34 thoughts on “Start of Cossackbar

  1. JD

    Hey Cat, thanks for adding that photo of Trev, hadn’t seen it before. I never envisaged him riding a Honda CX500 (then again why not) but then that’s another level up/down from a water-cooled Ural. Go Trev/ RIP mate

    Reply
  2. JD

    REMINISCENCES:
    We miss Trevor Colledge. We really do miss you mate. Your phone calls, often at 3-4 in the morning, until my wife convinced you of the international dateline and world time zones. A wonderful man. A gifted and humorous man. He told me all about the Afrikcar, a wooden chassis cheaply assembled car (constructed in several various models) widely used in South Africa. He even sent me the bloody book. We talked a lot about our lives. We just had so many similar things in common. Cossacks.
    He will forever be remembered for his presence at the COC rallies at Dent in the UK. I know Cat in Holland and Andrus in Estonia went to Dent rallies and met Trevor. I know both of these guys and they’ve never been the same since. I think this might well apply to any participants at Dent. 🙂 I got “bent at Dent” over the phone, many, many times.
    I know the COC try to maintain both a Summer and Winter rally at the Dent site.
    I hope this tradition will continue for decades to come, always with a toast to a great man. Trevor Colledge.

    Trevor

    Reply
  3. Enno de Bruyn

    Hey JD!

    All The Best For Us
    Thats a Very Longtime

    I was Just On Google Getting Parts for Gearbox For a Mate of me
    And I shaw B-Cozz!

    Enno And Annelies

    Reply
    1. JD

      Hi Enno and Anneliies. good mate for CJ in Holland, yes it’s now a long long time, many years! We survive. We remain. and now the website is coming from Holland! Horray! especially for our Mt Catweaxle. Ypa!

      Reply
  4. JD

    IMZ-Ural have announced in regard to the current coronavirus COVID-19 worldwide pandemic:

    “We are experiencing interruptions with suppliers of components from Europe, particularly in Italy and Spain. The situation is being monitored very closely and we are adjusting our planning accordingly. In anticipation of further supply interruption and a slowing retail demand, we have decided to halt production at the factory in Irbit, Russia as of March 30th until further notice. Factory workers will be sent on paid leave.”

    I hope you will all be safe and stay well. Such it is at this time for all of us. JD

    Reply
  5. JD

    Eugene (Zhenya) in Russia wrote to me today “Interpreting, right, although my translations for your b-cozz site are far from good quality, except for that about “snowmobiles” article. 🙂

    Zhenya! Don’t doubt yourself! Your many many translations for this site have been painstakingly successful, and quite clear in technical detail, and emotion too. Just look at the articles you have helped with, and so many others!. Your contributions are priceless! As Aldo in Italy has described “it’s worth more than gold from the skies!” I agree with Aldo!

    In the entirety of the b-Cozz you have been one of the major contributors (read it right here for yourself!), apart from me and Cat? 🙂 , along with the rest of you lot. PJB! Moto, SB! Roma! Kolyaska Poland! etc.

    Женя, (Zhenya R., Eugene, Evgenij in Chelyabinsk), do not underestimate yourself! You are a most valued contributor, and we all appreciate your efforts! JD

    PS. working on another article! 🙂

    Reply
  6. JD

    It was great to see and hug our dear Catweazle during his recent trip to us, his fourth since 2008. We hope you had a good holiday John 🙂

    We had a good chance to look at and discuss this website, and how we can rebuild more archives from the old Multiply site. There are thousands of them! It’s been quite an effort to restore what we have! Each page/blog/article has to be reconstructed (from the HDD mirror I was able to save) and photos put back in the correct place then posted here on the site by Cat. Anyone who remembers the old site will recall how vast it was, as Pete in Sweden said, “the old B-Cozz site was dynamite!!!…”. It’s very time consuming but I’ll do what I can and sent to Cat.

    I was talking to Cat about getting a Site Office section back up on the site again, with information, contacts and updates. Who remembers the old Cossack Chat in the Cossack Bar? That ran from 2002 until 2009, and with 1500 members worldwide there was almost always someone online to chat with about the bikes. That helped the global economy with many friendships made and lots of international travel.

