HORIZONTAL - Cossack Owners Club
Transcription
HORIZONTAL - Cossack Owners Club
HORIZONTAL VIEW THE MAGAZINE OF THE COSSACK OWNERS CLUB 2006 Established in 1975 as the Ural Owners Club www.cossaclownersclub.co.uk Representing owners and enthusiasts of Russian, Ukrainian, Byelorussian & Latvian Mortorcycles and Sidecars MX«URAL«KMX«DNEPR«RIGA«IZSHEVSK-PLANETA«JUPITER VOSKHOD«VOSTOK«MINSK«COSSACK«NEVAL«UNRALMOTO HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 WHO’S WHO & EDITORIAL YOUR OFFICIALS Honorary Life President & Technical Advisor Peter Ballard 9 Barn End, Marshfield South Gloucester SN14 8PE Tel: 01225 891 634 eMail: [email protected] General Secretary Tim Berry 9 Morely Close, Little Stoke Bristol BS34 6SE Tel: 01454 898 645 Treasurer James Evans 27 Riverdale Close, Old Town, Swindon SN1 4ED Tel: 01793 511 453 eMail: [email protected] Membership Secretary Nick Amor 63 The Avenue, Oalktree Park St Leonards, Ringwood Hampshire BH25 2RJ Tel: 01202 872 161 Newsletter Editor David Alexander 3 Drayton Green, Eaton Park Stoke-on-Trent ST2 9NY Tel: 01782 870 321 eMail: [email protected] Regalia Secretary Dave Cox Tanglewood, Romsey Road Whiteparish, Wiltshire SP5 2SD Tel: 01794 884 492 eMail: [email protected] Rally Co-ordinator Cliff Russell 23 Arren Street, Bala Gwynedd LL23 7SP Tel: 01678 520 277 Magazine Editorial Team Peter Ballard, Mike Stevens & Annemarie Seager - all correspondence to Peter Ballard When phoning your officials, please phone before 9pm and avoid mealtimes etc. PAGE I EDITORIAL P J Ballard I have taken the opportunity to include in this issue a significant number of photos extracted from the www, from my collection and from other documentary sources. I have thus added some explanations to help. This A4 format and full colour encourages this type of content. We also have a few articles from members, which is always good to see and also from the European importer. We try to process images in such a way as to give good reproduction in this magazine. Sometimes quality is poor but if we think the photo is worth it we will still print. We are getting a lot more input in digital format, both photos and text, but we will accept anything. The COC bought me a new PC this year, this has helped me so much! I can process the input so much quicker – thank you all. Gives me more time to play with my bikes, I wish! Just a reminder as to how we put this magazine ‘Horizontal View’ together. Besides what I gather, you lot write the articles and take the photos, these are then sent to me in paper or digital format. I then sort these and might edit contributions, but only if required typically to add explanations. For instance if an owner writes in complaining about poor brakes on a MT9 I would wish to add a few words to differentiate between poor condition and poor design. I then pass this edited content on to Annemarie who designs and produces the magazine, adjusting all the images (colour / contrast / size) as necessary. So what do I do when I am not working on or riding my Urals, Dneprs or Ishevsks, answering technical enquiries, editing this magazine. I work as a professional engineer for Horstman Defence Systems Ltd, we design and manufacture hydropneumatic suspension systems for military vehicles Armoured Personnel Carriers to MBTs Main Battle Tanks. I look after product development, thus I get involved in component testing, vehicle trials and developing new suspension concepts. I live in a little Cotswold village just eight miles from Bath where I work. I don’t really like commuting on motorcycles since I know how sleepy the other car commuters are in the morning and how much in a rush they are on their way home. I have survived so far and lost far too many friends; so I try to minimise the risks so that I can ride another day. I have six motorcycles; a 1951 IMZ M72 (with the later KMZ short leading link front forks), a 1971 Ural M63 (much tuned & lightened), a 1976 Dnepr MT12 (very original but up to MB750 spec with differential lock) and a 1975 Ishevsk Planeta Sport (very original) and also a Kawasaki KLR650 green lane outfit (very quick!) and a Honda TLR200 (very light at 93kg) 4 stroke trials bike also for green laning. I try to keep at least two bikes on the road at any one time, but it takes time and space. I need more space, a barn would be nice! Due to work and family commitments it is difficult to get to as many COC rallies as I used to, last year was tough! I hope to do better this year, at least ‘the Three Magpies’ is only a few miles from where I live! We hope you enjoy this magazine also let others look through it. HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 CONTENTS CONTENTS WHEN I WERE A LAD Members - Your News Your Views...........................................................4 Bob’s Bikes - Bob Linnell.....................................................................................4 Dave’s Ural - Dave Goodacre ..............................................................................5 ISH ATV & tracked ...............................................................................................6 The Wolf Man - James ‘Fonda’ Evans . ................................................................6 A Dnepr Find and REVIVAL - Phil Brown . ............................................................7 Terror Reduction - John Crags . ...........................................................................8 Tour of Russia - Vlad Turaev ................................................................................8 Russian Experience - Paul Newman ..................................................................10 Restored Minsk - Peter Ballard . .......................................................................11 ROVING REPORTER - MIKE STEVENS ...........................................................12 Vlad’s Bikes, New Russian Bike Factory, Russian Websites - Mike Stevens . .....12 Rick Rides to Riga - Rick Spratt ........................................................................15 Orpi Moroccon Rally 2005 - Hari Schwaighofer .................................................16 Ural Motorcycles GMBH - Hari Schwaighofer ....................................................21 2-Stroke Rally Down Under - Rod Knight ..........................................................22 A Sidecar Convert - Thirty Years in the Making - Steve Lyons ...........................25 EU Powered 2-wheel Accident Study - Peter Ballard . .......................................26 Technical & Troubleshooting ..............................................................................30 Altered Valve Timing Ural M63 1970 - Rod Knight .............................................30 Torque Sense - Peter Ballard .............................................................................32 Sidecar Suspension Height Adjustment / Single Carbs - Peter Ballard ..............33 Front Rear Drive Ural / KMZ Front Brakes / Timing Belt - Peter Ballard .............34 M72 Plate Heads / Twin Wheel Drive - Peter Ballard . .......................................35 Powering the Zimbabwean Queen - Alan Summerhill ........................................36 Living with K301s and Other Things - Phil Harcastle .........................................37 COSSACK BIKING NEWS ................................................................................38 Racing & Estern Block Bikes - Peter Ballard ......................................................38 Soviet Flat Twin Road Racing - Peter Ballard . ..................................................39 Ice Racing - Peter Ballard . ...............................................................................40 Off Road Motorcycle Sport - Peter Ballard .......................................................41 Popham 2006 - Peter Ballard ............................................................................42 Urals Round the World - Peter Ballard ...............................................................43 Know Your Bikes - Peter Ballard . .....................................................................44 Soviet M31 & East German AWO / EMW - Peter Ballard ...................................46 Ural M73 - - Peter Ballard . ...............................................................................48 COC Regalia - David Cox ...........................................................................49 Commuting on Russian Roads ..........................................................................52 PHOTOGRAPHS - from the top PMZ 750 Mozharov - Designed PMZ 750 BMW R11 with Soviet Plate ISH 750 PAGE I HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 MEMBERS - YOUR VIEWS YOUR NEWS BOB’S BIKES Bob Linnell When I bought a second hand Ural Dalesman Outfit in 2003 I decided to join the COC. I find your magazine quite interesting. So far I have only been to three rallies. Twice to the Popham Sidecar Rally and to Penhafodlas in 2005. That was mid