Soon a factory was set up in Moscow producing hundreds of Russian M-72 sidecar motorcycles. The Nazi Blitzkrieg was so fast and effective that Soviet strategists worried that the Moscow factory 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. The site chosen was the small former trading town of Irbit, located on the fringe of the vast Siberian steppes in the Ural mountains. Irbit had once been an important Trade and Fair centre in Russia before the Revolution of 1917.
After WWII, the Factory was further developed and in 1950 the 30,000th motorcycle was produced. Since then over 3.2 million motorcycles, mainly sidecar outfits, have been produced. The main products of the plant today are the heavy duty URAL sidecar motorcycles designed for rough Russian roads, and the custom Wolf. There are a lot of places in Russia where only horses and URAL motorcycles can be used to transport gear to where you need it. URAL motorcycles are equipped with four-stroke air-cooled flat-twin engines, a four speed gear box with reverse gear, shaft drive, two disc dry clutch, spring shock absorbers and drum brakes.
URALs are a unique combination of price, classic styling and side-car, just like my 'dad's or grandad's bike'."
What makes riding a URAL sidecar bike so special?
You can't compare riding a URAL to riding a regular motorcycle. Its dynamics require a lot of experience, patience and caution - or, in a nutshell: You must be nuts to try it voluntarily!
The main reason lies in its unusual layout: Once you pull the throttle, the bike itself starts rolling - while the sidecar stays w here it is until it is forced to start moving too. The result is an eerie feeling that the whole construction pulls to the right - and, in fact: It does!
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