    One other thing, we keep get getting requests to “join” this site. This site is a WP blog thing, you can leave contributions via a “reply” switch in any of the existing blogs. Apologies to all this may have confused, especially to Dr Dave K in Canada (a world renowned specialist) who spent days pulling his hair out trying to “join” this site.

    Anyhoo, here we are in 2020 so have a good and safe year everyone.

    Reply
  7. JD

    Greetings Richard,
    we are very glad you like our site. Your M-72 with a “stubbie” front end will give you some challenges and hopefully much more enjoyment once you finish all details. But you have previous experience! Your 1700cc diesel-powered bike with “mixed” leading link front forks must have been an interesting ride! Solo or sidecar>? Either way I bet you could probably power out of it! Send any photos or info to Cat (admin).
    Cheers, and good luck with your rebuild. Stay in touch!
    JD

    Reply
  8. Richard Smith

    I’m very pleased to have found your site, not only is very interested it has helped me a great deal with my rebulid of my M72.
    Keep up the good work.
    Richard

    Reply
  9. JD

    Today is 02/02/2019. So what?….
    On 02/02/2002 I pressed the button of registration for the original site at MSN Groups. That’s 17 years ago! Then I migrated the site to Multiply, which was awesome, until the head dickhead there sold it out to an Asian flea-market. Anyway we gathered what we could, Cat made this site (b-cozz 3.0) and here we are all these years later. I know some of our early members still frequent the pages, and many of us met through this site. The lifelong friendships made, have made this a better better world, for me at least. We are still working behind the scenes to restore more of the archives. Maybe we’ll get something done this year, time permitting. I’d like to reminisce and thank Country Tom for the roadkill monitor and pc he found on the roadside back in 2002, and to Michael Davies for the free dial modem and free NightRider internet that enabled me to start the site. But most of all, to our dear wizard Catweazle for this current site. We all appreciate your efforts John.
    JD

    Reply
  10. JD

    Hi all,
    2018 is already almost half way, you are in Summer and we are in Winter. We are true oppozites! 🙂
    Time is flying! I have so many of the old articles saved, but seemingly no time to do anything. I am still proofreading a manuscript for a Russian author, 2 years now, it’s a big job. When I finish it I will have more time. Forgive me.
    JD

    Reply
  11. Serious Black

    New project coming up! Chang Jiang wheels have ball bearings and very low rolling resistance but are not as good at side loads. Ural wheels have taper roller bearings which are better at side loads but have higher rolling resistance – so high it is very noticeable on fuel economy. Newer Urals have angular contact ball bearings which get closer to the best of both worlds. They use 7204 bearing. I’ve ordered me a bunch of them as I’m using Ural wheels on my CJ750. I’ll need to make up new spacers to space the inner and out bearing tracks the same distance apart. As I’ve just got me a lathe this will be the ideal first project.

    Reply
  12. JD

    Hi Lars,
    glad you like the site. Our dear Catweazle John is the expert here on the “Stubbie” leading link front forks. Good luck with restoring your M-72N. Hopefully was can start adding more to this site soon. Cheers.

    Reply
  13. Lars Grunwald

    Hey guys,

    this is a pretty nice site with a lot of useful and somehow rare information. Thanks a lot for publishing your experience and knowledge.

    Since the last year I am on a restauration of M72-N – the kiew one with a leading link fork.
    So the Axle arms of the fork are steered with needle beerings. You have shown how to renew the bushings. Did you replace the brass bushings (standard equipment on this fork) or did you install them espacially to quit the needle bearing solution?
    Do you have any sizes of bushings which are in place together with needles? The sizes for the axle shafts are only for use with bushings ore with needle bearings running on this bushings?
    How did you seal the system? On one side there is the metal plug. That’s ok. On the other side there is a U-shaped metal ring in which is a rubber seal ring. The rubber ring is worn out and is leaking. I thought about to push out the metal U-ring and to replace a typical radial oil seal. Does this work?