blowing, the location is out of this world. It was a shame I didn’t have more time as I would have liked to look around more and do some mountain walking, but there is this year’s rally coming up. I bought the Ural as a run around town job. I’ve done a few camping trips to the south coast and then decided to go to Cornwall on it. Was a bit slow but proved reliable. Got to like it more now and I have got used to driving at 55mph. (ED - try getting into 4th and opening the throttle! My old MT9 once fettled would cruise as an outfit at 65 to 70mph) One thing I do like about it is the vast quantity of junk that can be carried about in the sidecar (ED - hence the 55 mph, I understand now!), unlike my other outfit. I have no hesitation taking it anywhere now and hope to do the Dent Rally this year. From your magazines I notice there is a lot of mention about fitting BMW engines in Urals (ED and Dneprs). I have already done this more than 20 years ago. In 1983 I bought a red Dnepr for £100. It ran fine, I went to Cornwall on it PAGE I once, I thought it was dreadfully slow. It had about the same performance as a BSA A10 outfit (ED same power, same weight?). It also had terrible 6v electrics and brakes that either didn’t work or locked up solid with the lightest touch and the sidecar was on the wrong side. Could never feel relaxed with the right hand chair, so after a couple of years changed it for a left hand one. I had a Reliant axle with wide wheels. I built this and had a few more years on it before selling it. Never did find out what happened to it, but I’m going to build another one out of a Soviet Knight that I have in the back garden. In those days all I wanted to do was to go as fast as possible, but I think now that getting there on Ural power is more class and also more of a challenge as I purchased a BMW R100/7 of about 1978 vintage. BMWs have been poor bikes for fitting sidecars to since the 1960s - I used just about everything except the frame. From the Dnepr frame I cut out the swinging arm supports and fabricated my own to suit the BMW swinging arm. Alignment was a bit of a shot in the dark, by eye. It went well for about 4 or 5 years. It would cruise at 89 to 90mph (ED German autobahns again uh?) no problem and it stopped as well. You could see where you were going in the dark, shame about losing the reverse gear. Eventually the bearings in the bevel drive disintegrated and I had been meaning to build a trike anyway, do not know if you are going to get there or not. I am in the process of fitting a twin disc front wheel to my Ural, I’ll update the members when its done. Here are some pictures of the Dnepr in its various forms. HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 DAVE’S URAL Dave Goodacre My M66 was acquired in 2002 in a sorry state. Deep thought and several cups of tea led to drastic action and eventual rebuild as a military/utility custom. A rigid rear end and 2 into1 exhaust gave a considerable weight reduction and combines nicely with a high solo ratio bevel. Extensive top end rebuilding was finished off with a pair of Mikuni 28mm flatslides and the electrickery benefited from a new dynamo with a 12v regulator and 35w halogen headlight (PJB ED – with the12v conversion you can run a 60/55 watt head lamp bulb) THE COC MOTORCYCLE DISPLAY TEAM GO DOWN TO THE COTWOLDS Back in the good old days of the 1980s we got 12 people on a Dnieper MT9 outfit, I think this was down on the Broadway (Cotswolds) rally. Gavin, the bike’s owner, suffered on the return journey – the rims had deflected so much under the load that the spokes had pushed through the rim and rubbed on the tube causing punctures on two wheels on the way home! Keep your day jobs boys! We’ll be in touch....maybe! The dented Dneiper tank fitted was ousted by a shapely early BSA twin item and the whole bike pained in suitably subdued green. The resulting one-off has proved rugged and dependable, from touring Wales to foul weather commuting. Lately a 2 leading shoe has been fitted to combat the maddness of town traffic but mainly the bike (Christened ‘Boris’) sees fair weather exercise exploring the back roads and by-ways or rural Derbyshire and direct feel to the back end gives a vintage motorcycling enjoyment that equals any of the ancient Britbikes I have owned. Dragons & Cossacks by Byronski Back from the Dragon, the rain is descending. Hell, it feels like this road’s never ending. The engine it growls like a hungry bear. How I wish I was nearly there. Steamed up visor, I can’t see a lot. Every year I lose the plot. Russian rubber on tarmac, a continuous hum. Services soon, to ease my sore bum. The rain it saturates every bit This bike handles like a bucket of s_ _ t. Chester Services, these AutoRoute planners. The engine now sounds like a bucket of spanners. Up the slip-road for a hot Burger King. Big cloud of smoke - I’ve dropped a ring. Out with the sockets and off with the head. No use, the bugger’s totally dead. Out with the phone and ring the AA. Two hours wait, it’s always the way! Cossack’s loaded on the back of the truck. LIFE IS STRANGE I’d like to see a parking attendant slap a ticket on this! What does the Deputy Chairman of the Russia Parliament do when he’s not fighting in Parliament, or drunkenly calling George Bush a “f***ing* cowboy”! He poses on the bonnet of the latest Ural truck of course. PAGE I HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 ISH ATV & TRACKED P J Ballard There is obviously a great need to get around in Russia over bad roads and cross country. ISH produce various ATVs using motorcycle engines. The top photograph shows the ISH ATV and uses the Planeta Sport 340cc two stroke motor that produces in this installation 32bhp at 6,700rpm. The unladen eight is 280kg. Hardly the thing for plonking gently through the forests in search of timid deer! The ATV is 4x4, with disc brakes on both front wheels. As you can see there is also a belt driven alternator up front. The belt comes off the LHS of the crankcase and drives the remotely mounted alternator, presumably required with the two head lamps. You can also see what looks to be a temperature sensor in the fins of the cylinder head, to feed the display on the instrument panel. The left foot kick start is still utilised, keeps you warm on a cold winter’s morning! The bottom photograph is the tracked ISH and looks to be either a prototype or a very good special. The tracks probably use parts from the snowmobiles that are so popular in a country of winter snows. Presumably the machine is steered by skid turning - should be fun. This will be available at your local Garden Centre or B&Q soon - ideal for chewing up suburban manicured lawns and joining the 4 x 4s at Tesco’s car park. THE WOLF MAN Played by James ‘Fonda’ Evans Well ‘ard Custom Strumpet ~ Born to be Flatulent PAGE I HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 A DNEPR FIND AND REVIVAL Phil Brown I’ve only been a club member for a few months so far but I reckon it’s time I sent something for inclusion (hopefully) in the magazine. Maybe some of the other readers would enjoy/endure a brief account of my first encounter with a large piece of Russian [actually Ukrainian, but we’ll let you off! – Ed] machinery. I was also wondering whether it was possible to find some history of the machine through the membership as my attempts to contact the listed previous owners shown on the VS drew no response. HERE THEN IS THE STORY... SO FAR Way Back In The Mists Of Time, Well Last November Anyway, While Browsing In A Local Bike Breakers’ Barn I Spotted Three Separate Large Heaps Of Corroded Metals, Rubber And Traces Of Paint In The Vague Shape Of A Motorcycle And Small Boat, On A Little Trailer Tucked Away In A Corner. As The Previous Restoration Had Been Moved On Quicker Than Planned, There Was Room In The Garage For The Next Job. I Mooched Around The Cobweb Covered Things For A Bit And Finally Worked Out What They Were, Something Less Run-of The-mill For Sure. I Dragged The Project Financier And Fellow Fettler, Dad, Down To Look At The Stuff And After A Period Of Umming And Ahhing, The Former Combo Rider Was Persuaded That It Should Become The Next Challenge. As The Song Says, ‘I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends’. SEVERAL HERNIAS LATER But several hernias and aching muscles later as the MT 11 stood on our bench I think the friendship was almost as strained as their backs. I had no clear answer to the questions about picking that particularly shabby item, there was just something about it y’know ? We knew as much about Russian bikes as the White Star Line did about icebergs and it’s been a similar learning experience. Can’t help thinking the Dnepr would have survived the collision better than the Titanic did too. Once the strip-down was underway we were amazed by the amount of metal used in even the smallest of parts. It must weigh twice that of a `normal’ bike, no offence intended to all