This 26 year old Minsk Wildcat 125 remains unused in its factory shipping crate, possibly one of the last unused examples of its kind in the world.
The Wildcat 125 is a 123cc, air-cooled, two-stroke motorcycle designed for on and off-road use. It has a 4-speed transmission, a chain final drive, and front and rear drum brakes. These bikes were inexpensive alternatives to the similar small-capacity motorcycles coming out of Japan at the time.
Above Video: Minsk motorcycles are largely unknown outside the former Soviet states or Vietnam, but many will remember the pink Minsk motorcycle ridden by Richard Hammond on the “Top Gear: Vietnam Special” in 2008.
Minsk is a Belarusian motorcycle marque that was founded in 1951 in the Soviet Union, using German DKW motorcycle designs which had been taken as war reparations. Production originally began in Moscow under the M1A brand, building a version of the DKW RT 125 motorcycle which became a popular commuter bike.
Over the years Minsk motorcycles were imported into a number of countries outside the Soviet Union, bringing in much needed foreign capital. Some examples were exported into the United Kingdom under the Neval Motorcycles brand, others used the Cossack brand name, and they were exported in large numbers to Vietnam under the original Minsk name.
Interestingly, many (if not most) of these early Minsk two-strokes remain in use in Vietnam to this day. Once was even painted pink and used by Richard Hammond on the Top Gear: Vietnam Special in 2008.
Today, the modern incarnation of Minsk, often spelled M1nsk, imports motorcycles from mainland China and rebadges them. They remain popular in Belarus and a number of other former Soviet states.
The Minsk Wildcat 125 Shown Here
The Minsk Wildcat 125 remains in its shipping crate, with the exhaust and handlebar included but not fitted. The shipping crate is made of wood and it’s showing its age, having only been designed for short term use it’s now been containing this motorcycle for 26 years and counting.
The bike remains in its shipping crate, with the exhaust and handlebars included but not yet fitted.
The Wildcat 125 is a relatively simple motorcycle, with a tubular steel frame, telescopic forks up front, twin shock absorbers in the rear, front and rear drum brakes, and an air-cooled 123cc single-cylinder, two-stroke engine sending power back through a 4-speed transmission and a chain final drive to the rear wheel.
This bike is now being offered, still in its crate as pictured, on Bring a Trailer out of Scottsdale, Arizona. It will be up to the new owner if they want to keep it as-is or take it out, finish the assembly, and ride it. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