    Thank you in advance for helping out. Best regards from Leipzig Germany, Lars

    Reply
  14. JD

    Good you made your winter rally. Swap you, we’ve had temps around 40C here. I’ve noticed the change in demographics too, we’re all getting older by the day… most new Ural owners seem to be in their 50’s or older, but there are some young adventurists out there. Time for the young people to go furder, they are the future after all. Good luck with the serious sidecar work.

    Reply
  15. JD

    Rebuilding the site here I’ve been concentrating on getting as much of the historical info back up, still a long long way to go, the archives are massive! Cat’s been doing his share as well. There is one “article” I’d like to see back up here, it’s a very very very long article with heaps of photos (and lots of comments and tips from others), and it’s called “Serious Blacks Chang Jiang Project”. 🙂

    Reply
    1. Serious Black

      She just got me to and from our winter rally. A bit sad really, less and less folk and the ones that make it are definitely showing sign of age. I was the second youngest and I’m 56! The young guys are all busy with wives and family at the moment. The bike is looking very sorry for itself but goes well. The dreaded tin worm has been very active and the sidecar requires serious work.

      Reply
  16. JD

    Hi Bill. Glad you have found us (again!) and I’ll buy you a beer anytime. I have all the archives from Multiply, so there is hope to build up this site over time, just need the time!

    Reply
  17. Serious Black

    Anybody got a beer for a lonely traveler?

    So this is where JD got to? Still trundling along on the CJ750 although it’s looking a bit neglected and rusty now as it only gets used in winter. The hotrod motor is now fitted, purely for the sake of curiosity. The original motor is now being fitted to Øyvind’s bike so we can go on the winter rally next weekend.

    Nice looking site. It’s a real pity all that stuff on Multiply went down the pan but this looks as though it could be a nice replacement.

    Reply
  18. JD

    It is with extreme pain and a very deep regret to inform you that Cat’s wife Mia has lost the battle. Even Mother Nature cannot hide her tears. We wish all the family our sincere condolences and we’re crying for you mate.

    Reply
  19. JD

    Hi Daniela,

    thanks for your kind words.

    We recently received some very bad news. Our good friend and website administrator here, John (aka Catweazle) has told us his dear wife has been diagnosed with serious cancer. So for the moment everything is on hold here. It is hoped that further works can be carried out sometime in the future.

    For now, all our thoughts and prayers are with them and their family at this very difficult time.

    Reply
  20. Daniela

    Just wish to say your article is as suriprsing. The clearness in your post is just great and i can assume you are an expert on this subject. Well with your permission let me to grab your feed to keep updated with forthcoming post. Thanks a million and please carry on the rewarding work.

    Reply
  21. JD

    Note to readers: the Factories page is only about 50% restored, it will take some time to get it back up. Other articles from the old site, plus many new ones are in the pipeline. There is soooo much more to come!

    Reply
  22. JD

    I can truly start off the new Cossack Bar with a sip from a wonderful 1 liter bottle of Double Graan Jenever that just arrived by special delivery from Holland. Zastryovia my friends!

    Thanks Mr Cat ! You shouldn’t have mate but we’re sure glad you did !

    Reply
  23. JD

    So where is everyone? Cat, can you put a Facebook Like or something on here to get their attention?

    Reply
  24. JD

    The only time I will have a vodkie is when we have Russian guests, Goes very well with marinated shitake mushrooms. One down the hatch and then 1 mushroom, seems to smooth things out very nicely. The rest of the time it’s beer for me, except if Cat turns up with a non-empty bottle of Dutch Jenever.

    Good to see the resurgence of The Cossack Bar. The original Cossack Bar started in 2002 and had a chat-room function and it ran up to 2009. That’s how so many of us met in the first place, there seemed to be someone on there almost 24/7. Cat was right too, it sure is the “road to nowhere”. Cheers all!

    Reply
    1. Alan Low

      I would say Vodka but I remember what happened last time with Vodka , well I cant actually remember , what I remember was how sick I was for days after it , never again . Well maybe not never .

      Reply

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