you long term owners out there! THIS HEAP OF METAL ACTUALLY FIRED UP To its’ credit it did actually fire up okay though you can understand that it didn’t exactly run too well in that condition. With more than a little trepidation I realised I’d have to fettle a pair of carbs about which again, I knew nowt at all. I farmed out the painting of the tank to a mate at work but tackled the rest myself. Confession time. The mudguards do rather resemble corduroy in parts yet are somehow in keeping with the rustic nature of the beast, so won’t be getting done again. Most of the frame was done by the owd feller, but before painting I filled around some of the welds and joints. This may all be very familiar to many of you but every stage of the job brought new and often unusual things to us. THE ELECTRICS - WERE THEY MEANT TO BE LIKE THAT? realised that although it’s a nearside chassis, the tub is clearly an offsider, perhaps in’89 they all were. I’m hoping to get the whole plot legal and roadworthy before what is laughingly known as this summer is over and no later than mid August. All that remains then is to practice driving the thing... a lot. Reverse it, who me ? IT WAS JUST TOO SCARY EVEN COMPARED TO TIGHTROPE WALKING OVER NIAGARA In almost thirty years biking I’ve never ridden a combo so it should prove interesting. I tried riding the Dnepr solo but it was just too scary even compared to tightrope walking over Niagara. As a new boy to the field of these amazing machines I’m looking forward to showing the thing off around a few places where they’re so seldom seen and I know it’ll turn some heads, as well as my passengers’ stomachs. Anyone with any useful riding or maintenance tips out there please feel free to impart your knowledge and if you see a large black motorcycle and sidecar heading your way in the Southport area don’t wave, just jump out of the way, cheers. The electrics, my God! were they meant to be like this or was it all a bodge by a previous owner ? The wheels took a great many of fathers’ hours to sort and while not exactly concourse are also in keeping like the mudguards. We fitted slightly larger than original Avon S&Ms (ooer) and they certainly weren’t cheap alternatives either. I also noticed that when I rode around the block to test the brakes, they didn’t seem to flatten even at only l2psi. No officer I won’t do it again, honest. With the bike now 99% done and barking out through a pair of replica BSA A10 silencers, work is well on with the chassis and tub. However, it wasn’t until we started on them that we PAGE I HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 TERROR REDUCTION John Craggs I am one of the – so far – ‘silent’ members. I got hold of a slightly bent but otherwise reasonable 1990 Dnieper just before Christmas, planning on a fairly quick rebuild, and was promptly struck down with an illness for a few months. Never mind, I fully expect to be able to attend a few rallies etc next year. In the mean time, the following may be suitable for ‘Horizontal View’. I thoroughly enjoyed the ‘towing tale’ in the June/July issue, but for those who wish to reduce the amount of stark terror the following may be helpful: } Pass end of rope once around the inner fork leg/shroud above the mudguard. You may need to rethink this a little if you have ludicrously high mounted mudguards, but there’s enough room on a Dnepr. } Run spare 2 feet (approx) up the back of the fork leg and behind the left handle bar and back over the front. Wind a loose spiral, one turn only out along the bar to the grip. } Voila! You don’t tie it on at all. You hold the loose end against the grip with your hand. After all, you won’t be needing your fingers for the clutch, even though instinct will make them twitch. Towing an outfit (like piloting one of those wonderful beasts) is something of a ‘dark art’. Obviously you have no say in the location of the towing point on the other vehicle, but the whole business can be manageable by taking the following steps. } Secure rope firmly to the towing vehicle and allow plenty of slack for setting up. BENEFITS OF THIS METHOD } So much safer than being tied permanently to the other vehicle. If you need to let go, the rope will snake free. But just holding it against the grip will lock it quite solidly under tension around the fork and bars. TOUR OF RUSSIA Vlad Turaev to John Denny Many thanks for the magazines and especially for the letter. My life has changed again; now I go to live in Russia, but in a half year I shall come back to Ukraine with my wife and children. My wife Inna is pregnant and we await the birth of a son in April. She can’t go to Ukraine now and I go to Russia for some time. I leave my business, but work in my garage business proceeds. My friends Vlad and Alex work there. I have made a big circular tour across Russia before last year. It was a magnificant travel! I have passes 11,000 km through Donetsk, Rostov on Don, Stavropol, Elista, Astrakhan, Volgograd, Saratov, Samara, Tolyatti, Ufa, Zlatoust (my native city), Chelyabinsk, Ekaterinburg (Formerly Sverdlovsk), Nizhni Tagil, Irbit. This city was a rotary point of my travel and I have gone a long way back though Revda, Chaikovsky, Izhevsk, Naberezhnye, Chelny, Kazan, Cheboksary, Nizhni Novgorod, Ivanovo, Yaroslavl, Vologda - this city too became a rotary point and I have gone to Moscow, Stary Oskol and I have come back home. Travels lasted one and a half months. PAGE I } As the towing vehicle will be pulling on the bike rather than the chair the handling characteristics power on, will be similar to those your instinct expect. } Why not just tie the rope in the middle of the bars? Because the anchor point on most towing vehicles will be lower and the angle of leverage will do interesting things to the handling. MAY I SUGGEST YOU TRY IT BEFORE YOU NEED IT? ED - This is sound advice; it is indeed very dangerous to have the tow rope tied to your bike or outfit. The driver or rider of the towing vehicle will always seem to go faster than you want, they have engine braking and their brakes, you just have your brakes! HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 List of Photographs From previous page starting at the top } } } } } } His friend Vlad and Alex working at his garage Vlad’s garage business His native home Alex at the garage Before the start of the trip Forest road of Zlatoust Ukraine 500 miles Russia PAGE I HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 RUSSIAN EXPERIENCE Paul Newman Some 19 years ago whilst an active member of the Guildford Motorcycle Club I meet a very interesting man called Terry Dobney. Now Terry was the sort of man that had been everywhere and done most things you could do on a bike including some epic trips on Urals. He had been a technical advisor to Neval to try and help the factory improve quality and was currently riding a 1973 M63 military outfit in a horrid blue colour. After several months of listening to his fantastic stories he offered to let me buy the bike for £250 With borrowed money the deal was done. Estate – aghh and always regretted it. A few years passed and I bought a brand new Dnepr MT11 from Neval in black. Despite of all the stories I received excellent service from Neval (Alan and Olga) and also from the bike. I had it eight years and again it never missed a beat and even the crank stayed in one piece – a novelty I hear from many owners. I sold the bike to a friend and I replaced it with brand new Ural Gear-Up from Uralmoto. That spring both my old Dnepr and new Ural went to the first Mad Hatters Rally run by F2’s Dave and Lizzi Angel, with help worn out at 10,000km and the alternator was on the way out – again. MORE PROBLEMS So after a couple of years of endless problems I gave up and sold the bike , I know there is no logical reason to want a twin wheel drive outfit on the road but there’s just something about them and that’s not even getting into the very boring legal issues. The main problem was that my bike had its PDI done by the importer rather than an expert like Dave Angel at F2. Most of my problems would have been eliminated if the bike had been prepared properly. You live and learn so I bought another new Ural but this time from F2 only a week or so ago and I’m striving to run it in before this years Mad Hatters Rally. This time it is a single wheel drive Dalesman with all the bits off a Gear-Up eg jerry can, spade, spotlight, gun mount etc. The phrase chalk and cheese spring to mind and the bike is fantastic and is a tribute to Dave’s knowledge and time taken to prepare each bike. As I prepare to enter my third decade with Russian bike I wonder what strange events the future holds there is never a dull moment with these bikes. HAPPINESS & GRIEF And that’s it, simple really but that simple deed got me hooked on Russian bikes and has had the result of bringing me much happiness and much grief – a typical story I suspect! I used the bike as daily transport to get