Brief
history of Chang Jiang motorcycles
Germany
The
story goes that the 1938 BMW R71 had been copied
by the Russians before WWII (not sure if a deal
was made with the BMW company directly) .
The
Russians named it the "M-72" , wich
evolved to become "DNEPR" and "URAL".
China and Russia being good friends,
the M-72 was not only adopted by China for their
army and police, but from the 1950's the russians
gavent them the plans and toolings to fabricate
the bikes themselves.
... And they still make them today !!
N.B.: R71 from
BMW has been copied also by the french CEMEC, the
swiss with the CONDOR, the Americans with their HARLEY
XA 1942 and a few others.
