Hacking: Cossack mutterings

The trouble with these bikes (and they encompass quite a few models - from Bantam like 125 and 175 to a heavy 650 series of flat twins),is that people buy them expecting modern technology and because they are not Classic British Iron they tend to mistreat them in a way which is a good testament to the durability of said bikes; any Jap or Italian bike would be totalled with the treatment some of these bikes take. No, the combo won’t do 90mph down a motorway and the little Cossack two— strokes won’t run on minimal maintenance for ever, however we are talking about machinery that is some of the cheapest around. The Ruskis make around two million bikes a year which makes the Cossack very cheap to begin with, and with rapid depreciation, used ones can be bought for coppers.

I bought a Voskhod for £5 that ran and when I bought my Dnepr 650 with chair for £140 with 210 miles on the clock, a talk with the owner who sold me the bike enabled me to understand why a lot of people don’t get on with them - "I haven’t quite run in the bike yet and yet it should be able to pull me and the wife and daughter around, yet it has difficulties going up hills at 60mph and I have to tinker with it at least once a week." Poor sod, I have friends with Triumphs who would envy the six days a week off from their, er, pride and joy.

The first thing to do to the flat twin is a set of modifications which will enable you to get an awful lot of trouble free miles out of the bike (mileages of 70 - 80,000 plus are not uncommon). Whether you’ve bought the bike new or secondhand, these include a strip down of the engine to replace all the brittle Russian bearings with good British ’uns. When rebuilding, use plenty of Loctite and Brit gaskets and oil seals. Take the Russian carbs in one hand, pull back shoulder and throw as hard and far away as possible. These dreadful contraptions are perfectly permissible in the Soviet Union, where their version of two star costs 25 pence a gallon. Incidentally, the thing that looks like a tea strainer in the top of the petrol tank stops mud, stones and Yak hairs from getting into the engine from the paraffin like petrol - their highest rated petrol would probably just make it as quarter star over here. High compression ratios and miserly fuel consumption have no real meaning in the Soviet Union. Change the carbs for either Amals or SUs.

Change the ignition for electronic as soon as possible. Rita do a conversion kit which is excellent, I fitted one to my bike after lots of ignition problems and it’s never let me down. Put a battery of the largest size you can fit in the bike or sidecar. Make sure the tyres are not trials types which make the bike a pig to handle and check the suspension is not knackered - you don’t need to throw the shocks away, just fill up with oil to the recommended line.

Incidentally, if you’re thinking of turning it into a poor man's Wermacht Chair (yes, we’ve all see A Bridge Too Far) then buy the MT9 model or the Ural which have saddle seats and a correctly shaped tank. The UMG’s comment that these bikes when equipped with chairs are good vehicles for causing grievous bodily harm to car drivers was borne out by a friend who had a Cortina pull out on him, the combo caught the edge of the car in such a way that it practically pushed the Cortina onto its side, whilst damage to the Cossack was limited to a few scratches and a broken sidelight. When the Cortina driver finally managed to scramble out my mate got his own back on years of haif blind car drivers by saying, "Sorry, mate, I didn’t see you." So there you go, buy a Cossack and redress the balance.

The little two-strokes are not to be confused with the much maligned but quite wonderful MZ two-strokes, even though they both come from behind the Iron Curtain. One (MZ), is a great little workhorse, that will run on minimal maintenance and is fine for those without airs and graces. The others (Minsk, Voskhod, Planeta amongst others), don’t even know what airs and graces are. The main difference being that you can pick one of these chaps up for a lot less than the cost of a tax disc and MOT. Change the tyres for anything not original - they last for huge mileages but slide around so much that you’re just asking for it in the wet. Most don’t have batteries, so no problems there, in fact, the wiring loom is so basic it makes a Honda moped loom look complex. MZ electronic ignition can usually be force fitted and Russian bulbs are so dim that they'll be replaced after the first evenings ride.

The thing to remember, though, is that despite all their drawbacks, these bikes are great if you like confusing people because they're so rare; rare enough to make LC riders ask if it’ll really do 140mph (the speedo is calibrated in kph). Like the bikes, spares are , wonderfully cheap or another bike can be bought for spares.

I would recommend joining the Cossack Owners Club (well, I would, I’m Researcher and Membership Secretary), as a lot of the problems and conversions are.common knowledge and will save you time and money, removing a lot of the frustration of running and restoring these Iron Curtain bikes. This is especially pertinent because few dealers or, garages will know anything about them.

F Kwest