Conceived as a replacement for the two heavy motorcycles used by the Red Army, the TIZ-AM-600 and PMZ-A-750, both of which had performed unsatisfactorily during the Winter War against Finland and were considered outdated designs. The replacement chosen was the BMW R71, which had been rejected by the German Wehrmacht as a replacement for the R12.

The BMW M73 is a naturally-aspirated, single overhead camshaft (SOHC), V12 petrol engine which replaced the BMW M70 and was produced from 1993 to 2002. It was used in the BMW E38 7 Series, E31 8 Series and Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph.

This page was last edited on 21 December 2012, at 21:08 (UTC).

Jul 28, 2009 · 1939 — Using smuggled BMW R71s, Soviet military designers reverse-engineer the bike that will become known as the M72. Production begins at a plant in Moscow.

The M in M72 stands for Mototsikl which equates to the German R for Rad as in Motorrad. There were two plants to build the M72, one in Moscow and one in Leningrad (St. Petersburg).

Jun 14, 2010 · Is this a M72 restored with BMW parts or an r71 with russian parts? The tank, electrics, and a few other parts are Russian. The heads look M72 but have OZ-74 casting marks. The engine case has the two circles where there should be the BMW emblems, but they have been ground down along with the serial number.

This bike built in 1954 has undergone a full rebuild with brand new side car boat, ammo boxes, mudguards, wiring loom and comes with plenty of spare parts. Tax and MOT exempt, V5 included.

Aug 26, 2013 · BMW did play with a DOHC engine that was called the M72 engine, not much is known about this engine and it never reached production. This is a picture and statement from the BMW Dimensions book "The History of Engines-Engines …

Based on BMW R-71, the pre-WWII model, the Soviet heavy motorcycle M-72 was produced from 1941 to the mid-1950s. The design work was commenced in 1939 when the Soviet government, alarmed with Hitler’s ambitions for expanding German-controlled territory, started the rearmament of the Red Army.

Jun 9, 2014 · The Russian M-72 is a motorcycle that was actually designed in Germany by BMW, the Wehrmacht rejected the model as the planned replacement for the R12 but the Russians loved the design and due to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, BMW were able to sell the design and tooling to the Russians as a replacement for both the TIZ-AM-600 and PMZ-A-750 ...