Jul/Aug - Cossack Owners Club

HORIZONTAL VIEW
The Magazine Of The Cossack Owners’ Club
Congratulations.
You’ve won the
competition!
You’re the
new editor!
Okay, okay.
I’ll do it!
JULY/AUGUST 2014
CONTENTS
NEW MEMBERS………………………..4
LETTERS………………………………...6
FORD FIESTA……………..…………….8
DOUBLING UP……………….………...11
MINSK FACTORY VISIT………..……..14
DAIHATSU/URAL DIIESEL BIKE…….16
FROM THE ARCHIVES………...……..18
STAFFORD SHOW…………………...20
TVER UNDERWATER MUSEUM…....21
GRAND DAY OUT……………………..22
WHAT’S ON…………………………....23
2
RADIO HORIZONTAL
We’ve gone up to 24 pages this month - full of the touring, the technical, the historical and at
times the downright bizarre (check out the underwater museum on page 21 for example). We
really hope you enjoy it.
This is our last issue as editors of the late Horizontal News and the current magazine, Horizontal
View. We’ve had a really great time and we hope that we have managed to entertain you and to
generate enthusiasm for these wonderful machines.
Black smoke has emerged from the chimneys of Horizontal Towers and we do have a volunteer
to become the new editor. He is Charles Hancock and I will leave him to introduce himself in the
next issue. Producing a magazine such as this singlehandedly is quite a task and so if anyone
fancied volunteering for the post of Deputy Editor I am sure that their help would be welcome.
Have a great summer! Peter, Pyotr and Anoushka.
The Civilised
Cossack
Weekend:
Wing,
Rutland
22/24 August
All Welcome!
POLITBURO
President, : Technical Adviser: Peter Ballard. 01225 891634;[email protected]
General Secretary: Tony Jones, 01942 605949 / 07504 700522 ; [email protected]
Membership/Regalia: Gina Inman, 01780 720420; [email protected]; [email protected]
Website: Dave Cox. 01794 884492; [email protected]
Newsletter Editor: Peter Barker, (+ Pyotr + Anoushka) 01482 870751; [email protected]
Showband Leader : Carl Booth, 01253 720327; [email protected]
Treasurer: Phil Inman: 01780 720420; [email protected]
3
AND A BIG HELLO TO...
John Burns. Wakefield. W. Yorks.
Conan Easson, Kings Lynn, Norfolk.
David Priestley, Dumfries. Dumfries &
Galloway.
John Swain, Shrewsbury, Shropshire.
Welcome to the Cossack Owners’ Club! There
is no known cure for our predilection for exsoviet motorcycles so make the most of the
club’s full range of therapeutic services. Relax,
kick your shoes off and the tea trolley should
be round shortly.
Carl Fitchett, Cheadle, Cheshire.
Nicholas Beech, Horsham, W Sussex.
Tim Denning, Crewe, Cheshire
Steve Jones, Watton, Norfolk.
As usual, I have invited all new members to
introduce themselves via a short piece.
Replies below.
Graham Marshall, Lampeter, Ceredigion.
your quirky mag which I enjoy reading.
Regards to all you iron chair riders, You must
be nuts to own one of these , but I’ve found
nuts people are by far the best!
Comrade Carl Fitchett
SPOTLIGHT
Hi Peter
Ural cossack m66 1975
Here’s a pic of me and my 10 year old lad
Edward finding the limits on my field. I’ve
nearly come a cropper a couple of times, once
misjudging a clump of ferns which threw the
side car up and nearly splattered myself all
Hello Peter,
Last week I saw from a poster outside a church
on the Isle of Man that I am now a ‘Sunset
Citizen’ - at 68 I'd rather think of myself as 27
with 60 years of experience of scooters (sorry),
over the side of my parked van. Since gained
a lot more experience and now more confident
on the road as well. Have invented a new
game also: we set up a target and strafed it
with Edward shooting on the move with the air
rifle. Reckon that makes me a proper dad, but
he is still addicted to Minecraft . I did drag him
off it to help with an oil change though.
Hope my antics are suitably eccentric for
bikes and sidecars. In earlier years I worked
my way through Bantams, rebuilding a
Matchless G3LS from a box of bits, thrashing a
Norton Big 4 and chair around the Cheshire
lanes and mastering a Panther with a Busmar
Double Adult and Child bolted on the side. This
was followed with a long and very enjoyable
4
time with various BMW old style boxers and Ks
and finally a spectacular encounter with a car
on an R1100 GS….
Thinking that as a ‘Sunset Citizen’ I’d be safer
with three wheels I used some of my ‘voluntary
severance’ settlement to buy a new Ural
Dalesman in 2007 and two months later slid
gracefully across the road into the path of an
miles and has only one road to speak of offers
limited opportunities for long-distance
motorcycling Jill still finds that it is a great
machine for everyday trips. She ordered hers
with a special rhubarb and custard paint job
but though she loves the look she isn’t
impressed with the quality of the finish and is
already having to keep the rust at bay….
