. Izsak left his "stall" less and less often, and then went to the garage for a long time for a demo!
Kolkhoz here minimum: there are protective arches from pipes, and also a massive trunk because of which even the back lamp is displaced.
The orange paint was still factory paint, only the right side cover was painted with a brush (not very neatly). By the way, besides the most mass orange, "Sports" also painted yellow and green, but they are much rarer
Formally, the production of the model began in 1973, but then the pilot pilot batch (500 copies) of these motorcycles was seen, which was not intended for free sale. Izh PS entered the official trade network of the USSR only in 1974.
The motorcycle was very different from the brothers on the conveyor belt of the Izhevsk motorcycle factory both externally and by design. When creating the model, Soviet specialists drew inspiration from Japanese motorcycles of the late 60's and early 70's (for example, Suzuki T250 Super Six, Yamaha 350R5, Kawasaki A1 Samurai). Among our PS bikers, he was considered almost a "foreign car".
The price of the first "Sports" was quite high - 1050 rubles, and later it rose to 1200 rubles - more expensive than imported Czech "Java"!
By the way, it was on the early models that imported spare parts and components were widely used, which were purchased abroad for foreign currency. This is a modern carburetor of the famous Japanese company Mikuni, and shock absorbers Koni, electrical equipment Denso, headlights Hella, Japanese lighting equipment, catapults and remotes. Over the years, all this has been gradually replaced by domestically produced parts, which affects the quality.
Absolutely new 340-cube engine "Sport" was first in the USSR equipped with a system of separate lubrication (ceased to be installed in 1977). The engine power was 32 hp, which combined with low dry weight (135 kg) allowed this motorcycle to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in just 11 seconds, and the maximum speed was 140 km/h! Thus, the "single" with a dry weight of 135 kg had a specific power of 237 hp / t
The power unit was attached to the frame not rigidly, but through rubber cushions, which reduced the vibration load, but later it was abandoned for cheapening.
Just at the end of 1977, the Japanese carburetor gave way to the Soviet K-62M, engineers also reduced the degree of compression to please the resource and resistance to detonation: engine power decreased to 28 hp. Before me - this is the transition modification: already with the domestic carburetor, but with Japanese turntables and remote controls.
After the discontinuation of Izh PS production in 1984, their owners faced a massive shortage of spare parts. Many fans of the model were engaged in garage "tuning" - put a piston M-412 (of the right diameter, but with a large hole in the finger) adjusted to the standard connecting rod, or to the piston group cross CZ-514. The capacity was slightly increased, but the service life was reduced to one season.