myself and my equipment to college and back, a return journey of nearly 30 miles. The bike performed very well never letting me done except for the famous clutch screw in the casings scenario. I battled through snow for weeks and strong rain and although the engine miss-fired it kept going. The next year I made a swap with a friend’s Hillman Hunter PAGE I 10 from Buffy the dog. What a great rally that was; so many Russian bikes and interesting people. The bike was another story, I had had a flywheel and electric starter strip the teeth of each other, an electronic ignition unit fail (The Dnepr’s point lasted 8 years on one set!) and loads of nuts and bolts falling off. This culminated in the drive shaft to the sidecar coming adrift at some speed – very interesting I can tell you. The bike made it to one l more MHR and finally got very sick returning from the Isle of Wight rally last year. One little end had seized up and I think damaged the con-rod. Also the timing gears were HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 RESTORED MINSK P J Ballard The little 125cc Minsk that is still made in the capital of Belarus was derived from the DKW RT125 of WWII, and arrived in the USSR probably as war reparations. The later Minsks lost a lot of their character, but the early ones have an attractive appearance, functional yet attractive in a Soviet sort of way. The ones I worked on in SATRA that were sold as ‘Cossack 125M’ in the 1970s were OK. However when, not if, the fork seals failed the oil ran down the fork legs into the brake, not clever, but the engines were unburstable. Remember the racing MZ125 of the 1960’s was also derived from the DKW; it was the first engine to achieve 200bhp per litre, and Barry Sheene’s Suzuki square four 500cc, achieved 100bhp and was developed by a defector from MZ! This well restored and usable example appeared featured in MOTO and I like it. Now where will the sidecar bolt on, mmmmmmmmm? MEMBERS’ CONTRIBUTIONS P J Ballard We are pleased to have contributions from 4 members this issue, we do apologise to the authors for any delay in printing these. We always welcome input from you out there, whether it is: } } } } } Rally reports, home and abroad (IoW?) Photos of your; trips, bikes, adventures, family, broken piston etc Modification suggestions. Road tests of your new bike Snippets of history People have fascinating suppositions about how the Russians managed to get copies of the bike designs, none of them true, but very appealing never the less. One man described how his Grandad had joined some Russian soldiers riding BMWs back from the frontline in WWII and this is how the Russians got the bike designs. So we have the British Army to thank for the Ural and the Cossack Owners Club - I wonder if they know! Pity their current equipment isn’t as reliable. We can process most stuff – we like challenges. Send in photos as: conventional prints or digital images. If you use a digital camera use the highest resolution you can and get CLOSE UP – either see the ‘whites of their eyes’ or the type of spark plug fitted. If you scan a photograph go for at least 150 dpi. But better 300. Then send on a CD or disk. Send in text on CD or disk, or if not, on paper as printed text. Failing that in good GCSE hand writing. I look forward to the deluge! PAGE I 11 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 OUR ROVING REPORTER - MIKE THE BIKE Mike Stevens Vlad’s BIKES from Pavlograd This is rather disappointing news as it does give a comprehensive picture of the former USSA range of machines. The ATV [Raketa 1] and the scooter are produced at the Raketa Motorcycle Plant in Dnepropetrovsk. The plant makes other motorcycles and scooters as well but Vlad says that they are too expensive for most people to buy. Julian (of the USSR Unloved Soviet Socialist Register) went to the Moscow Motor Show and while he was there visited the owners of the Mcasta web site. Apparently it is no longer updated which proably accounts for some of the entries. It will be left on line however so long as it receives hits. This nice red machine was once a MT16, but has been derated to MT11 with the loss of the sidecar and sidecar wheel drive. ED – this happened a lot due to early demise of the differentials, Nevals also converted MT16s into MT11s and sold the sidecar wheel drive bits, I know as I bought one of the sidecars off a MT16 that was being derated. The action shot [modern Ukrainian MX] is of a Ukrainian motocross stadium. Also are pictures from Vlad in the Ukraine. [vlad’s ural hamster], this has a lot of neat screen and huge secure luggage carrying equipment on it. Vlad’s business is motorcycle repairs and maintenance. The Jupiter is an interesting mix with its flared mudguard, coiled rear shocks, late model silencer and engine unit. PAGE I 12 Also is a MT12 that has been converted into what is I suppose a MT11 since it now has an alternator and not the dynamo as on the MT12. MT12 is 750cc HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 sidevalve and MT11 is 650cc OHV. Yuri has fitted an oil cooler out of cooled tube, painted silver in this picture, a useful addition for an outfit or on a hot day, looks neat. EAST EUROPEAN 2004 List of Photographs - from previous column starting at top } His f } Vl } For } H } For } Alex } For } Be } For NEW RUSSIAN MOTORCYCLE FACTORY A new Russo – Chinese venture is to start producing a full range of motorcycles, scooters and quads at Kalliningrad. The governor of the region Vladimir Yegorov visited the site in April. It is a large-scale operation planning by the end of 2004 to be producing 10,000 units per annum. The Baltmotors Group is part of the Chinese Qingqi Corporation who manufacture some 2 million motor vehicles every year. (No shortage of money here then, they mean business.) Suzuki, Yamaha and Hondas, produced under licence. Baltmotors plan to be the leading motorcycle manufacturer in Russia with models ranging from 500 to 2500 USD. At these prices it will be interesting to see what is available, I suspect only small capacity machines, but at the moment there are no details of the model ranges. It seems that the struggling domestic manufacturers will have even more problems surviving. The models planned are based on PAGE I 13 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 OUR ROVING REPORTER - MIKE THE BIKE Mike Stevens Russian Motorcycle Websites I read with interest Dave`s article in HN Dec 2003 on V.A.Degtyarev the Russian conglomerate with an interest in motorcycles. This is non other than the manufacturer of the famous Voskhod; in fact the ZID 200 is the latest incarnation. The V.A.Degtyarev web site does not make this clear. For anyone that is interested in looking at pictures of most current Russian motorcycles, see: www. mcasta.ru/eng/motorcycle/html it covers most models and gives you a pretty good idea of the machines manufactured in the former Soviet Union. However some of those manufacturers are no longer in existence, but I will return to this subject later If you look at the mcasta site, you will see the Voskhod 3M-01 listed. Those familiar with the early Voskhod 2`s will see striking similarities. Although re-styled to give more of a trendy triallie image the tank, side panels and carrier are all very much ‘a la Voskhod 2’. The engine however does look different; more MZ in appearance. Comparing the major manufacturers IMZ, IZH and ZID they all seem to be following the same trend with a basic motorcycle, then variations on that Russian roads in WW2 ~ A German Dispach rider on a R1 } An M72 in Red Square }} PAGE I 14 theme with three and four wheel derivatives, even IMZ offer a ‘Tryzikl’. I fear they are all trying to squeeze the last drop out of shrinking markets now that Mother Russia is finally opening her doors. IMZ are probably in a better position than the others are with their American interests. IZH soldier on with their two strokes and one ‘Yunker’ – chopper offered with a Suzuki 4 stroke engine if requested – the web site does not state which engine though. They also have their small arms and car interests i.e. old VAZ and even older Moskvich, models for the Russians. The only really modern looking motorcycle, (although not plastic rocket style or size), is the little ZID Frant listed with a 125cc four stroke engine of I know not, what origin. I very much doubt that it is an original Russian design, more likely an import – now there is a project, I wonder what it is? The mcasta site also lists RMZ, the Riga Motor Works, of some dubious interest to those who remember Cossack days and the ubiquitous Riga moped – yes there`s even a picture of it folks. Fear not - it will never grace our roads again – indeed if it ever did in the first place,. I am fairly reliably informed that RMZ is no more, the site is occupied by a supermarket. I actually saw one of these in an old Cossack dealers premises in Manchester about 5 years ago, it had been there for