Although the guest house keeps them busy Jill
and Jon still find time to organise the Rally @
The Edge on the next door (and even smaller!)
island of Vatersay. Mrs B and I spent a day
walking there and it really is a stupendous
location: the beaches really are near white and
the water turquoise. This year’s rally is 11-13
September and can be reached by ferry from
Oban, Uig (on Skye) and Ullapool. Further
details on page 20.
oncoming car - somebody should have warned
me about Russian tyres in the wet. The wheels
stop turning when you brake in the rain but the
bike keeps going… The fact that I only
suffered a few fractures and wrote off both the
car and the bike is some testament to Russian
engineering perhaps.
So, now on a 2002 Ural Dalesman or Tourist, I
fitted a disc brake on the front and use
Heidenau K37 tyres all round. I enjoy treating
it as a sort of three wheeled Landrover. It
doesn’t get much cleaning and polishing but
I’ve replaced the clutch plates, reground the
valves and various other bits of tinkering. I try
to attend the Dragon Rally most years and I’m
now too old to stop - it would be an admission
of old age!
And finally...
On a recent trip to the Outer Hebridean island
of Barra Mrs Barker and I were surprised to
stumble upon COC club member, Jill Davies.
Although she hails from Lancashire, Jill has
been living in Barra (where she and Mr Davies
run the Endeavour Guest House) for the past
four years and was a frequent visitor before
that.
Jill is an experienced combo pilot having had a
Honda 400/4 plus Velorex and a Suzuki 650
with a Watsonian. She decided to part with
her VFR 750 solo a couple of years ago in
order to buy her Ural 750 Tourist from F2
motorcycles. She is well pleased with it. Even
though an island which measures a mere 4x8
5
LETTERS
Dear Peter!
Sorry for my delay too! Hopefully now we can communicate on a much regular basis.
First, answering your questions: we have about 55 members and over 3700 virtual supporters
in the social network. In fact proactive team is just about 15 members so far, 8 of them making
a Council including myself. Our President, Mr Nickolay Zhavoronkov aka Don Kolem.
Our web resource is www.uralmotoclub.ru it is 99% in Russian but it could be easily
understood.
As for recent Winter Rally there are many photos and videos available.
http://vk.com/rally_ural_1 <--- kind of facebook
http://uralmotoclub.ru/blog/Winter-rally-RALLY-in-THE-URALS-2014/ <--- thats in English
http://uralmotoclub.ru/news-mk-ural/2014/01/30/video-ralli-na-urale-zima-2014g.html
http://uralmotoclub.ru/news-mk-ural/2014/01/23/video-otchet-o-ralli-na-urale-zima-2014.html
http://uralmotoclub.ru/news-mk-ural/2013/11/29/film-o-nas.html <--- first video about the club
(as it was just launched). If you dig a little the "old" news there are tons of interesting materials.
http://uralmotoclub.ru/AMP/2013/11/18/pro-beshenuyu-morkovku.html <-- that's mine..
Our current plan is to present Ural brand at IMIS 2014 http://imismoto.ru Last year factory was
there via General distributor (uralmoto.ru) but this year it is completely club's responsibility. We
will show 3 or 4 club bikes including Ural-based custom chopper. Later on we would join
"season opening" and also we have our Summer Rally in August. In the meantime we are
planning a lot of minor rideouts. As St.Petersburg is not far from the UK you are very much
welcome any time.
Good thing we can do together is to introduce our OG to the other European Ural groups/clubs I believe you have close contacts with them. So far we are communicating with Ural in Finland
on a regular basis but there are much more of them. Could you please introduce me to them
somehow?
Purchasing Ural in the UK sounds a good idea for me. Are you involved into the Ural trade in
Britain? Are you making any re-builds or customs or something like? We have a small
workshop and the program of "sponsored" bikes - companies pay for the bikes and repairs and
than they are club property but have to carry the sponsor's logo always. At the moment we've
completed just two of them as our refurbishing capabilities are limited but we have plans to
make this in larger volumes. Here in Russia there are hundreds of thousands (!) of Soviet-times
Urals which are in poor condition but still can be repaired at reasonable price using modern
spare parts. Best regards, Alexander
(Come on, members! Alex lives in Chichester, West Sussex. Could someone pop in and have
a chat with him ([email protected])? Alex — come to our annual get-together: see
below. We would love to meet you. Peter)
Dear Members
We, the COC committee, would like to invite you to attend the Civilised Cossack Weekend
which the club is holding on August bank holiday weekend at Wing in Rutland. (Full details are
set out on page 23. ) For some time now we have been trying to make the club into a somewhat
more social affair and we were very much encouraged by the turnout for the Grand Day Out.
On a rough calculation somewhere between a quarter and a third of the club membership
participated in that which was great. So now we are hoping that there will be a good showing in
August, too.
We’d like to stress that it is not necessary to camp and it is not necessary to come for the whole
weekend. The owners also have self-catering accommodation for short-term lets both on the
estate and in the village of Wing. There is plenty to do in the area so you don’t need to talk
valve clearances for the whole weekend if you don’t want to. And, of course, if you live near
enough you could just call in for an hour or so to say hello.
We’d love to see you so please do help us to make the weekend a success.
Phil, Gina, Tony, Carl, Dave, Peter and Peter.
6
FORD FIESTA
attendees have novel ideas when it comes to
innovation like Polish Army Lavvu Shelter with
(Next up, a nice little three-hander from Michael
home made BEAN CAN STOVE.
