🏍 Motorcycle Monday! Haynes’ World + FREE Online Access

Haynes' World is a regular feature that takes a look at what the staff at Haynes are doing with their cars, bikes and other vehicles. This time, Martynn Randall has an update on his Soviet-era motorcycle project.

Bike: IZH Planeta 350

Owner: Martynn Randall’s son

Read Martynn’s previous report on the IZH

Getting the 1967 IZH Planeta 350 running properly didn’t quite turn out as I thought it would.

I stripped and rebuilt the motorcycle's carb, replaced contact breakers, checked the compression and fitted a new spark plug. The bike was still reluctant to start and would only continue running with the choke partially on. It definitely felt like a fuelling issue.

I decided to keep it running to get the engine up to normal operating temperature. Because the centre stand wasn’t working, the bike was on the side stand, leaning over at quite an angle. With the engine quite hot, the exhaust note suddenly changed and clouds of grey smoke started belching from the silencers. Eureka! I instantly knew what the problem was.