about 20 years and was still unsold. The Tula range is interesting, even more so if you look up: http://digilander.libero.it/cuoccimi it gives a history but you have to play with the site to find the English version. A ‘Krasny Oktober’ range of mopeds is listed; there is even a cycle motor, the ZIF20. For really old stuff look at: www.autogallery.org.ru and click on the motorcycle section, if you are interested look on the cars section, there is a picture of Stalin taking delivery of his new ZIS in the 1930`s. I have to confess to not particularly enjoying ploughing through web sites looking for things, if I don`t find what I want fairly quickly I tend to get bored and give up after about 20 minutes. You’re amazing Mike, I give up after about 20 seconds - Annemarie! However, these sites are relatively easy to locate and are well worth a look. There are many more but the ones I have mentioned will give you a good illustrations of Russian motorcycles past and present. HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 RICK RIDES TO RIGA RIck Spratt I just thought I`d write a few lines to the club following my recent trip to Latvia and of particular interest the Riga motor museum. For those who don`t already know the Riga museum is the only motor museum in the former Soviet union (ED – there are others in Russia). As a result they were able to collect all the interesting bikes and cars that no one else wanted. These include a large collection from the Kremlin garages when they were having a clear out. There are several Soviet president’s Zil limos. These include Stalin’s bullet proof Zil 115 and a wax model of Khrushchev stands besides his 1965 Zil. Brezhnev had a Rolls Royce in his collection which was a present from Richard Nixon. This was involved in a crash with a truck, from which he escaped unharmed. The car is on display unrestored. As a result of war booty there are several German cars, including Herman Gorings Horch limo. A 1937 Packard belonging to King Carol of Rumania is another trophy car on show. For me the best one is an Auto Union racing car of the 1930`s, the rear-engined car that cleaned up in the grand prix before the war. This was saved from the cutting torch in the 1970`s, after the Russians had copied all the technology. I don`t know what they did with the technology, my Ladas never went like a racing car!!!. Talking of Ladas there are several models as well as Moskich etc. But the real interest to us is the collection of Eastern bloc motorcycles, a mecca! There are several wartime combinations including Zundapp, BMW`s and that thing that is half bike, half tiger tank, the NSU HK 101. There are several Ural / Dneiper combos, some military, and even some racing versions. There are several Jawas, but at the moment they are stored behind some furniture so it’s a bit difficult to see them. The exception to this is an immaculate Jawa 350 1960-ish with sidecar and matching trailer . Another bike that I thought would be fun was a Ural fitted with outrigger skis, so you couldn’t drop it in the snow. Unfortunately the two ladies I was with didn’t share my fascination with all things Eastern, so my visit was far to short. Far too long for them I suspect - Annemarie! PAGE I 15 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 URAL GESPANN IN THE RALLY ORPI MOROCCO 2005 Hari Schwaighofer - Ural Motorcycles [ Driver - Hari / Crew - Claus / Machine - IMZ Ural 750 SWD On the first day, we start with good spirits on the first connection stage, and we are glad that the road corresponds with the Roadbook. Obviously we don’t know how to read a Roadbook but we did have a good teacher the evening before, Carlo de Gavardo, the 450-er Cross Country Rally World Champion on a KTM. Carlos, a star in his home country, Chile, is the most sympathetic and sociable type out of the entire field of the drivers. Every evening he gave us valuable tips on how to survive the next day’s stage. THE CONDITION OF THE ROAD IS INSANE After the first connection stage, under the jubilation of the journalists and officials, and in photo-op position, we start with full throttle in the real event, the first special stage. We come back to our senses at once and drive at walking speed, still in sight of the onlookers’. The condition of the road is insane and not driveable, with rough horrible stones, a trek that mocks any description of a road. Unfortunately, it doesn’t get better the entire day. The official bulletin states that the first special stage is the shortest one with 62 km (39 miles) and an ideal warm up with slightly sandy passages along the Atlantic Coast to the South. Light sandy passages are a real pleasure after the steady gravel stretch. Finally, the never ending shaking, pushing, and tearing on the handle bar stops for a while, but as soon as the sand gets a little bit deeper, it’s the end of the fun. The sand slows the sidecar rig right away forcing me to shift down into first gear. With high rpm’s the rear wheel digs into the sand. Claus and I have to jump down, and we push and push and push. Luckily, the sand stages are short, and we get between them on solid ground where the tires find some grip. It takes us one hour for the first 20 km (12 miles) of the first special stage. I try to calculate in my head how long it will take for today’s destination. Another PAGE I 16 42 km (26 miles) special stage, then 68 km (42 miles) connection stage on asphalt, then again 180 km (112 miles) special stage and on the end, a 56 km (35 miles) connection stage, in total today 409 km (256 miles). With the laughable average speed we are doing, we would have to hurry up to arrive at today’s destination before the next day’s start time. We arrive in the first the limit is 50 km’. GPS records our the speed limit, Laughable, if ever km/h today on this 50 township,the Roadbook warned, ‘Don’t speed, There are secret radar speed controls, the speed, there are very high fines if we exceed and possibly disqualification from the rally. we would be able to reach a speed of 50 appalling stretch of road, or track. The Roadbook shows a dangerous situation: End of a township (and the speed limit) in capital letters it shows “SABLE SAND.” The evening before, Claus marked it with a red shiny marker so we wouldn’t miss this passage. A small arrow left upwards means steep grade, and last, but not least, a PH in a circle means photographers are waiting for prey. We take a run at the mountain. The Ural looses power and we are stuck in the sand. We both push, and I give rpm’s to the clutch, but it doesn’t reach the rear wheel. From all sides, boys from the village come running with more than 30 hands in all. We somehow bring the Gespann halfway up the mountain. The clutch stinks and smokes so bad that I shut off the engine to let it rest. It then comes to mind that the rules do not allow us to get help from the native people under any circumstances, as it could result in disqualification. A hot flash runs down my back because I also remember what Carlo de Gavardo said the evening before, “You have to be extremely careful because after one hour, the race cars will come from behind, and they are very serious about the race. To them, you and your Ural are big obstacles.” THE JOURNALISTS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD ARE LAUGHING Here we are, more then an hour en route, hanging in the sand in the middle of a steep hill, which also is a bottleneck. We must move out of their way right away and let all the rally cars pass without hindering them. Far away, I already see dust out in the plain, followed by a helicopter. These must be Schlesser, Peterhansl, Kleinschmitt, Roma, and others, with their HP-Rally monsters. In my mind, I already see the news on the Eurosport-TV: After 20 km (12 miles), the race was interrupted because of two delinquent Austrians with an Ural rig who took place at the Morocco Rally against all reasons, that they manoeuvred a Ural rig in a steep hill against better knowledge and pitifully failed. Therefore, Schlesser, Peterhansl, Kleinschmitt, Roma, and the others had their race interrupted and the race had to restart. I look in front of me and still see 150 meters (166 yards) of the south hill we have to master. On the upper edge, I can see the journalists from all over the world, laughing down at us. It doesn’t help. We have to get up there. I start the engine. I leave Claus at the handle bar and the throttle, and here he holds on better than by pushing the rig. Besides, Claus is to blame for it if we kill the clutch. I stand in line together with about 15 Moroccans behind the rig, and together we somehow manage to get the rig over the edge. Just in time. Covered in sweat, we are able to watch the rally cars dance over this hill without any problem. The stars are waving nonchalantly out of their windows leaving us in a cloud of dust. In this moment, I realize that we are totally out of place in this Moroccan Rally. The racecars have a