Wadsworth—who seems to find fords strangely
Friday evening the Royal Hotel was our
irresistible. The first finds him en route to an
meeting point destination,which comes highly
MZ rally in Norfolk….)
recommended. Of course NELSON slept at
the Royal also it seems he slept in every pub
Friday the 11th riding east for the North Sea,
in Norfolk!!!
then l spot a FORD sign so must investigate
Saturday morning l need to get afloat so l find a
and find a CHOIR OF CHOIRBOYS!! from
local church in the area out for day on a
EXPED exercise building a raft to cross the
River Nar near Castle Acre,Norfolk.
The "ChoirBoys" have all the right kit for the
task in hand,Land Rover and trailer plus a 101
Forward Control. Quite a few wet children and
adults,plus one little girl,she seemed to be the
real TOM BOY!
This ford is classed as a 4 star, see Wet
Roads (www.wetroads.co.uk) ,so l would need
to fit a air snorkel like the off roaders to cross
chain ferry at Reedham Then l find a brewery
'Woodfordes' - yes its a fine gift l have!
Saturday afternoon l took a stroll along the sea
front at Mundesley and witness the damage the
December winter storms did to this coast line.
The beach huts are removed at the end of the
with the Ural or wait for larger raft/landing craft
to be build by the choirboys?
l check my map and found a direct route to
Mundesley on Sea via the B1145 (A transNorfolk byway) so for 52 miles you get lots of
bends with gravel & sand on the corners,
narrow lanes/cart track, very worn road
surfaces, adverse cambers, quaint villages, so
motorcycle made in Siberia seems ideal for the season by a fork lift truck,so these are still
B1145!
intact for the Easter Holidays.
The campsite is near the golf course. Some of By the way. if you like small museums try the
Mundesley Maritime Museum
(www.mundesleymaritimemuseum.co.uk)
Bye for now from the seaside.Michael
(Next, Michael finds himself riding through the
fair county of Lincolnshire and what should he
find but….a ford!)
Sunday the 18th May the weather forecasters
had promised us a warm Sunday ,so at first
light l was riding east to Lincolnshire and the
village of Tetford
7
Most rallyists started to pack up for the ride
home, however there was still a chance to
have chat before breakfast which was being
served at 09.00am in the restaurant. After my
snack - time to find some more wet roads/fords
in this part of Lincolnshire.
Nothing stop the Roman Legions,or a Green
Ural!
A ford with FENCE whichs helps stop
local folk from drowning!
So go l into French mode "Autres Directions"
via the stinging nettles!
Watery Lane
Nettles galore!
Very slippery ford, yes l got a slide on!
Now l get serious and go in search of
Segelocum, north of the City of Lincoln
(Lindum Colomia). l travel west along the
A1500 (Tillbridge Lane) - being Roman built
very straight indeed. At the village of Marton
the road becomes an "unclassified county
road" (www.trf.org.uk/rights-of-way/publicinformation)
The flood bank and the River Trent &
Littleborough across the river .
8
(And, finally, East Yorkshire…)
The last week end in May,l was planning to be in
Belgium at a sidecar rally and travelling out on
the Wednesday night/Thursday morning for the
Dover crossing. But was having problems
finding a grease nipple attachment to get grease
into my universal-joints as you do!, l am also
very GREEDY l have three on the Ural! On the
Ural Forums it recommends a 'needle
attachment' and l had placed an order with my
local Sealey Tools agent. Then l was informed
that this item was out stock..
So back to the drawing board. 'Ural Forum' for
ideas? Chain Saw grease gun made by
Oreogon (Made in Germany) and purchased
from my local lawn mower shop & now l am well
and truly greased! Yes, now l have 3 x u-joints
filled with grease! Also fitted a new rear Avon
SM tyre to the rear wheel.
However by this time l had missed my deadline
so Belgium was a non starter this weekend.
However still needed a u-j grease gun test run,
so rode to the East Riding of Yorkshire and MZ
Riders Coastal Camp at Burton Fleming
(www.bobbybee.co.uk)
On Sunday the 1st June the Cossack Owners
Club had made plans for "A Grand Day Out"
with members meeting up all over the UK.
With the Humber Bridge being on my route
south home l meet up with members at the
Honey Pot Cafe,Waters Edge,Barton-UponHumber.
In the lee of south east end of the Humber
Bridge.
Cossack parking.
Saturday time to meet the campers. Why put a
plastic bag over your MZ petrol filler cap??
A 81 year old Simson rider. (www.cold-warracers.com)
Dnepr with single Solex carburetor fitment
(belonging to Jim Adams from Market Rasen)
Bye for now.Michael
(Thank you, Michael, for those lovely little photo
essays. The fords are an interesting way to put
purpose into your ride. Anyone else out there
have similar ideas?)
9
began to be neglected again. What to do - sell
it or rebuild again. At this point I would say
Rick Spratt
I`ve been inspired by the Akrill’s bike as
Q .How do you double the value of a Russian featured in 2003 Horizontal View mag for many
years and have a picture in my workshop to
bike?
keep the flame alive. My mind was made up
A .Fill it with petrol.
when John died last year ( aged 89): the bike
Ha ha ,but here’s the funny bit .I paid £10 for
my Ural in 1998 , and I`ve just put £20 of petrol would become the John Rhodes memorial
project but this time something a bit different. I
in it .
