REPERTOIRES AND PRACTICES OF DIY CONSTRUCTION IN SOVIET MOTORCYCLE CULTURE, 1960s–1980s
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17072/2219-3111-2026-3-148-158Keywords:
motorcycle, motorcycle culture, motorcycle enthusiast, motorcycle tourism, samodejatel'nost', amateur activity, technical creativity, shortage, techno-aesthetics, late USSR, JAWAAbstract
The article examines three cases of using JAWA motorcycles to trace the development of DIY (samodel) practices in Soviet motorcycle culture during the 1960s and 1980s. These cases are the motorcycle equipment of tourists and engineers Vladimir Alekseenko (1931–1977), Ivan Ksenofontov (b. 1956) and the design of Sergei Nelson (b. 1963). Based on publications, manuscripts, and interviews, the article analyzes technical creativity in motorcycle culture, in particular, self-made devices, functional and stylistic modifications of motorcycles named as samodel, samopal, or peredelka. First, the author provides an overview of the motorcycle market in the 1970s and 1980s and leisure strategies depending on motor transport, noting the special place of the Czechoslovak brand JAWA in Soviet motorcycle culture. Next, the earliest available case of the JAWA usage in the framework of tourism is analyzed. Based on the publications of Vladimir Alekseenko, an engineer from Moscow, in the 1970s, the author examines additional motorcycle equipment (trunks, protective arches, wind and mud shields), which were included in the basic set of an ordinary motorcyclist in the future. The case of the sports tourist Ksenofontov, also from Moscow, demonstrates constructive modifications of a motorcycle for mountain and desert hikes, for which the tourist informally used factory resources, in particular, steel. The third case by Sergey Nelson, a builder from Petrozavodsk, accumulates fashionable attributes from the 1980s and authentic design as a way to position the driver against the popular style. The considered cases contribute to the study of Soviet material culture, motorcycle leisure and informal economic relations in the late USSR.
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