Saw this in Asda Livingston car park today, its got and old registration, I think its an older Ural, restored, I',ve seen them done up as German bikes for film work too. I like the hand gear change, oh, and the tow bar with shackle! Indian made Mitas spare tyre?
The rider was an 'un-interesting' standard long haired bloke of about 30(ish) in a barbour type jacket, blue jeans, no army garb! The rear most stick is reverse, boy, they thought of everything! Not so sure I'd want to be in the chair, l/h drive, stuck out to all the on coming traffic! Another admirer said there was only 600 built, not sure if that's fact though.
I cant see the Russians building only 600 TBH, far too few for their needs plus sales to their Commi mates.
I've done a bit of quick research, I'm pretty sure it's an IMZ-Ural M72, produced between 1941-57. It was a pinched BMW design. IMZ was a conglomerate of producer's dotted around different locations under Ural, in 1950 they produced the 30'000th outfit still with a further 7 years of production to run, all the bikes were sidecar outfits. In 1957 the production ceased and went to PRC, Peoples Republic of China.
This one was at Bishops Waltham a few weeks ago. Apparently, some of the original BMW war time versions had drive to the sidecar wheel. These are an exact copy of the BMW - the Russians "moved" the whole BMW plant out of Germany and over to the Urals (hence the name) - they are actually Cossack bikes - as payment for war reparations.
Used to work with a guy in the mid 70's had one (Ural) complete with sidecar. What a pile of crap it was. I rode it once for about 200 yards, that was enough and left it on the side of the road Never again Dave.
This one had a complete restoration to depict a WW2 German outfit about 3 years ago, this was at Heddingley & Stockley steam festive (held every 2 years) nr Melksham, Wiltshire. It won best in show but some of the other exhibitors were a bit miffed as it was not original. This is a good show, well worth attending, especially if the weather is good! When it was off the trailer it had a de-activated German machine gun mounted on the chair, not practical for high street shopping, but you will always get a parking space! In the 70's I nearly bought one like that silver/blue outfit Steve, a toss-up between that or a Panther 600 Sloper, I bought a Suzuki GT 250 Ram Air instead!
I've seen something similar for sale on a classic bikes page, http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/uploads/new/6911124.jpg If its original it'll have been built by a farmer and can be fixed by the same. One think the Sov's did really well, Keep It Simple
How about this one on ebay? Needs a bit of work! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SOVIET-KN...509979?hash=item2819eacc5b:g:j0wAAOSwMNxXVurx
This one's on eBay, slightly different but very nice in its own right. Currently standing at £3000 & 18 bids. I like the 'tank pads'.
