Unique motorcycle featuring Lenin for sale at Lenin Museum in Tampere

In Tampere, a unique motorcycle is up for sale, captivating prospective buyers with its intriguing backstory. For the past eight years, the bike has housed a wax figure of Vladimir Lenin, the Soviet leader. The Lenin Museum in Tampere has attracted visitors who wanted to take photos with the motorcycle, featuring Lenin in the sidecar while Joseph Stalin looks on in the background.

Set to close in November, the museum will give way to a new exhibition focusing on Eastern relations, opening in February 2025. The humorous sales advertisement from the Workers’ Museum Association notes that Lenin must part with his well-used motorcycle “due to a lack of stable space.”

The motorcycle in question, a 1972 Dnepr K-650 with a sidecar, was produced in Kyiv by the Kievskiy Mototsykletnyi Zavod (KMZ). Its design drew from German motorcycle technology and was originally intended to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution.

Described in the advertisement as possessing a “dizzying” power of 32 socialist horsepower from its four-stroke, 649cc boxer engine, the bike has not been started in quite some time. When it was purchased by the museum as part of its exhibits, it was in good condition.

A buyer who can offer enough Western currency may walk away with not only a historic piece of machinery but also a functioning motorcycle. However, the sale does not include the figures of Lenin and Stalin.