BIKES YOU’VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE: 2012 MINSK RX450 BETA

Minsk motorcycles, scooters, ATVs and snowmobiles were produced in the Minsk Motorcycle and Bicycle Plant in the early 1950s. They are often listed as M1A motorcycles, largely because after the Second World War the Russians confiscated the equipment and designs from the German DKW factory in Zschopau as war reparations and, in 1951, production of Minsk motorcycles was moved to the Minsk Motorcycle plant in Minsk (then the capital of Belarus).

The first M1A motorcycle was released in 1951. As imported to Great Britain it was single-cylinder, two-stroke, 125cc that was a clone of the DKW RT125. In England it was rebadged as “Neval.” Neval Motorcycles were originally a Cossack dealer (Cossack was a generic name for many hard to pronounce Russian-made motorcycles imported into Great Britain).

Neval Motorcycles took over importation of the Minsk in the mid 1970’s, then took over the sole concession to import most of the Soviet motorcycles in 1979 until withdrawing from the motorcycle side of their businessin the mid-1990s. Minsk motorcycles were among the Soviet Bloc motorcycles that were distributed by SATRA (Soviet American Trade Association), which also included Izh-Jupiter, Voskhod, Ural and Sunrise up until 1979. From 1973 to 1979, all Soviet motorcycles sold in the West were rebadged as Cossacks.

Today, Minsk is a private company and imports Chinese-made motorcycles under the Minsk brand—mostly four-stroke street bikes from 50cc to 650cc.

 It’s only serious motocross bikes were the 2011-2012 Minsk RX450 and RX250. The RX450 used an Italian Beta four-stroke engine, with a six-speed transmission, 39mm Keihin FCR carband a claimed weight was 242 pounds (without fuel), but if you filled up the 3 gallon gas tank, it would weigh 260 pounds. The suspension components are made by Fast Ace. The forks are inverted and the shock does not have linkage. Fast Ace suspension components are made in China and have focused on electric bike manufacturers like Surron.