|
emot
|
The Latvian sarkana Zvaigzne (Red Star) moped factory made mopeds under the brand name "Riga" named after the city they were made in.
But they also made a lot of 50cc racebikes ,a fact not so widely known in the west. They are one of the few factories who actually made 50cc racebikes in series.
It is very hard to get info about Riga bikes. Here the old east-west barrier still has its effects.
the Riga bikes were not to be exported to the west in any way.
The one that made it to England before the wall came down was stripped of its internals. (statesecrets inside)
Not that there was anything to learn from those engine internals...
The engine was made not by Riga ,butby the Serpuchov scientific institute near Moscow. Soviet system made a sharp difference between production facilities and engineering- and design facilities. The Serpuchov one was for automotive research. All soviet motorsport designs that are not based on normal production parts (like the Vostok 4 cylinder race bike) came from this institute.
The ShK 50 engine mounted in the most successfull Riga models was a well designed engine. It has a 6 speed gearbox of casette type ,a dry clutch and a rotary disc valve inlet. Technically the gearbox has some MZ influences ,and the cylinder and crankshaft parts have some similarities with early Jamathi racebikes.
this is no coincidence ,as the Jamathi team earned a little extra money by helping the Riga team with some tuning ideas and by selling them the needed racing quality parts for the Riga team bikes. Meeting point were the GP at Sachsenring and Brno.
The Riga racing department was the product of a few enthousiastic people. Chief was Valdis Kleinbergs and the engineer was Rüta Kleinberga ,who later married the rider Alexandr Smertjews and thus became Rüta Smertjeva. Other important team members were rider Eduard Borissenko and engineer Valdis Pogainis.
except for the engine ,the whole bike was made at the Riga factory.
A name that needs to be named is the designer of the bodywork Gunars Gludins ,who created the fluent lines of the most successfull Riga racers. The man is now a professor at the Latvian art school.
First Riga racebike was the SZ-50 ,made in 1964. This racebike had a Vairas engine like the Riga moped ,but with a five speed gearbox instead of two.
In 1966 came the 6S ,the first model to have two important ingredients of the most successful Riga racers : a Serpuchov engine ,and a central tube frame. (Mostly called EGLI frame ,but please note the year of building of the Riga racers) These early central tube frames looked like ITOM type. The later ones really had the EGLI idea of a thick backbone an small diameter tubing triangles bearing the swingarm.
Via 7S ,9S ,and 11S we come to 15S (13S skipped ,unlucky...). This is the most successful Riga racer.
It was this bike that competed in some GP races. It was also the bike that was made in the largest numbers: 32 pieces from 1972 to 1976. Two of these were the GP racers. They had some special features like forced oil feed to the crankshaft. The other were production racers made for the soviet motoclubs.
after the still aircooled 15S came the watercooled 17S ,19S and the casted magnesium wheeled 21S.
The 21S was the last of the 50cc Riga racers ,made in 1983 as an experiment.
Total production of all Riga racebikes will be around 50 pieces.
Besides the 50cc racers also a handfull of 125 bikes have been made throughout the years. Most of these were used by Borrissenko and Smertjews. They were based on the 50cc frame ,with a 125cc engine mounted in it (propably of Minsk or Kovrovets derrivation) except for the Riga 23S which was a real 125cc racebike design built 1983.
Also Riga built some special Motocross bikes in 50 and 75cc. The Riga 6S has a technical similar sister with knobby tyres.
After the wall came down and Latvia became independent ,the loss of traditional export markets and engine suppliers as well as the lack of building quality (had not always been a problem ,Riga produced some well made mopeds in the 70's) caused the Riga factory to close.
M.Stehouwer/2006
|
Auteur
Gelogd
