What Was the First Ukrainian Motorcycle Like

Few people know that motorcycles have been produced in Ukraine since 1931. The pioneer was the KhMZ-1M, produced at the Kharkiv Automobile Assembly Plant in a quantity of 300 units.To this day, only one KhMZ-1M has survived, reports Auto-Consulting. The motorcycle was developed by designer Soldatenko.It is noteworthy that the Ukrainian motorcycle was created with an eye on Harley Davidson – an American bike was purchased and it covered 4000 km during tests. In particular, they borrowed the design of the front fork from Harley.The KhMZ-1M was equipped with a 350 cc 8-horsepower air-cooled engine and a 3-speed manual transmission. It accelerated up to 90 km/h and consumed 3.5 l/100 km.

The motorcycle featured a chain drive and brakes on both wheels. A distinctive feature of the KhMZ-1M was two main headlights.In 1932, it was planned to produce a batch of 4000 motorcycles, and they even began supplying them to the army. However, the model was then scrapped, as the Soviet government did not plan to produce bikes in Kharkiv.