I had owned a Norton commando for 20 years, wanted to retain the Russian feel but give it a
bit of a British look. A friend gave me a pair of
but sold it when children came along and it
silencers from a new Triumph and I thought
was not getting used. An old boy in my
these would look good. I am a self-employed
village , called John Rhodes, used to come
and admire it and would talk about his Cossack metalworker so can make many parts myself.
Also I have a friendly powder coater and metal
which also languished in his garage. He had
polisher which is very useful. So the bike was
dropped it on an ice patch and lost interest
when he had to wait for 4 people to stop and
DOUBLING UP
stripped to the last nut and bolt nay the last
spoke nipple. I still had a new crank shaft from
the first rebuild and although the old one was
help him get it back upright. I became quite
still very good I thought I may as well use the
friendly with him after that and often visited him new one. Here`s a list of mods::
for a chat and to hear about his biking
Engine polished and rebuilt with new crank
adventures .After the Norton went I soon got
assembly ,stainless steel pushrod tubes,
broody for another bike and asked John if he
modified engine breather, new deep finned
still had his Cossack. He did and he said I
sump.
could have it. And so started a reverse
New (Russian ) carbs with bell mouths.
auction. I said how much and he said give me Frame blasted and powder coated.
£2 to make it legal. I said I would have to give New saddle pan and cover.
more than that and said I would give him £20. Tool boxes under seat with all original tools
He said he couldn`t possibly take that and so
including puncture kit and tyre gauge.
we settled on £10. The bike had been wheeled Dummy oil tank which opens to provide
into his garage 10 years before and not
another tool box.
touched so I started to rebuild it. It had siezed Stainless steel top yoke cover ,and handlebar
just by standing and so I had to delicately
brackets made from solid polished ally.
remove the pistons (with a pick axe !!) This
Stainless flat handlebars
was at the time when Uralmoto started
BMW fibreglass front mudguard .
importing bikes and parts, so I was able to
Wheel hubs polished and rebuilt with stainless
stock up on all the parts I needed ,and some.
steel rims and spokes.
The rebuild was fairly comprehensive ,and the Stainless exhaust pipes with balance pipe to fit
bike was used for about 10 years and then
triumph silencers.
10
New headlamp brackets.
New brake pedal and gearchange made from
stainless.
Rear gearbox polished and fitted with modified
breather.
All nuts and bolts replaced with stainless.
I had considered a new tank .Suzuki GS 750
sprang to mind but I then thought no keep it
Russian.
The first trip out was to a local pub where a
Harley meeting was taking place. I had noticed
that my forks weren`t working properly and
needed tweaking, they went down and locked.
I was bouncing them when the Harley boys
came out and immediately offered help. We
decided they would take my wife home so I
could limp along with the dodgy forks. So my
wife got a go on a MassiveGlide while I got to
at it: the engine had to come out again.Then I
discovered the through hole in the block
(through which the mounting stud is fitted) is
lined with an aluminium tube swaged into the
hole either end. This is probably due to the
castings not being oil tight around the hole .As
I had knocked the stud through I had caught
the tube and damaged the swaged face, thus it
leaked.
Even the great Dave Angel hadn`t heard of this
one before but when discussed he decided he
had some spare tubes. Be warned.
Rick Spratt
Civilised
Cossack?
Course
we’re going!
Aren’t you?
lead 30 Harleys back to my village. The funny
thing was , when we went into the pub two old
boys said wow, what’s that you`re riding and
totally ignored the Harleys.
And now one interesting technical tip .After the
rebuild, oil was seen to leak out of the front
engine mounting. Alarm bells rang ,as after
polishing the block I had washed it in paraffin,
then boiling soapy water in a vibrating plastic
tank ,to ensure every speck of grit would be
removed. As I poured on boiling water a
thought I heard a crack. Could it have been
the block cracking? After all this work and
knowing my luck it could be. No good looking
11
Minsk Factory Visit
By
Mike Stevens
We felt reassuringly back in the USSR.
In the early hours of the morning we had spent
the best part of an hour trekking round
identical nondescript Soviet era housing blocks
trying to find our accommodation. The taxi
driver finally found the place and we eventually
got to bed at about 3am after the traditional
half-hour hour booking in period complete with
scrutinizing and recording of passport details a truly communist era experience.
In the morning we took the trolley-bus which
dropped us opposite the factory gates, went in
the main entrance and were immediately
shown the door by a rather fearsome security
lady who made it perfectly clear that we were
not welcome. So we were left standing outside
on the pavement in a very strong cold wind
and the first snowfall of the winter. Fortunately
our leader Julian (a veteran of many East
European and Russian trips during the cold
war days), was completely unfazed by this
treatment and marched us back in through the
staff entrance following the staff members up a
flight of stairs. At the top of the stairs was an
important looking guy in a suit, quick as a
flash, Julian produced a business card
introducing himself and us as a delegation of
freelance motorcycle magazine writers from
the UK who wanted to write an article about
the Minsk factory.
This guy spoke good English and must have
had some clout as he took us back to his office
and after a few phone calls we were taken to
the boardroom for coffee and biscuits and
introduced to a member of their estates
department. The estates guy then took us for a
long walk round the factory site explaining that
they were in the process of rationalizing the
factory and sub-letting vacant units to other
businesses. It was certainly a hive of activity
with redundant rail tracks being torn out and
roads being either re-surfaced or renewed, not
a bit the run down works we expected.
