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Understanding the Minsk
Electricity, petrol and air combine to cause an explosion in the cylinder above
the piston to create the energy to run the bike. This is the ignition system. Then the
cam disk, clutch, gearbox and chain transform this chemical explosive energy into
forward movement on the back wheel. This is the transmission system.
The energy from your leg when you kick-start the bike does two things.
Firstly, it pushes the piston up and down which sucks petrol and air from the
carburettor into the cylinder. Secondly, it causes a magnet to spin inside the
generator which creates a charge. This charge then makes its way to the sparkplug
where it causes an explosion which forces the piston to move up and down again.
When the piston moves in such a fashion it sucks in another batch of petrol and air
from the carburettor and also causes the generator to make another burst of charge
because the piston and the magnet in the generator are connected. Everything is
cleverly timed so that the sparkplug fires only when the piston is in the right
position in the cylinder (the top) so that the full force of the explosion goes into
forcing the piston back down again. So long as you keep introducing petrol into
this system then the engine will run in this perpetual way.
Understanding the Electrical System
The electricity is produced in the generator when a spinning magnet creates an
electric charge by moving past a series of wire coils. If you cast your mind back to
physics classes at school then you might remember how this is the same system
used in hydro electricity dams to produce electricity. In the dam the huge magnets
are spun from the force of the dam's water rushing down over huge paddle wheels
whereas with the Minsk the initial movement of the magnet is caused when you
kick-start the bike. Once the bike has started, the force to spin the magnet comes
from the movement of the piston.
Most of the coils (there are four of them) in the generator produce electricity
for the lights and horn while the remaining two or three coils (depending on the
type of generator used) produce the charge for the sparkplug. This charge then
passes through the electric box under the seat (where it is made into a consistent
charge), then over to the transformer under the tank (which boosts the charge into
massive volts) and then onto the sparkplug.
Understanding the Generator
Every time the piston goes from the top of the cylinder, down to the bottom
and back up to the top again, it causes one revolution of the cam disk. The cam
disk is a large double disk deep in the engine under the piston which converts the
up and down movement of the piston into circular momentum. This circular
movement is then transferred to the generator via a shaft which runs though the
©Digby Greenhalgh 2000
Minsk Repair Manual
4
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