Junak - The polish Harley

Junak - The polish Harley

If I feel pity for any domestic product of the motorization industry, then it especially is the Junak - a great motorcycle, which should be modernised and produced until this very day.

Basic model - Junak M10 (after modernisation)

The Junak design emerged from the Warsaw Motor Industry's Construction Bureau (BKPMot).

The team was led by expert motorcycle constructors with experience from the pre-war National Engineering Works (PZInz), Jan Ignatowicz and Stefan Porazinski. The name Junak was related to the popular Fiat 508, which was made in PZInz in the 30's, and at the same time it brought to mind the gallant members of the those days young men's labour brigades.

Theoretic work began in 1952. In the beginning it was supposed to be a heavy motorcycle - mainly for the military - with a 500 cm3 engine, but the project was changed and in effect a 350 cm3 class vehicle was created. It was shown for the first time on the expo in "Hala Ludowa" in Wroclaw, arranged in 1954, in occasion with the 10'th anniversary of Polish People's Republic.

The Junak immediately created a sensation. Articles, published in among others the "Motor", were calling on instant serial production of the motorcycle. But this was problematic. The Stettin's Metal Part Production Plant, which was to manufacture the Junak, was not prepared for it, lacking vital tools. The co-operators also needed to create the instrumentation. Initial in 1956 the first 30 motorcycles were made, nearly by hand. During the next year only 253 Junaks rolled off the production line. In January 1958 WSM took on the name "Szczecin's Motorcycles Factory"(SFM), and began an expansion, in order to produce 20 thousand units of to-wheelers a year. These skills were achieved in 1962, producing exactly 20 127 motorcycles.

Still in Poland they were hard to obtain, as export began. Junaks were successfully sold in Bulgaria, Cuba, Mongolia, Venezuela, Uruguay, Turkey, Libya, Syria, Hungary and ... the USA. On the other hand, other motorcycles as Jawa, Izh, Simson and MZ began to flow into Poland.

In the sixty's the Junak got a few variations - a sidecar, a load crate, a cross version - and had a serious facelift. The headlight got a smooth casing, which was integrated with the suspension fork, got a deeper mudguard, more efficient brakes were introduced, the chain was encapsulated and the exhaust changed.

The motorcycle - in a standard version - cost nearly 23 thousand PLZ, and was quite expensive compared with the average salary of 2,5 thousand PLZ. Potential consumers - in their twenties - were making an average of 1500 PLZ. Imported motorcycles were cheaper, and the Junak began to lose national market, although not enough to stop production. Unfortunately the central leadership of PPR decided to shut down SFM. It transformed into the co-operators of the FSO and FSM and began manufacturing of steering controls and transmission valves. In 1964 SFM engineers developed a prototype of a modern motorcycle "Iskra" with a two cylinder engine, but production plans were never discussed. Polish People's Republic garrotted a greatly expanding motorcycle industry, because the "Council for Mutual Economic Aid" strategy said so. The two-wheelers were to be in the domain of DDR, Czechoslovakia and USSR...

Zbigniew D. Skoczek

(translated by Kristoffer Malewski - Denmark)
krzych at vip.cybercity.dk