Where did it come from? The CJ story starts in prewar Germany where BMW was building the last of its sidevalve bikes, the R71, by that time early 40's and with the developement of the OHV engine the R-71 had became obsolet the Russians bought the tooling from BMW and soon started producing an identical copy of the R-71. Following the invasion production was shifted to Irbit (IMZ) in the Ural mountains where thousands were produced during and after the war. A second plant opened in Kiev (KMZ). With technical support from the USSR, CJ750 production commenced in Nanchang in the late fifties. (Various sources cite dates ranging from 1957) Today's CJ750 M1 is a copy of the original M72 right down to the 6V electrical system and other quaint features. The M1M is a slightly modernized version with a proper distributor and 12V electrical system while the M1S is an OHV machine. The CJ is NOT a replica of the R71. It's a copy of the URAL M72 which was in turn a copy of the BMW R71.