Wicky Posted September 13, 2002 Share Posted September 13, 2002 Anti-Tank URAL ! Military URALs The history of the "URAL®" brand motorcycle begins with the Russian pre W.W.II planning. Russia knew it would soon be going to war against the Third Reich, and Hitler. The military was ordered to gear up in all areas, including the ground forces that would be defending the Russian "motherland" from the invading German Panzer, ground troops, and German special forces. The German special forces had thousands of the BMW sidecars that the German Army loved for their maneuverability, reliability, economy and ease of maintenance. Carrying a machine gun and soldier plus supplies, the sidecar "weapon" was feared by the otherwise "fixed" Russian ground troops. The usefulness of the sidecar motorcycle was beginning its legend. Back in the old USSR, in 1939, the Russian engineers in Moscow were busily dismantling 5 BMWs purchased from Germany through some Swedish intermediaries. The engineers copied the BMW design in all details and made molds and dies to produce their own engines and gearboxes in Moscow. (Incidentally, Harley-Davidson also copied the BMW and delivered about 1,000 Harley-Davidson model XA flat-twin shaft drive motorcycles to the US Army during World War II.) Soon a factory was set up in Moscow producing hundreds of Russian sidecar motorcycles. At this point the rig had no name. As the demand and function for the Russian sidecar rig spread in the military, the top Russian strategists worried that the factory in Moscow was within easy range of German bombers. The decision was made to move the motorcycle plant further east, out of bombing range and into the middle of the resource rich "URAL" mountain region. A site was chosen in the small trading town of Irbit, located on the fringe of the Siberian plains. The only building on the site was a brewery and it soon was converted into the first R & D building to prepare for the construction of a massive new production complex to build the "URAL" motorcycle. Over 5,000 "URALs" as they came to be known in the military, (they still had no official name) were produced for the Russian Army during W.W.II. They fought against the Germans in many sectors and battles and must have mightily surprised the German sidecar gunners when they came up against Russians riding the "look alike" and even stronger sidecar BMW clones! The history of the URAL® had begun with the glory of helping to defeat the terror of Hitler's armies on the Russian and European battlegrounds. The URAL® was built for the military only, up until the late 1950's when another plant in the Ukraine was built to take on that job and the Irbit Motorcycle Works (IMZ) began to concentrate on bikes for domestic consumption. The popularity of the rigs grew steadily with the Russian people and in the 1960's the full production of the plant was turned over to non-military production. [ September 13, 2002, 07:55 AM: Message edited by: Wicky ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gautrek Posted September 13, 2002 Share Posted September 13, 2002 I was hoping that these fine m/c's would make the game as i still own a 1976 Ural M66 Mars outfit.This has the engine which is loosly based on WW2 1939-45 BMW.In fact a lot of the engine parts would fit staight in. This is the version that has the sidecar based on the WW2 steib sidcar as seen in any WW2 photos.And it is left hand drive. I did try and get one of the 750 cc sidevalves with the 2 wheel drive but these are like Rocking horse S*** in this country. What an amazing machine it is it does about 60 mph with the sidecar and about 60 mph without the sidecar.I even fitted a reverse gearbox to it. And yes i even had a Lada for about five years.I know i am a bit sad arn't i Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thin Red Line Posted September 13, 2002 Share Posted September 13, 2002 How efficient were they ? It's hard to imagine getting close to a tank with working MG and gun riding this machine :eek: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gautrek Posted September 13, 2002 Share Posted September 13, 2002 In fact looking at your photo again i think you are mistaken as this is not a Ural but a Dnieper(depending who you speak to this may or may not be the correct spelling) which is built by another company.And also built slightly after the war. You can tell this because it has later ally wheel drums and differant style lights.It also has a differant style engine which is all ally.These came as standard with the reverse gearbox. Sorry to be a bit of a Sad twat when it comes to these bikes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gautrek Posted September 13, 2002 Share Posted September 13, 2002 They are actualy very good at going cross country and through snow.So as a means of getting men about the battle field the are excellent.As the have a very small size. I even had about 14 people onboard mine once and it would still move.So this means you can carry loads of stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wicky Posted September 13, 2002 Author Share Posted September 13, 2002 Originally posted by Thin Red Line: How efficient were they ? It's hard to imagine getting close to a tank with working MG and gun riding this machine :eek: They just race against the enemy's turret rotation.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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