Next we were introduced to Katrina the PR girl
who was to look after us for the rest of the day.
She explained to us that the Minsk factory
does not just make motorcycles. Originally it
was a cycle factory that expanded into
motorcycle manufacture in the early 1950s.
They still manufacture a full range of cycles
from kiddies three wheelers to mountain and
sports bikes.
In 2008 a new joint stock company was formed
“Motorcycle Company Minsk - Moto” to cover
all the old “Motovelo” associated companies
producing motorcycles, bicycles, forestry and
agricultural equipment and the supporting
metal and parts fabricating processes. The
company is now part of an Austrian consortium
“ATEC Management GMBH” who certainly
seem to be investing in the plant. Their
ambition is to produce a range of motorcycles
from electric step through mopeds to a 500cc
machine.
At present Minsk supply 80-90% of the
Belarusian and 25-30% of the Russian
markets, with the balance going to outlying
areas of the Russian Federation e.g.
Turkmenistan, Azerbijan, Uzbekistan, Moldova
or you name it. These figures of course mainly
apply to the supply of the traditional 125cc twostroke machine. The next ambitious plan on
completion of updating the manufacturing plant
is to enter the European market with their new
range of machines starting with Poland.
We were each given a complementary copy of
their “Minsk 60 Years of Success”
commemoration book, a high quality
publication telling the history of the factory,
giving a full list and pictures of all the models
ever produced. Each section covers road
motorcycles, sports motorcycles, scooters,
mopeds, it even includes prototypes and
experimental vehicles built over the years. We
were also given their 2011 and 2012
catalogues although these are printed in
Cyrillic.
After the formal introduction Katrina showed us
the factory museum - always interesting
places museums. It was very comprehensive.
Although it did not contain every machine
produced there was a good selection. At the
time I was disappointed not to see an M1
Moskva, but this was rectified later when an
almost complete restoration was wheeled out
when we were offered “sample” rides, I won’t
say “test rides” of the new models.
Rather than try to list all the bikes on show at
a later date I will try later to put an article
12
B16 BICYCLE
M201 TRIALS
M1A
M1A
WORKS HACK
M1M
13
together from the “60 Years of Minsk” book.
My first ride was on the “Upa-upa” electric
moped, not particularly inspiring but I had to
have a go never having ridden or driven an
electric vehicle before. I suppose this is the
way forward now, it was certainly competent
and powerful enough to hold its own for a short
while in town traffic; it is powered by a 48Volt
800Watt electric motor. It is built in house at
Minsk including the electric motor. It seems
there has been a crisis for the Russian
Federation moped builders as the “Red
October” factory at St Petersburg ceased
production of all its moped and cycle-motor
engines in 1997. From that date Minsk went on
to fit the 50cc ZID engine from the Kovrov built
Pilot to their mopeds and when that source
dried up fitted a licence built “Motobecane”
engine up to 2005.
My second ride was on a 600 ATV “quad” their
KD625. Again a new experience never having
driven anything like it before, I can see the
attraction - good fun. It was badged “Minsk”
but I think they were simply selling a Chinese
built machine, we saw quite a few crated up
examples during our factory tour.
The last ride I had was on the rather nice
MinskR250. This is a British “Megelli” designed
machine, very smooth, modern, comfortable
and plenty of torque. I could live quite
comfortably with this one but I suspect my
Dnepr and Lada Samara would jump on it and
flatten it as a modern upstart if I ever put one
in my garage. Again I think this is a marketing
exercise by Minsk, not that you can blame
them. I looked up the Megelli website once I
got home and found an identical bike listed.
Minsk have to look forward, they cannot rely
for ever on the old two stroke we are familiar
with, the only way forward is to fit four stroke
engines and I suppose the cheapest option is
to buy them in, mainly from China.
appears to be a much up-rated version of the
old 125. It has been re-styled, fitted with
3.25x16 wheels against the standard 3.00x18,
disc front brake, traditional headlamp
incorporating the Speedo and a 5 speed 200cc
four stroke engine. The same engine appears
in the C4 200 Classic that has the same
running gear as the 125.
Two 50cc scooters are listed as the TC49 and
the TX49 and these are fitted with electric and
kick starters.
In addition to the electric Upa-upa and
replacing the previously offered mopeds is the
step-thru D49 which comes with a Honda C50
derived Chinese engine.
The most interesting new model is the M4 500
of which there is a prototype in the museum.
It’s a retro style café racer with a 498cc Cagiva
engine built under licence and is a seriously
nice looking machine available with either
spoked or alloy wheels. Unfortunately it is not
listed in the 2012 catalogue so presumably is
not yet ready for production.
We were seriously delighted by what we saw
at the Minsk works. There was considerable
enthusiasm amongst the people there with
what they were doing. Modern bikes are not
really my style but any manufacturer has to
keep up with the trend or go under. My
opinion for what it is worth is that they are
doing it right with a full range of modern
machines. I expect there will be a market for
the old 125`s for a little while yet but eventually
they will have to go.
