Ural fans?

[milkman]

Any Ura/IMZ fans amongst us?
Anyone whose had actual experience with them good or otherwise.
Seeing as there are parallel boxer fans here and the Ural was a rumoured copy of teh BMW I though we may have some lurking.

I love them in traditional olive drab, but aussie design rules prevent them from being imported to Australia

Would love to ride one across its native land....

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

I want one...just as an easy way back into sidecaring.

/2 conversion is my first choice.

[thrang]

I had a couple of MZ's (TS 125 & 250 Alpines) as winter runarounds when I was younger and shared a Urinal with chair on it when I was at university. The Urinal was loads of fun but had an awful habit of breaking down which oddly was worth experiencing as when I got my R65 it was like working on a flat twin where everything went together properly with out having to resort to making the parts fit.

http://www.cossackownersclub.co.uk

Has some good pics.

[Justin B.]

That's what the 5 lb coarse and 2.5 lb fine adjustment tools are for!    I don't think I have personally ever seen any on the road around here but if I could find one for real cheap I sould be very tempted to pick it up and stuff an R100 engine  into it...

[SCJJR65]

I'd love to have one!  They have supposedly made the bike much less prone to breakdown, and have even upgraded the brakes to include disc braking!  And you can't beat the price!

[milkman]

The sidecar with the optional 2 wheel drive looks like great fun.
Ther are some good videos of them playing in the snow, have a look at the Ural Snow Games video

http://www.imz-ural.com/downloads/movies.htm

[thrang]

That's what the 5 lb coarse and 2.5 lb fine adjustment tools are for!

Ah someone else who appreciates precision engineering of the Manchester Spanner persuasion

Always wanted to have a shot on a driven chair wheel combo but have never seen one on the road. Must be a pretty odd sensation to ride though as it must be like riding an off center trike.

I'm pretty sure that BMW produced a driven chair for the German Army in WW2 and that the factory that made them was in what became east Germany, and was dismantled and taken to the Ukraine as war reparations to the Soviets .

[nhmaf]

I usually see a few of them around at the smaller bike rallies here in "new" England, though there are only a couple of distributors within a 5 state region.   They look like alot of fun, too, though as I understand it, if you get one you really want a fairly new/late model one as the
build quality was still "iffy" with alot of sharp edges up until a few years back.

Still, I'd like to try one out for a spell !

[msbuck]

Believe it or not, a Ural gathering happens at Willville every summer.  They come in from all over.  I'll find out when they'll be there this year and let 'cha know.  Now these folks are a breed apart (worse than us?  ).  I've heard Will tell stories about them and their 'survival' tales.  It seems like just keeping them on the road is a challenge that they tackle with great enthusiasm.  

[ScottColumbus]

Thrang, you are right. There has been a BMW factory in Eisenach, Thuringia. The BMW R35 has been built there before the war. After the war Eisenach belonged to East Germany. The company was re-named into EMW (Eisenacher Motoren Werke). The´ve built the EMW R35 till 1955. Then the factory was dismantled and brought to the Soviet Union - just as you said.
Here are some pics of the EMW R35. Some of them look like real BMWs, but they aren´t:
























CU

Dirk

[thrang]

Cheers Scott. Knew I'd read about the East Germany factory somewhere.

tony

[NC Steve]

A "Gathering of the Urals" at Willville this summer? For real??

Aida, please keep us posted with details, 'cause this I've just got to see!

And Dirk, more great pics, as always. Thanks! [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

Blue Ridge Ural Rider's Party (B.U.R.P)  July 13-15  At Willville, VA
http://uralrallies.com/BURP.htm

from: http://www.imz-ural.com/community/events.htm

from: http://www.imz-ural.com/

Spring In The South  May 4th, 5th and 6th 2007  at Abbeville, SC
http://uralrallies.com/SpITS.htm

[NC Steve]

Well I'll be damned, just when you thought you'd heard it all.
Thanks, Rob!

Abbeville's about 60 miles from John, and Willville's only 70 from my house.
Hmmm, wonder if these strange Ural folk allow "regular" riders to come around..... [smiley=wink.gif]

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

They will have to fight me off on the July weekend!