An old photograph from days gone by.
source: Dolf Peeters. thanks to Anna
IMZ motos
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The Swiss World Travel Team
Gerhard Iten and Lucia Fuchs – the Swiss World Travel Team wrote a book about their travels, (in German)
“Speichenbruch und Motorschaden. Vom Abenteuer einer Dnepr-weltreise gebundene Ausgabe”
which translates (roughly) to
“Broken spokes and engine damage. Hardback edition of the adventure of a Dnieper world tour”
One chapter is titled “The RMOA – Our Salvation”
Wonderful wonderful people! They were able to come to an RMOA meeting, we also had a wonderful lunch, and yes drinks. It was around early 1990s..
The Swiss Gerhard Iten and his partner Lucia Fuchs spent almost three years on a Dnepr.
On the spot photo above by JD
The Shilovski Gyrocar
The Shilovski Gyrocar was commissioned in 1912 by Count Pyotr Shilovsky, a member of the Russian nobility. A clever gentleman, by all accounts, he designed the unusual vehicle whilst living in Britain and contracted the Wolseley company to build it. It was completed in 1914, just as things got rather busy in Russia – and elsewhere.
The gyrocar was powered by a modified four cylinder Wolseley 16-20 engine displacing just over 3 litres. This was front mounted with the radiator forming the firewall, and drive was via cardan shaft to the rear wheel. The machine had no wheel brakes; it used a transmission brake on the drive train.
Capable of carrying five passengers, it weighed in at 2 3/4 tons empty and with a wheelbase approaching 20 feet its turning circle radius was comfortably within that of a football field.
Shilovski returned to Russia at the outbreak of WWI and Wolseley did not hear from him again so they did the sensible thing and buried his machine. It was disinterred in 1938, restored and featured in the Wolseley museum, just in time for the next war. The weirdness failed to abate, however, and Wolseley broke the machine up for scrap in 1948.
Possibly the scariest thing on two wheels, ever.
sources: Classic Motorcycles, British Motorcycles, Wikipedia
2023 – Naked Truth
from Madina:
It is expensive and difficult to build motorcycles. All hands on deck went to steering production, logistics and support through our big transition (to Kazakhstan). That left little resource for marketing. Haven’t even had a chance to mention our new “Base”!
We are recalibrating, though. Here’s quick and simple overview of what we offer for 2023.
Naked Truth: 2023 GEAR UP 2WD One Model, Three Trims. Gear Up Base and Gear up Standard. Gear Up Expedition coming soon. Plus lots of a la cart options and over 90 custom colors.
The Team at Ural
Photo from the cover of a Dutch magazine early 1973
The USSR national team at the stage of the FIM Motocross Cup on Motorcycles and Sidecars, 1972 in the Netherlands.
From left to right: Boris Poganovsky, Evgeny Nechiporenko (Kiev, KMZ), Peter Sosnovsky, Valentin Telegin, Anatoly Sibirtsev and Igor Nikonov, (Irbit CO, IMZ).
And there was one of those things
Spark from two “Izh” engines with homemade heads.
700 – 750 cm3 racing sidecar. The constructor from Lithuania USSR. Year 1969, and maybe even before.
source Andrey Spitsyn
Celebrating International Women’s Day
“You can’t live without women in the world, no… ”
Participants of the motorcycle race on March 8, 1939.
Leonid Vitalievich Kursov
Leonid Vitalievich Kursov (03/08/1963 – 09/05/2013).
He lived in Irbit, Sverdlovsk region.
Three-time champion of the USSR and RSFSR in cross-country on motorcycles and sidecar class, participant of international chariot competitions.
Keep On Going!
Message from Madina:
On February 24th, 2022, an unimaginable tragedy unraveled for the whole World.
While we’ve felt totally and utterly powerless to stop the rockets, to stop the insanity, we promised to do the one thing that we could: to keep Ural alive, to protect our employees and to be there for our customers, against all odds.
Today, a year later, we can say – we did it.
Our team works relentlessly around the clock to keep production rolling. Every single bike coming from our new home in Kazakhstan is not only the best quality machine we at Ural have put out since we took over the brand a little over twenty years ago, but also a token of our fierce commitment to life.
To all our customers and friends around the world who support and believe in us, we are eternally grateful. Ride safe and share your light!
Here’s to Life!
The Team at Ural
Sad news
I just got the message that Norm Trewella passed away ! My condolences to Vicki and the family! Another remarkable man/member passed away, rest in peace my friend, it was good to know you.