We had a reminder of this at Minsk Airport
while waiting for our return flight where there
was an immaculate Belair Tupolev 134 on the
tarmac. These old stagers will be almost
finished by the end of 2011 since they are not
allowed to operate in Europe now and will be
restricted to outlying areas of the Russian
Federation for 2012. In fact at many of the
Russian Federation airports you see old
New Models
Tupolevs, Antonovs and Ilyushins waiting for
The new models listed are the Megelli
the breakers. It’s certainly the end of an era.
designed R250 and a rather similar CH250. I Our thanks to “Motorcycle Minsk Moto” for the
am not sure if this is a Megelli design or not.
hospitality and help shown to us on our recent
This would be my choice anyway as it is unfactory visit, it was certainly an eye opener for
faired. The two bikes are slightly different in
us. We were encouraged to learn that at least
spec. and there are also sport and crosser
one other factory than IMZ is attempting to
versions.
drag itself into the 21st century.
There is a very nice M4 200 Classic listed, this Mike Stevens
14
IN THE MINSK SHOP
IN PRODUCTION
KATRINA ON THE C4 250
MINSK RACER
UMCA SNOW/SWAMP MOBILE
15
Daihatsu-Ural Diesel Bike
By
Mark Avis
Part 2
(In the interests of continuity, let me remind
readers that at the end of Part 1 we were left
hanging, metaphorically speaking, from a
frame gusset. Take it away, Mark)
The next part of the build proceeded from the
knowledge of where the rubber donut needed
to be in relation to the hole in the swing
arm. This located the engine-gearbox in the
frame, which made it clear what frame
modifications needed to take place. The
near the rear shocker mounts, and raised
them at a steeper angle to meet a horizontal
top tube which just cleared the head. At the
same time having had trouble with Ural
gearboxes, I thought it would be handy to be
able to unbolt the rear frame and expose the
gearbox without disturbing the (rather heavy)
engine. I did this by including substantial pins
welded into and protruding from the forward
frame, which insert into the rear frame tubes in
both bottom rails, and are secured by the
footrest hanger bar which passes through
them. At the top, the fork in the frame which
closes just ahead of the seat meets a plate
under the tank, and bolts on here.
These descriptions are perhaps a bit opaque –
above are two photos of the assembled frame,
the second showing the pains I took to get both
wheels aligned appropriately. This process
German bikes used a lengthened frame with
lower rails slightly widened, and a somewhat
radical top tube to clear the tall OHC cylinder
head. I thought I could tolerate a higher seat
and make something nicer looking – I’m a very
average 5’ 10” – so I cut away the upper frame
parts from headstock to the rearmost gusset
worked, in that the finished bike can be ridden
in a straight line with hands off the bars and no
tendency to shake its head.
As soon as the engine was attached to
something solid, I wanted to kick it into life to
check I was not wasting my time. The weather
was cold, around freezing, but to my relief it
ticked over fine and wasn’t too bad to start,
despite only getting one compression per
16
kick. The routine is ‘glow-plugs on, count to
five, BIG kick, turn plugs off if it starts’. In the
process my lash-up exhaust fell off, and to my
surprise the noise was very subdued – my bike
is a turbo, which appears to take a lot of the
sting out of the exhaust note.
The rest of the build was about finding places
to fit all the ancillaries like alternator, battery,
fuel filters etc – and making tanks. I went for
two, since I was hoping to use one for chip-oil,
and one for diesel. The wisdom
(www.dieselbike.net) is that starting on veggie
oil or bio-diesel causes carbon build-up, ring
gumming and accelerated wear, so it is better
to start on DERV and then switch when the
engine is hot. I got as far as starting to build
electrical and hot-water fuel heaters, before
finding that my engine would run for only as
long as it took to fill the injector pump with
veggie oil. It only took about 200 kicks to
purge it… The result was that I’ve ended up
using one tank for a 50/50 mix, and one for
DERV, and this seems to work fine.
How long this all took, can be determined by
the photos of the more-or-less finished bike,
with our first baby riding it and then the later
one with number two on the rather
uncomfortable ‘pillion seat’. You might also
notice the front brake has been swapped out
for a hydraulic conversion based on a Morris
Minor back plate, slave cylinders and shoes. A
number of people in the club have done this,
using components from 8” drum brakes which
fit the 200mm Ural drums, after a bit of
bedding in. I had to buy 4 slave cylinders and
4 shoes in a set – and the brake works so well
I’ve just bought the ‘other’ brake plate to make
up another one for my ‘normal’ bike Paper
work was a bit of a hassle, but the bike
changes are now registered appropriately with
DVLA and it is taxed/ insured. Performance is
good – 100mpg at 60mph, 80mpg at 80-
90mph, top gear pulls from 30 upwards. I
forgot to mention gearing – I used a 3.2:1 final
drive crown wheel and pinion set obtained
from Oldtimer garage in Poland. These used
to be a lot cheaper than they are now, but
remain a right pain to fit – the pinion is so big
you have to file away a lot of the shoulder the
big double-row pinion bearing locates on so
the pinion gear can pass through it. This in
turn means a load of messing about with shims
to get the pinion in the right place relative to
the crown wheel, with the correct backlash – it
helped a lot to have a lathe available to make
custom shims.
I also used a 1:1 top gear set. This is all fine,
but it means there is a really big jump between
3rd and top, which does not help at all when
overtaking caravans on winding roads. In the
pipeline I have a Dnepr box; here 3rd and 4th
can both be removed from the clutch shaft,
whereas in a Ural box all but 4th are one
casting. In the Dnepr box I’ve modified the old
4th as a new 3rd, and used a new 1:1 top set
(Oldtimer Garage again).
