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We found it in a small village (selo in Ukrainian) 215 kilometers from Kiev. It was owned by a kolhoznik (a farmer working for the state) who got the right to buy a motorcycle for his dedicated work for a salary equaling 25 $ per month. All relatives helped to gather the needed money. Then there was a trip to Kiev to actually pay the money. And he was promised delivery ExWorks in three weeks. He waited for 36 weeks to pick it up from the warehouse. It was a happening when the bike got Home. It could be compared to something that happens once in a life time. When the sale was complete the former owner with a tear in his eye gave us some spares and the original front fork. As the bike was purchased on the 19 of January and there was a grate Orthodox holyday We sat at the table and had a couple of glasses of home made Vodka Samogon (moonshine) the kolhoznik carefully asked what were our plans for the M72, Dnepr, First technical love (this will be the nick for this bike "First Love") and when the reply was that we are planning to give the second life to "First Love", we hade some more Samogon. You can see the views around [Click on the picture to get it enlarged in a new window...]:
We brought First Love to our reanimation (intensive care) place. The diagnose from first glance was not of to bright. After complete disassembly we evaluated the bits & parts some of them were sent to junk. Then we gave parts for sandblasting. Engine parameters were measured and this was a surprise that the cylinders are having the first overhaul, first repair set. This clearly shows that the mileage is true. The former owner cherished the machine. He kept it in good shape. He used it carefully and did not steam it. If he would have used it occasionally for the last five years it would have been running still.
Finally “First love” is out of restoration. What more can we say. Look what a beauty she is. She has made her fist 9 kilometers after the “cold” brake-in of the engine. We will give careful instructions to the future owner how to treat this bike for the first 1500 kilometers. We rode it. Handles nice and easy, it is relatively a light machine. Controls are soft. First gear placement is a bit rough but it is normal for a new gearbox, clutch and bits & pieces. The pull is wonderful. Do you want to continue the story…
Is this the end of the story… We got to the last part of our story, First Love was shipped to the US. Production guys have preserved here to withstand the most aggressive environment ever. The recipe for the job was dug out of an old army manual. We have designed a special crate for the bike. We did not want to take the wheels off to cause less trouble for the future owner as he will have to “unpreserve” the Bike.
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