weight of 480 kg (1,056 pounds) and 400 HP. Our Ural rig weighs, including driver and co-driver, 480 kg and has 40 HP! HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 PAGE I 17 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 Nevertheless, to the Moroccans here in this village, we are the stars. Curious and excited, they touch our Ural and us. After the first 10 cars pass, we also keep on going. Gratefully, we have gravel again. It is a lot more comfortable constantly being hit by the handle bar than pushing in the deep sand. Somehow, we manage to finish the first special stage. The officials at the finishing line of this stage laugh and slap us on our shoulders. We pick up our first stamp in our timetable. Of course, we are the last ones to reach this checkpoint. After us, they take the point down. For the next 68 km (42 miles) of connection stage on asphalt, we exchange tasks. Claus rests at the handle bar of the rig, and I take my place in the sidecar. Claus thinks it’s easy to be on the handle bar in contrast to his job in the sidecar. I think it’s a joke just to sit in the sidecar in contrast to the hard work at the handle bar. We don’t speak a lot during this connection stage. Again, with enough time to think about why we are doing what we are doing and that we don’t have the answer. We can’t expect wisdom anyway. BEFORE I EVEN TOUCH THE HANDLEBAR MY WRISTS HURT We start the second special stage of 180 km (112 miles), and before I even touch the handle bar, my wrists already hurt. It’s a killing stage, with 180 km of uninterrupted pain. Of course, everything is possible to do with time. We are in a race, and we can’t just drive along the way the Ural and we would like it. That means we have to give up going easy, on people and machine, and accelerate so the day ends. The technically difficult passage, like crossing the Queds with the especially nice valley drives, and subsequently hill drives, are good for us. One can’t drive fast with the best of intention. It is more like feeling one’s way. Water fords we take with great respect, which means that Claus first wades through the ford and finds out how deep they are. I wait for his signal to go ahead, and then close my eyes and go. For hours, we slave away. I soon realise that the GPS hangs almost down to the gas tank. The mounting of the GPS is loose. An ultra light, extremely expensive part from Touratech and already broken after 150 km (94 miles) driving the rally. We fix the GPS to the handle bar with plastic fast binders. After some time, a car appears in the rear mirror. We are glad and stop, it’s good to talk to someone in the middle of the desert. It is a follow-up car of the rally, the medical assistance car. It consistently stays 100 meters (110 yards) behind us for the next 100 km (62 miles) and gives us security. Our Ural is running rich, and we use an enormous amount of gas, so we have to fill up the tank. We have two extra Jerry cans with us. My hands are so numb and weak that I don’t even have the strength to open the lid of the tank. I have to ask Claus to do it. Two kilometers (1.2 miles) after refuelling, I feel something cold and wet on my thighs. The gas tank cap is missing. We lost the tank cap. Obviously, I am even too weak to close the gas tank properly. It doesn’t help that we have to turn around and look for the cap. But our personal escort, the medical assistance car, brings us the gas cap. How great! We arrive at end of the special stage. Here we should get a stamp in our timetable. Nobody is here anymore, as the checkpoint cleared long ago, the people gone for dinner. THE WHOLE BODY IS HURTING After the last connection stage, we arrive at the drivers’ camp. The cars prepared for the next day are everywhere. The driver conference for the next day is over long ago, and the Roadbook for the next day already handed out. The results of the day posted on the board, but they change with our arrival. We are, with 14 hours driving time, the last ones, but we are on the board! We survived a whole day in the race…in a World Competition Cross Country Rally, and noted on the next day’s starting list. It is a good feeling, but everything hurts. The whole body is hurting. PAGE I 18 Carlo de Gavardo advises me to go to the medical tent. There you get massages for the tired bones. I follow his advice after dinner, and Angelique made it possible so I was able to walk again after half an hour. I fall in to a deep sleep right away. Claus learns the Roadbook for the next day by heart. Kurt tightens all screws on the Ural, cleans the air filter, and adjusts the valves. Other rally participants exchange whole engines, axles, mount new wheels, and take the gearbox apart in their carriage stronghold consisting out of workshop trucks. Yes, they said the Ural would fall apart in no time. Not so, as the motorcycle runs, and we didn’t have any damage. We are astounded about the quality of our vehicle. We are now in the second day of the Orpi Rally Morocco, and to some, a miracle we are still here. Some had said that we wouldn’t even make the technical test with our Ural Gespann. This day is a pleasant day compared to the first day of the rally. Today it is a partially good track, where one can speed up quite well on a gravel course. We are well prepared and in good spirits. The Gespann makes noises. Today, Birgit, our team manager rubbed and bandaged my hands and forearms with Franzbrandwein (kind of rubbing alcohol). Our camel bags are full with energy drinks. Red Bull does not sponsor Heineken or us, so Birgit makes us a special drink out of black tea, honey, salt pills, lemons, and brandy. At the start, the officials nicely greet us, but ask us to drive a little bit faster than yesterday. Today there are no connection stages only one 409 km (256 miles) long special. The day will bring us deep into the interior. There are really fast stages in this part. The second day soon claims tribute. We soon pass a motorcyclist who is working on his Enduro. The ignition failed. I think about our own electronic ignition and am glad that our only electronic thing on the bike works properly. We pass another motorcycle that parks in the middle of the desert. Under the small shade lays the driver. HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 He doesn’t remember how he broke his shoulder, as he fell and blacked out. The Rally is over for him. We pass a Nissan who has overseen a hole in the course. The front axle looks unnatural, and not usable, out of the frame, impossible to repair. The race is over for him. What’s the official description of today’s stage? To begin this special stage, the competitors travel 60 km (38 miles) along the Qued Chebika on a highly enjoyable, technical, but never damaging track, which demands a great deal of navigation. This translates to a stony, painful, terrible track… catastrophically (sorry about the expression) B.S., just like the whole day yesterday. Then, it becomes extremely fast, and for the first time we can enjoy the rally. We arrive at a plain. The track becomes wide and is relatively driveable. It is a good gravel track, which allows high speed. As far as you can see, there is nothing: no tree, no brush, no hill, no deepening in the tract of land, only an infinite plain. For me as an Austrian mountaineer, it is somewhat unpleasant with nothing to orient yourself. We ride along and everything goes well. We look at each other, grinning and satisfied. THERE IS A DANGER TO HIT LAND MINES After a short time, our trip master falls out. That’s a catastrophe and a small shock. The trip master is important. It shows exactly how many meters we’ve driven. We absolutely need the trip master for orientation in the Roadbook. Without the trip master, we don’t know where we are. How can we survive the next 300 km (188 miles) in the desert without navigation? For the time being, it is no problem. We are riding straight ahead in the desert. The track shows no difference between the track and the area beside the track, but it is marked with little stone men, left and right in irregular distance. They advised us the day before always to stay within these stone men. Outside of these markers, there is a danger to hit land mines. Last, but not least, we are within a war zone. The conflict between Sahauris and Moroccans about the sovereignty of the West Sahara isn’t settled yet. WITHOUT THE TRIP METER WE CANNOT USE THE ROADBOOK Here, at full speed of almost 100 km/h (62 m/h), into the stony desert in the South of Morocco, I miss a deep depression, a rough hole, a crater. It comes totally unexpected. The Roadbook warns about such dangers, but I haven’t used the Roadbook today for quite some time. I can’t use it because our trip master fell out and without the trip master, you can’t read the Roadbook. And so this crater suddenly appears. First, one tries to slow down…. that is the instinctive reaction… but the wrong one. Claus, my co-driver, recognizes the