The main remaining problem with the bike is
that it weighs a lot. I’ve omitted a pillion seat
for this reason, and I buy quality inner tubes
and tyres despite myself. Manoeuvring at low
speed is OK with care, but I dropped it in the
rain on the top road just outside Dent, and it
took me over an hour to pick it back up. I was
lucky not to wipe off the oil filter in the process
and immobilise myself. In fact I nearly
immobilised myself with a rupture, let alone the
oil filter.
Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed the story. The
forum at www.dieselbike.net is a great source
of further info for this kind of thing, and there
are lots of other diesel bike builds listed there
based on Russian and Ukrainian bikes, as well
as a whole load of other approaches.
17
FROM THE CLUB ARCHIVES
1977 CLUB AGM
1977 BMF SHOW CLUB STAND
EARLY VOSKHOD IMPORT
NO IDEA. HELP ANYONE?
1981 CLUB RALLY
1977 DRAGON RALLY
18
FROM THE CLUB ARCHIVES
1975: PJB M63/BUSMAR ON
TOUR IN LAKE DISTRICT
MT9 AT 1979 DRAGON RALLY
1980S ASHBOURNE DNEPR KNEELER
JUPITER 3 OUTFIT
1980s DNEPR IN LAKES SNOW
1983 WORLD’S SMALLEST THEATRE
19
falling down water the night before). At night
time there was joviality at the camp with beer
This year’s stand at the April show was full with (new home brew Carrot Dangler) & other
a diverse range of eastern bloc bikes, from the alcoholic drinks being downed as well as BBQ
& the dreaded fumigator back by unpublic
normal combos to small bikes to racers &
demand (amazing how many can get round it
when it's cold). The weather was iffy all
weekend with bad rain on Friday especially
when Bill, Tarka & Gina arrived, picked up on
Sat & Sun but rained when loading up time
STAFFORD SHOW
scooters. We made our presence known to the
classic community with bikes from the 50s to
90s. We had our usual pitch on the balcony
which allows our large flag to be spotted from
all over the hall. The bikes on display consisted
of a 2004 Ural combo, 1999 Ural Red Star,
1993 Dnepr MT11 combo, 1986 Dnepr roadster
(barn find—some said it should have stayed
there), 1976 Jupiter 3, 1975 Vyatka scooter,
1973 race replica Minsk, 1971 M66 replica
police bike & 1951 Mockba M1A. We would
have had another Ural sidecar (Bill Toland) &
Ural solo (Phil Inman) but space was not
available (just shows interest in displaying).
Over the show time our stand was always busy
with the two main pullers being the police bike
& the racing bike. Tony also got a visit from
one of the organising officials saying how they
like the way we do our stand which allows the
public to get near the bikes & not be behind
ropes looking in. Also Gina did a lot of trade
with regalia which made her happy (although
she did arrive late on Saturday due to too much
came; but if you let it get you down you can't
have fun with club members. A big thank you
to all who helped: Tony (militsianir) Jones,
Steve"Tarka" Thomas, Paul Greensmith, Matt
( the Eggman) Woodward, Steve Houghland,
John (philanthropist) Harrop, Dave
(chromedome) Bolton, Phil & Gina (sleepy)
Inman, Mike (BBQ man)Stevens & Lez, Bill
Toland. The next do should be Donnington
which also incorporates the classic racing club
who'll be using the circuit all weekend for
racing. On Saturday evening displayers of
bikes are allowed to do parade laps of he circuit
for joe public. You know my No. for contact..
Comrade Carl.
EXCHANGE AND MART
Wanted: Set of fork legs for either an
(Ural) M66 or Dnepr MT10; plus wheel
for similar (M66 and/or MT10); silencers
for Dnepr MT10. All either new or used
- if used but must be in good condition
and not needing loads of work!
email [email protected]
k or text/ring: 07856 498827.
20
TVER QUARRY
This really could happen only in Russia. Tver Quarry is apparently an ideal training site for
novice divers: clear water, sandy beaches, easy descent, maximum depth 15 metres. Diving
clubs come from all over Russia. Now here comes the strange bit: it seems to have become
some kind of tradition for each club to bring with it an object for a growing underwater museum.
Yes, underwater museum. All vehicles have their oils and petrol emptied out before
submersion and, so the theory goes, this is an ecological practice because the museum, er,
exhibits form an artificial reef to which small bivalves cling and filter the water which as a result
has become much cleaner. Don’t believe me? See for yourselves at http://runknown.com/
underwater-museum-in-the-tver-quarry. Peter.
21
Myself on S.V engine M63, Al riding his K750,
Mick, Sue and son and heir in the chair of a
Ural engine Dnepr. Rob the Beefeater sent his
Our inaugural Grand Day Out seems to have
apologies as he was busy looking after the
been a great success. Up here in Yorks and
ravens at the Tower. Gentle run down the old
Lincs we had ten turn up on seven machines, A20 to the Oakdene Café followed by a full
six of which were soviet. We enjoyed a fine
English. Al and myself had the usual sprint up
lunch at the Honeypot Café on the banks of the Wrotham Hill on the way back, mercilessly
Humber Estuary and nodded amiably at
screaming our engines to unheard of revs. Al
several hundred Harley Riders whose
won this time.. Truly a Grand Day Out!”
machines attracted less attention than ours.
