ABOUT THE BOOK
This book provides the first accessible English language account of motorcycles in the Soviet Union. Concentrating on the wartime and postwar period until 1990, prior to the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, it covers the motorcycles produced, and looks at the way in which they were used at home and exported abroad.
Chapters cover wartime, models produced, the social character of Soviet era motorcycling, and wide-ranging sport. With planned, rather than market-led, production based around copies of pre-war German BMW and DKW models, the industry churned out hundreds of thousands of utilitarian and rugged machines that were very different from the more fashion-orientated machines produced in the West. These motorcycles went under the place names of the producing factories: Ishevsk, Kovrov, Moskva, Minsk and, of course, the large flat twins produced in Irbit and Kiev under the Ural and Dnepr names.
With a strong emphasis on Soviet era illustrations, the book provides an insight into a life based on idealism and ideology that has now passed. Period photographs and images, many of them from private family collections, show Soviet bikes as well as popular imports Jawa from Czechoslovakia, and Pannonia from Hungary.
Motorcycles & Motorcycling in the USSR from 1939
by Colin Turbett
ISBN: 9781787113145
UPC: 6-36847-01314-1
AVAILABLE NOW!
$40.00 (US), $53.00(CAN)
BULLET POINTS
- The first English language text on postwar motorcycles produced in the Soviet Union
- Technical information on every motorcycle produced in the USSR between 1941 and 1990
- Extensive use of previously unavailable material
- Fully illustrated throughout in both black and white and colour
- A fascinating insight into the lives of ordinary citizens in the USSR
- Hidden history of Soviet motorcycle sport – from ice-racing and speedway to road-racing
- Rare family photographs illustrating the place of motorcycles in social life in the USSR
- 20th Century Socialist-Realist iconography applied to motorcycling
- Aspects of motorcycling not seen elsewhere – bears as riders, camels as passengers!
- Describes state production of utilitarian motorcycles on a scale not seen before or since
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Colin got his first motorcycle at age 15 and has owned, built, and cried over, mostly British bikes ever since. He currently looks after a 1949 BSA Gold Star, as well as a modern bike. Colin spent a long career in social work in the West of Scotland through which he was a successful textbook author. In recent years motorcycle trips to Eastern Europe have triggered an interest in the utilitarian machines produced there during the Communist years. He has always been interested in the history of the Soviet Union, and this book brings several of his passions together.
Place of birth: Plymouth, Devon • Hometown: Isle of Arran • Nearest city: Glasgow
SPECIFICATION
V5314 • Hardback • 9.84 x 8.14 in •128 pages • 286 colour and b&w pictures • ISBN: 978-1-787113-14-5 • UPC: 6-36847-01314-1
MORE INFORMATION
For information about distribution of Veloce’s books in the United States and Canada, please contact John Groton, Director of Distribution Services [email protected] or 978-282-3562
View sample pages and sample text on our website – https://www.veloce.co.uk or request at [email protected]
IMAGES
Front cover images in various resolutions are available from Veloce [email protected], or can be copied from our website – https://www.veloce.co.uk/newsletter/sellercovers/9781787113145.jpg
RETAIL SALES
Veloce books are stocked by (or can be ordered from) bookshops by quoting the correct ISBN number. We also take orders direct: telephone +44 1305 260068, fax +44 1305 250479 or e-mail [email protected]. Books can also be ordered on our website – https://www.veloce.co.uk or from https://www.quartoknows.com/Quarto-Drives and other web retailers.
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