mistake and screams loud. I scream back even louder! Claus and I stop breathing at the same time. Immediately before the abyss, at full throttle, together we pull the Gespann up in the front, I on the handlebar and Claus on the sidecar handle. I stand firm in the foot pegs and put my behind as far as possible to the rear. Claus stands firm on the sidecar platform and hangs his butt out as far as possible. Like question marks, we leave this side of the edge of the crater and after a short flight, land with the front wheel on the other side of the crater. My hands try to correct the terrible blow to the handle bar, but somehow the uncontrollable Gespann climbs into the air again. Now the hit to the sidecar, yes - unpleasant, but this time it hits mostly on Claus. Then the rear wheel strikes out at the edge of the hole and catapults the rear of the Gespann full force at my backside. Unfortunately, my vertebra is an unsuitable shock absorber. Like a miracle, I avoid going down headfirst. Slowly we get some feeling back in our hands, and we can feel our headache from our neck being jammed into our skull. We’ve had this feeling once today but the second time is even more intense. We land, a very harsh landing, but we dare to breathe again. Thanks to Haslacher Hans, we survive! Our ‘White Power’ chassis guru equipped the Rally Gespann with first class springs, costing good money. High tech springs on a low tech Gespann. In the future, we have to work with the daily trip counter on the Ural. That didn’t work well, we learned, when we almost overturned twice because we didn’t recognize the holes in the track. One can’t get accustomed to the 100-meter (110 yards) wide freeway without two-way traffic. Construction sides are not marked with colorful traffic signals. It isn’t very good for the Ural to speed over this gravel after almost overturning. The Gespann suddenly pulls to the left. I shout at Claus that we probably don’t have enough air in the front tire. We stop. We check the tire, but nothing special to see. We take the high tech air pump, from Kurt, our mechanic, out anyway. We play quite a long time with this thing until we realize that it is defective. We have a broken air pump on-board. It doesn’t matter though, as there is enough air in the front tire. So, we keep driving. Soon I start to realize that the handle bar pulls to the left side. The Gespann pulls very hard left. We stop again and look at the front wheel. Suddenly I see the cause. The lower bolt on the earl’s fork is missing. The swinging arm is holding on only by the shock absorber. The left side of the fork is already 10 cm (4 inches) away from the holder on the earl’s fork. It doesn’t look good. I search in the spare nut and bolt box even though I know I won’t find a long 10 mm (3/8 inch) bolt. (ED - front bolt from the saddle?) That means we have to find a bolt somewhere on the Ural that is not too important and that we don’t necessarily need. The closest we can find is the bolt from the center stand axle. It has the same length, but unfortunately has no thread, only a hole to put a cutter pin in. It has to work, as we have no other choice. So, we bury a nice green painted center stand with the springs in the west Sahara Desert. With four hands and big effort, we get this piece in position and are able to get it through the holes on the fork, put a cotter pin in, and use lots of duct tape. It works! The Ural runs straight again. What a relief! I drive slower. Repeatedly, I look at the bandaged fork, but the bolt holds. We are out of gas again. We have to fill up the tank. Only now, we realize that we lost one of our two jerry cans. Panic arises because we are not sure if we will make it to the next fuel stop with 10 liters (2.5 gallons). We fill the tank with 10 liters of race gas, which we got the evening before from the KTM team. Kurt, our mechanic, told us the Ural probably won’t appreciate the 100-plus-octane race gas, and he was right. It stutters and spits and the performance is bad…then…sometimes it PAGE I 19 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 works well, and then sometimes the Ural doesn’t like this race gas at all. Suddenly, we get to another checkpoint in the middle of the desert. We are relieved. We get our stamp for the time card. We look for the checkpoint in our Roadbook and put the daily counter to zero. By the checkpoint lays a broken down French buggy. We ask the pilots for a 10 mm screw and nut. Indeed, the co-pilot takes a suitable screw, even with a self-locking nut, somewhere out of the broken buggy and mounts it on our Ural. We put the screw from the center stand in our spare box. You never know, we may need one again. It’s still 80 km (50 miles) to go to the next checkpoint and to the next fuel stop. It should be okay. The 80 km are murderous. It continues straight ahead and becomes unbearably hot. Somehow a real hot wind blows. Sometimes the Ural has less power, as it doesn’t like this high-grade gas. I become unable to concentrate and fall in a flow. Finally, far away, we can see a rise on the horizon and some outlines in the wasteland. Some single plants show up, and the track becomes narrower and curvy. We get closer to a town, which is also the second checkpoint. IT IS 113oF IN THE SHADE I am very exhausted. It is intolerably hot, 45 degrees C (113 F) in the shade. I squeeze myself in the little shade from the official’s cars. The hot wind feels as if you are in a sauna pouring water over the hot stones. The officials are glad to see us because for them it means they can leave this horrible hot place and can go to the camp. I get a pastis (anis drink). I feel the alcohol right away. The drink also influences my decision to leave out the next checkpoint and to drive together with the officials to the bivouac on a paved road. So far, we never missed a checkpoint, so we can allow ourselves to beat the time a little bit. Our justification is the broken down trip master and for this last stage it is very important to be able to navigate. And so it happened today, for once we are not the last one to arrive at the camp. The stars also use some tactics. Cyrill Despres, the star of the KTM motorcyclists, comes in first on the PAGE I 20 second day of the race. One hundred meters (110 yards) before the finishing line, he goes down off his bike and waits for the second drive, Marc Comar, to come in. Why does he do that? DESPRES THROWS HIS TEDDY OUT THE COT The winner of the second day starts first on the third day of the race and on this day, it goes in to the sand dunes where you need very good navigation skills. It is easier to start second because you can follow the tracks of the bike in front of you. Marc Coma sees Cyrill Despres waiting in front of the finishing line and gets down as well. Both are waiting for the third to arrive. He laughs and crosses the finishing line first. The jury doesn’t laugh, and both, Despres and Coma, get a 15-minute time penalty for non-sportsmanlike behaviour. Coma accepts the penalty, but Despres, the star, doesn’t and decides to end the rally. The number one is eliminated. But, the number 35 isn’t and appears proudly at the start on the third day. The number 35 is the Ural Gespann with Hari at the handle bar and Claus in the sidecar. We fix the trip master so it at least shows digital zeros. However, if we drive 80 km/h (50 mph) or 20 km/h (12 mph), or even if we drive in reverse, it makes the trip master wonderfully useless. Today is the day of the dunes. In the middle of the dunes is a checkpoint. Carlo de Gavardo advises us not even to try to reach this checkpoint because it’s unreachable for the Ural. He said we should try to get around the dunes and start with the second checkpoint. We decide to look at it first, so we ride to the dunes. On the way there, we cross a very large dry salt lake. Wonderful, very smooth ground. We leave our marks in the salt lake. We are able to ride as fast the Ural goes. It’s real fun, but it doesn’t last long because at the end of the salt lake the sand dunes tower upward. The first rise we are able to master with the built-up speed from the salt lake, but in the deep sand of the middle of the plateau, it ends. We are stuck. We manage to get the Ural by the journalists’ cars on the side of the track and park it there. The photographers are waiting at the abyss of the first dune and gesture towards us that we should go down the dune. No, no, not us. First, we want to see what’s awaiting us over there. We walk over to the first dune and there, down in the gully lays a buggy on his roof, overturned. What a photo opportunity for the waiting photographers. They really tried to lure us into this sand hole! Maybe even at full speed over the edge so we could land on top of the buggy! It would make for another great picture. I take off my helmet, sit with the photographers, and end the race. I understand, here and now, that the race is over for us. One of the officials is