Bonneville America Forums Forums General Motorcycle Forums Other Bikes Ural?!

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This is a pic of my cousins 94. He seems to like it so far BUT it is not his only bike. He also has an E-Glide. He says that this is alright for puttin around on gravel roads but not much of a highway bike. There are a few more pics on the photo bucket link.

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the old Ural had a cast iron motor

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Holy boat anchors Batman! That must have made it so heavy it would barely move!

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the russians bought the rights to the ural from the germans and again, like the enfield they have been building the same bike for 50yrs or something.

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much like india bought royal enfield the russians bought the rights to the ural from the germans and again, like the enfield they have been building the same bike for 50yrs or something. recently, again like enfield, they have updated their bikes and the brand new ones are recieving good reviews, again like the enfield. but like i said, the older ones are based on an engine designed by B.M.W. many many yrs ago and was a bike b m w didnt want anymore

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The design wans't purchsed, it was stolen during WWII. The mechanical components on any Ural, 1941 or 2009, are still direct replacements for the 1940 BMW R71.

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The official version reads that, after long discussion and debate, the BMW R71 motorcycle was decided to most closely match the Red Army's requirements. Five units were covertly purchased through intermediaries in neutral Sweden and smuggled to Russia. Soviet engineers in Moscow busily dismantled the 5 BMWs. They copied every detail of the BMW design and made moulds and dies to produce their own engines and gearboxes in Moscow. Everything about the bike was reverse engineered. Early in 1941, the first trial samples of M-72 motorcycles were shown to Stalin, who immediately approved production of the motorcycles.

(Incidentally, one of these original BMWs survives and is on display at the factory museum. Harley-Davidson also copied the BMW design, and delivered about 1,000 Harley-Davidson XA (Experimental Army) flat-twin shaft drive motorcycles to the US Army during World War II. Meanwhile, in Japan, Riyushko was busy copying Harley-Davidson V twins!)

A more likely story is that the BMW factory supplied the construction drawings and casting moulds. As a result of the Molotov / Ribbentrop Pact, transfers of technology had taken place in support of their Soviet "friends" in different areas. Soviet engineers toured German aircraft factories and brought back complete cannons as samples. The OPEL Kadett was given to the Soviets just prior to the war; however, it commenced series production only toward the end of the war as the Moskvitch 400. In 1941, BMW began series production of R75, and did not resume production of R71. Supplying the Soviets with the superceded R71 model may have seemed a good idea at the time.

A factory in Moscow was soon producing hundreds of Russian M-72 sidecar motorcycles. The Nazi Blitzkrieg was so fast and effective that Soviet strategists worried that the Moscow factory was within easy range of German bombers. It was decided to move the motorcycle plant further east, out of bombing range, into the middle of the resource rich Ural Mountain region. The chosen site was the small trading town of Irbit, located on the fringe of the vast Siberian steppes in the Ural Mountains. Irbit had, before the Revolution of 1917, been an important Trade and Fair center in Russia.

The only substantial building in town was a brewery. It was soon converted into research and development headquarters, where long hours were spent preparing for the construction of a massive new production complex for the M-72. On October 25, 1942, the first M-72s were sent into battle. Over the course of World War II, 9,799 M-72 motorcycles were delivered to the front for reconnaissance detachments and mobile troops.

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source: http://www.imz-ural.com/factory/

I've met a few Ural riders around here, all are veryy satisfied with their machines but I also think they're happy to be wrenching a little on their rides. Or, maybe, they're just happy to ride something built in a brewery

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Wonder if he'll consider a trade for a busted Yugo?

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Nah, I doubt the guy would be interested in a Yugo.

(however, seein' as how unlike the Yugo, the following is an example of an original German design just like the Ural is, I'll bet the mention of a TRABANT runnin' on only one of its two cylinders might peak his interest a little, Jackson ol' boy!!!)