Chris Drucker

Regarding the mystery two stroke motorcycle with a flying duck on the tank “spotted in New Zealand” by Peter Edwards. I saw the very same bike in that very same museum, but as I had owned 3 of them, I was surprised and pleased to see it there.

Satra UK tried to sell it under the Cossack Minsk nomenclature in the early 70’s.

The Minsk produced 9.5 bhp at about 5,750 rpm, had a kerb weight of 221lbs and had 2.75 x 18 front / 3.00 x 18 rear Fung Keong tyres! Price new in 1976/77 was £171.60p inc. VAT and came with 3 months / 3000 miles guarantee. Satra failed to sell many and flogged a large amount to Neval of Hull who started outing them at the very cheap price above.

Bike Magazine, already a fan of Russian motorcycles because of earlier road tests of the 175/350cc models, complained they were lethal due to no brakes worth calling by that name. They tested one with half a dozen or more other 125cc offerings in 1977. They loved it so much they took a photograph of it on a rubbish dump which I believe is where they tried to leave it!

In September 1979 my new 250 Honda was badly damaged by a car that pulled out on me. As I only had TPF&T I needed cheap wheels until I could claim money for its repair. Could the Neval Minsk 125 be that bad? I ordered a March 8th 1978 registered bike, frame number 100677, license plate YAG 676 S. This was a Satra 1975 built bike and I paid £125, including drop bars, for it.

Delivery in October 1979 showed 6,200 miles and a soft front tyre. I started pumping the tyre up but accidentally over inflated it to 10psi too high. I was horrified to see three large golf ball sized bumps appear in the side wall. Both tyres were immediately junked for a pair of Continentals.

I found the bike very slow, even for 1979, but I did get a nice 98mpg, a personal best, from the original Jikov Carb. Pretty quickly I realised that the front brake had no effect whatsoever and had to rely upon a fierce rear brake. This made life in the rush hour commute real interesting (going sideways around the Hampton Court roundabout in the wet).

The bike also had a huge gap between third and top gear. The slightest incline had to be charged at top speed which quickly evaporated leaving you crawling up every hill or rise. After a short time the seat cover split so I bought a leopard skin cover from Dennis Heath Motorcycle Breakers in Twickenham. I always carried a spare plug and bulbs but only needed the plug once. However, the tail lamp bulb used to blow from time to time.

It was the only offender. The indicators (direct system) could be useful, but only after dark. They were dim even by the standards of the day and they did not flash much! There was also the occasional loose connection to watch out for. In January

1980 the baffle broke up but all spares cost pennies and it was cheaply replaced.

At 9,200 miles the sub standard front wheel bearings gave up the ghost. It also transpired that the fork oil had smothered the badly fitted front brake shoes. Due to badly riveted shoes having scored the drum I needed a replacement hub also. I picked up from good old Dennis Heath from a crashed new model electronic Minsk (13.5bhp).

They had a redesigned front brake which I laced into my old wheel rim. While there I bought the later Bing type carb. The front brake was now acceptable for day to day predictable stuff; however, in an emergency you needed to swerve fast. After experiencing the original it was still great.

The carb made an improvement to the bike’s torque which helped with third to top gear. But the lack of pull up hill it was still there, and something you learned to live with! Later still I had Ferodo linings fitted to the front brake. I followed the bedding in instructions to the letter and then went to a quiet stretch of road to do a test emergency stop. Not being too reckless, I tried this at 15mph which turned out to be a very wise decision. As I breaked I heard a crack like a rifle going off. The bike stopped so fast that the rear wheel left the ground and nearly came over my shoulder. The back plate must have been faulty and shattered, jamming the wheel solid. A new back plate bought for pennies and the Russian linings went back in! Faulty one-off, or could they all be like this? I had no intention of finding out.

The bike drew a lot of attention from people as they had never seen one before and wanted to know what it was. I never saw another one the roads of Surrey / Middlesex in my travels. It was reliable and got me to work and the Cranford Motorcycle Club in Henton. I used it all the time until, 6 months later, I got my Honda fixed.

By this time I had bought another 2 bikes, one new and unregistered, to break for spares as they were cheap. My main bike had occasional use for a bit until it went into the garden shed and stayed there for as couple of years.

Brought out in 1983 it quickly went wrong, thought to be a crank seal failure or similar, it was pushed back into the shed and left there until 1988.I then sold it, and other bikes, to a guy who wanted to put YAG 6796 S on the road. However, DVLA records show that it was never re-taxed after 1983.I wonder weather the long spells of inaction in the cold shed did for the engine bearings? Or weather, like the wheel bearings, they may have been sub standard?

Chris