Editor’s Note: A few weeks ago, I discovered a gentleman named Monty Myrtle. His story is very cool – and I’m going to try to get him to do an interview soon. But for now, you need to know he’s an American ex-pat that’s currently in Kiev, Ukraine. When he’s not working, he’s busy exploring the area on two wheels and chronicling his trips on his site, The Traveling Myrt. Now he’s going one step further and occasionally sharing some cool Russian bikes for sale so you can broaden your knowledge!
In Monty’s words:
Freshly restored to better than new! This thing has it all! If the parts weren’t available they were made. The 3 speed gear box shifts better than it would have in 1938.
This was a mix mash of things. It was the first “heavy” motorcycle manufactured in the Soviet Union, from 1934-39. A total of 4,636 bikes were made some with and without sidecars. the PMZ stood for the Podilisky Motorcycle Factory, the A stands for the ability to attach a sidecar to the bike and the 750 is the size of the V twin motor.
If this bike looks familiar to anyone its because it was pieced together with examples from other manufacturers. The two main things being the frame, a copy of a BMW frame with the tank set inside the frame rails, and the motor, which was a direct copy of a Harley motor of the era.
Originally built with the military in mind some were also produced for the general public. They didn’t last long though due to some deficiencies that the engineers couldn’t overcome. There was a horrible wheel wobble at low speeds, the engine was horrible balanced and there was issues with the ignition. Once the Soviet Union acquired the plans of to copy the BMW R-71 these bikes ceased production.
This PMZ is available here on Old-Time for a hefty $124,500!