ADChina_08_2_00
The rising German administration of the 30's needed military equipment, but the terms of surrender imposed at the end of WW I prohibited Germany from any form of military vehicle production. So born the then new BMW R71 design as a civil veichel model built in Germany for a short time. BMW R71 signaled the move to the higher strength oval tube frame design which was easily able to cope with the additional stresses of a sidecar attachment (guns!). Tens of thousands of these bikes were made for the German army for the WWII. The evolution was the BMW R75, introduced in the spring of 1941. After the German surrender, the Allies had access to the shattered remains of Germany's once impressive automotive industry. The BMW motorcycle factory, which had been relocated to East Germany during the war (and producing the BMW R75), fell into Russian hands. The Russians took possession of all the BMW blueprints and tooling and all the production parts left at the factory back to Russia, The M72 were born. The Russians were great allies of China and at the end of 50Ís the story move to the next evolution of the sidecar motorcycle. So, from Hitler to Stalin and Stalin gave it to Mao. The Chinese made millions of these bikes and in the 1960s and 1970s they were everywhere in China. The BMW R71/ M72 was renamed the "long river 750" which became the CJ750. Since the start of the use of the CJ750 sidecar, the PLA ordered 30,000 of these bikes every year. Thus from the start of production in 1956 till 2005 over 1.5 million Chang Jiang 750 sidecars were built.
