KMZ - Kiev Motor Zavod

Kiev Motor Zavod, a massive factory complex in the heart of Kiev, Ukraine, began producing Dnepr motorcycles in the early 1950s. 

KMZ operated two separate assembly lines, one for civilian models and the other for military and police motorcycles. 


One of the numerous urban legends associated with the Dnepr motorcycle is that the military Dneprs were inspected by Ministry of Defense officers before acceptance, which is why the military Dnepr models are generally high quality.  Is this true? 

Although Dnepr military motorcycles have logbooks those merely record the acceptance dates, daily usage and service data that is found in military logbooks around the world, but nothing about their early days at the factory.  Somewhere that history still exists -- those archives certainly exist -- and could form the basis of a fascinating historical study of a unique, sadly extinct military-industrial marvel.

The many urban legends associated with the "Dnepr story" begin shortly after the end of World War II -- the Great Patriotic War.

The standard version of how the Dnepr motorcycle came to be produced in Kiev is that the factory was converted from armored vehicle production to motorcycle production when the BMW motorcycle factory fell into Soviet hands at war's end.

Kiev Auto Zavod developed into a massive complex producing armored vehicles following the November 1943 liberation of the Ukrainian capitol.  KMZ produced the massive SU-152 Self Propelled Gun, variously known as "Conquering Beast" or "Animal Killer" for its ability to defeat the late-war German Tiger, Panther and Elephant armored fighting vehicles.

One SU-152 is still on display in the center of the Kiev factory complex.

At the end of The Great Patriotic War eastern Germany was occupied by the victorious Soviet forces.  Almost immediately there began a massive "transfer" of technology from Germany to the Soviet Union. 

According to the "Dnepr Urban Legend," one of the hundreds of industrial facilities that was taken from Germany was the BMW motorcycle factory at Eisenach.

According to local sources in Ukraine, the entire motorcycle factory and many of its technical personnel was moved from Eisenach to Kiev beginning in the late 1940s. The transfer of the BMW factory from Eisenach, is generally considered to be true by many Dnepr scholars.

Dnepr motorcycle advertisement from the 1960s.

For decades KMZ manufactured motorcycles in this huge facility, supplying military, police and civilian models throughout the Soviet Union.  At the same time, the "Ural" motorcycle was being produced in Irbit, Russia.

Following the demise of the Soviet Union state-owned facilities throughout the empire suddenly found themselves with a new economic reality.  Many state facilities were privatized (like the Ural factory in Russia) while others were left to survive on their own (like KMZ in Ukraine). 

KMZ continued to produce motorcycles but without adequate financing the factory began a slow, sad decline.  Production quality became increasingly poor, dooming export sales and resulting in the loss of most of the skilled workforce.  Very few new machines were produced and those were of questionable quality.

Today the factory has ceased production and the overhead assembly line has been cut up and sold for scrap.  Kiev is undergoing an economic boom and there is a growing demand for warehouse space around the city.  Many of the KMZ buildings are now used as warehouses for grocery distributors and other commercial interests.

The future of the Dnepr motorcycle marque is uncertain.

German Zundapp in the KMZ Museum	Working Dnepr at the KMZ factory
Dnepr "fire engine" poster at KMZ factory	Dnepr "fire engine" motorcycle