In the south-west Peter Ballard and Dave Cox
Over in the north-west Tony Jones reports: “I radio in: “The South West meeting was a great
met up with three members en route and we
success, we met at the café where people
arrived promptly at 11am at the Anderton Boat turned up that we have never seen before, but
Lift near Northwich. One member was already all members. Not all stayed too long as they
there and over the next hour or so we had a
were on a day trip out anyway and decided to
total of 12 bikes and 16 members. We spent a call in. The weather was brilliant which of
pleasant and relaxed two hours chatting,
course helped and Dave has uploaded a few
visiting the cafe and watching the Boat Lift
pictures on the Rally section on the web site.
going up and down.”
Six soviet bikes with nine crew and a few on
other steeds.”
At the Super Sausage Café Phil and Gina
say : “An excellent time appears to have been This is great news. If we reckon on an
had by all at the Super Sausage. Weather was average of about ten in each of the eight
wonderful, and the arrival of a significant
regions then we had a turn-out of around 80 or
number of Ural outfits caused something of a
so which is getting on for one third of the club!
stir amongst the massed throng of 'ordinary'
bikers there. Around 12 members turned out, Well done Club Sec. Tony Jones who
one of whom asked if we could do this a
proposed the whole thing in the first place.
couple of times a year.”
There were apparently plenty of requests for
this to happen more often. Nothing to stop
that. Perhaps local organisers could take the
bit between their teeth and propose a date and
venue and that can be published in the
magazine: it doesn’t have to be the whole
country on any given date, after all. Tony
Jones is already proposing the next north-west
ride-out to the Rivington Barn near Bolton on
21st September. Further details from Tony.
Super Sausage
GRAND DAY OUT
Down at F2 motorcycles David Angel tells us:
“Our BBQ was well attended by many, but only
a couple of Urals — Gordon and Chris (C.O.C.
members) on their Ural as well as one more
Ural belonging to a non member. A few Jawas,
MZs and some Japanese bikes also attended.
Great weather and good company made for a
very nice day. “
South-West
And darn in London, Chris Smith reports:
“Lovely sunny day in South East England22
DATES FOR YOUR
DIARY
22/24 August:The Civilised Cossack
Weekend: Wing Hall Estate Campsite, Wing,
Oakham, Rutland. LE15 8RY. Book direct 01572
737090 or www.winghall.co.uk. £8 per person
per night for campers. Minimum 2 nights for this
bank holiday weekend. Self-catering
accommodation also available: enquire direct
from the campsite office on above number.
Other general enquiries toTony Jones 01942
Tony Jones has sent in this photo of a Planeta 605949 / 07504 700522 ;
which is for sale. The owner contacted him to [email protected]
ask about valuation. It’s been dry stored for
about 35 years. Only snag—it’s in Denmark.
Cossack Owners’ Club AGM
Help with valuing the machine—or indeed
The club AGM will be held at 11am on 24th
expressions of interest to Tony (contact details August at the Wing Campsite, Rutland (full
opposite).
address and contact details above).
Motions will be permitted on the day but
advance notice would be welcome.
Also nominations for committee positions can be
made on the day (the rules state that committee
members wishing to stand down should give
one month’s notice.)
11/13 September: 3rd Rally @ The Edge
On the island of Vatersay in the western isles of
Scotland. Beautiful remote coastal location.
Onsite catering and shelter in case of Scottish
weather. Caledonian Macbrayne (0800 066
One For The Workshop
5000) ferries from Oban, Uig (Skye) and
This is an old spark plug that has had a
Ullapool. Limit of 100 so please pre-book by
hacksaw run over it a couple of times in a
sending cheque for £10 to J Davies, Endeavour,
rough spiral. It now serves as a tool for
2 Castlebay, Isle of Barra, HS9 5XD. For selfcleaning spark plug holes of 'clag' as I believe catering caravans try Catriona 01871 810357 or
it's known in the trade. (From our Accrington JJ MacNeil 01871 810477. Further info from Jill
correspondent, Phil R.)
or Jon 01871 810757 (see page 5).
DONNINGTON CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE FESTIVAL
Here is some info on the up coming classic motorcycle festival at Donnington Park 9th & 10th August.
The festival is a mixture of show with other classic clubs & some kind of autojumble plus C.R.M.C racing
all weekend, By displaying your bike you will have access to the racing as well as a chance to ride round
the track with the parade. The organisers say:
I”f any of your members has a bike with interesting history please let us know as we may be able to
include it in the official programme for the weekend. Also we can get our official commentator Uncle Jim
Reynolds to come along and have a chat with the owner.
There will be an exhibitors’ only area with tables and chairs with free tea and coffee all weekend.
Kevin Schwantz will be making a number of appearances at the show and we will have a small stage
area where Kevin will be interviewed by Jim Reynolds. He will also be available for autographs.
The Exhibitors’ track parade will again take place on Saturday evening, with over 500 bikes on display.
Please encourage your members to take part tas his could be quite an event and is free to all exhibitors.”
I have put down for ten bikes for the stand,so if interested contact me (see page 3). Camping is free for
exhibitors. Comrade Carl.
23
24