Is it a Bimmer? Is it a Ural? Is it a IMZ? No, it's a CJ!!

When I first saw these bikes on the streets of Beijing during the olympics, my immediate thought was "Cheap bimmer knock off".

After some research on the web recently I have discovered otherwise and found some interesting facts, pics, sites and clips of this awesome old school (for real) bike, the CJ750.

According to a wiki article on the CJ750:

"The CJ750 motorcycle is based on the 1956 Soviet IMZ (Irbitski Mototsikletniy Zavod) M-72 which was derived from the 1938 BMW R71. Nearly all of them have sidecars. They are often erroneously referred to as BMW "replicas" when in fact, they are copies (or "knock-offs") of the IMZ M72. The term "replica" implies many things that aren't applicable to these machines.

Production began in the late 1950s or early 1960s. (Different sources cite different dates.) They were originally produced for the Chinese military and are powered by an air-cooled, four-stroke, opposed flat-twin engine displacing 746cc. The rear wheel is shaft-driven........

.......CJ technological history includes racing bikes, experimental engines and futile attempts at modernizing the appearance of a long obsolete machine. In the 1990s, China opened its markets to foreign motorcycle manufacturers which expedited the end of CJ750 mass production. Today, the marque is kept alive by interest from foreign hobbyists."

There are many different sites on the internet with info on this bike and there are plenty more that sell and ship them across the world. Here are some pics I've found from one such site called cj750.net.

Different paint schemes of the same bike, really makes a difference in the look of the bike.

Here are some clips I found on youtube of CJ owners from different parts of the world.

From the USA, Mr Greg Stewart of ScooterBob's EuroBike. Check out their web site, they import, restore and sell these babies.

From Japan, a youtube user "nitroyouki" has done a great job on his CJ.

An expat in Beijing having some fun on a CJ.