running to the top of the first dune and waves wildly with his hands to warn the oncoming cars of the obstacle down in the gully. The crew of the overturned buggy tries with help of a 4x4, to get the car on its wheels again. In the meantime, some of the following cars jump left and right of the accident into their own ruin, as many are stuck in the deep sand. Soon, trucks with towing ropes and shovels appear. It is all very entertaining. After the last vehicle of the big truck class masters the dune and disappears behind the next dune, it is time for us to go home. We try to get around the dunes and follow for 10 km (6 miles), but we are not able to find a suitable spot to cross the dunes. It seems there is no end to this dune zone, so we give up for good. While the others slave through the sand, we drive to the next starting point of the next special stage. There the officials convinced us to give up. There would be lots of sand in the next stage and for our Ural Gespann impossible to overcome. Since we also lost our trip master, we decide to give up. For the last days of the rally, we travel with the assistance cars but still get enough time to do some off road riding, without any pressure. Now, Brigit (ED - Hari’s other half) rides the Gespann most of the time. She probably would have been a better rider anyway.” (ED – Brigit is the prettier of the pair who work to keep Urals rolling into and around Europe). Thanks to: © 2003 - 2006 Irbit MotorWorks of America, Inc. HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 URAL MOTORCYCLES GMBH Hari Schwaighofer - Linz Austria Ural Motorcycles GmbH are the Ural importers into the EU. They supply new bikes and spares to all the main dealers in the EU. There is no longer a UK importer, all UK dealers now receive support directly from ‘Ural Motorcycles GmbH’ in Linz Austria. Hari Schwaighofer is supported by Brigit and a team to carry out pre-delivery inspection, maintain a spares stock and all the things that the dealers need to support us. This photography shows a Steib or Royale PAGE I 21 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 A JUPITER GOES DOWN UNDER ON A 2-STROKE RALLY Rod Knight - Toowoomba, Queensland 4350, Australia Back in July 2004 I was invited to participate in a one-day rally which was to be held in an area north of Brisbane, Queensland. A friend and fellow Russian bike owner had telephoned me to pick my brains in relation to a number of problems he was having with his 1971 Jupiter 2. I have one of these, which I fully restored back in 1998, so I was able to answer all of his questions to his satisfaction. Ian had bought his Jupiter about 10 years ago and fiddled with it until he’d gotten it to run, then parked it at the back of his garage as a future restoration project. His interest in the Jupiter was rekindled upon learning that the Historic MCC of which he’s a member was organising a special two-stroke rally (to be called The Stink Wheel Rally - a less-than-complimentary name in my opinion) and that it would be held on Wednesday 21st. Ian asked if I’d like to come along. Rallies are not usually my scene, but I was immediately interested in this one so told him that I would do my best to be there, should I not be required to work on that day. I’ve always had a soft spot for two-stroke engined machinery, you see, having begun my life on two wheels with a Vespa 150cc motorscooter in 1963 and progressing to a number of Jawa and CZ bikes which I owned over a 14 year period. The last one of these was a 1974 Jawa 350 twin which was coupled to a DJP sidecar, and I parted with it only because the sidecar was a bit heavy for the Jawa and Velorex sidecars were unavailable. The outfit was subsequently repowered by a new Kawasaki Z750 vertical twin, the only Japanese bike I’ve ever owned. Four years later, in 1982, I was reintroduced to Russian flat twins when a friend’s Dnepr MT9, that I’d helped set up when new, returned to Australia after spending more than 6 years of its life in England. I’ve owned nothing but Russian machinery since then. The day finally came. The weather was clear and cold, with the promise of a fine, sunny day. I had to allow well over two hours to reach the venue from my home in Toowoomba, and my route involved descending the Toowoomba Range to the Lockyer Valley more than 2,000 ft below, then crossing it from west to east before climbing Mt Glorious - a mountain range northwest of Brisbane which rises to more than 2,400 ft in places. This was followed by another tortuous descent to the picturesque village of Samford before continuing along much busier roads north east to the Pioneer Village at Young’s Crossing, the starting point for the run. It was still dark when I left Toowoomba, though the eastern sky was just beginning to lighten. Sasha, the Jupiter, was running like a charm (as usual) and looking very shiny, as I wanted it to make a good impression. B eing in the middle of winter and with a clear sky the overnight temperature had dropped to a quite low figure in Toowoomba, but it was nonetheless warm compared to the freezing air down in the valley. Coasting down the range in the neutral between 3rd and 4th (sometimes known as angel gear, or Mexican overdrive) with the engine idling was PAGE I 22 akin to being slowly lowered into a deep freeze unit with a fan inside blowing an 80 km/h blast of air into my face! Of course, Sasha loved the frigid conditions but I became progressively colder as I droned on across the 90 km wide valley before reaching hilly country on the other side. What impacted upon me the most were my freezing feet and ankles! Usually I’m riding either my Dnepr MT9 or Ural M63 on long runs and tend to take the warm air provided by their horizontally-opposed cylinders for granted, so I was made really aware of the absence of this feature on the Jupiter! I ended up having to get off the bike, choosing a small picnic spot situated a few kms before the long twisty climb up Mt Glorious. I could barely walk at first, but I needed to thaw out somewhat in order to more easily make the many necessary gearchanges further on. Why did I coast down the range instead of using the engine as a brake, like everybody else would have done? Well, two-strokes possess next to no engine braking for one thing, plus they tend to send shock waves through the transmission due to their uneven firing impulses when running on an almost-closed throttle. Another thing to consider, is that because they’re lubricated by oil mixed with the fuel they tend to ‘run dry’ on long descents as closing the throttle not only cuts off almost all their petrol supply, but their oil as well! It’s a habit I got into during my very early years of riding two-stroke motorcycles - particularly big singles with their very jerky overrun - and although it places more strain on the service brakes this can be offset to a certain extent by lightly applying and releasing each brake separately to keep them from becoming too hot. I arrived at the rally site to see a number of old two stroke machines waiting quietly for the coming event. Ian was already there to meet me as he lives in Brisbane and therefore didn’t have very far to travel. His Jupiter (Old Blue) is unrestored but it runs very nicely, which is far more important. HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 Running briefly through the attendance list, there were three DKW 250 singles dating back to the 1950s, two Adler 250 twins, an MZ 301 single from the late 1980s and therefore the newest bike participating, an early Sixties Ariel Arrow 250, a 1967 Jawa 250 single, a 1929 Scott Flying Squirrel 600cc water-cooled twin, a 250cc GTP Velocette from the same period, an old DOT with single-cylinder Villiers engine, a 1964 Vespa 150 (this being the only scooter) and, to complete the European lineup, the two 1971 Jupiters. Japan was represented by a Yamaha 250cc trail bike (I think it was a DT2 model) a Suzuki 550 triple and a ‘full dresser’ 750cc Waterbottle from the same manufacturer. And because there always has to be a rebel there was also a four-stroke machine participating, this being a beautifully restored 200cc LE Velocette water-cooled sidevalve flat twin, which gave a very good account of itself - particularly as this model produces, if memory serves, only 6 HP and it had to carry two quite large people! The route chosen by the organisers used predominantly sealed back roads, although it did include a stretch of some 6 km of extremely rough and dusty dirt road which made a mess of everyone’s bikes - particularly those unable to keep their lubricating oil on the inside! They wound back and forth, up hill and down dale through quite pretty countryside - some of which I’d not previously seen. A morning tea stop had been organised at Beerburrum Lookout, reached after a steep, winding climb. It offered spectacular views of the valley below as well as some of the Glasshouse Mountains first seen by Europeans when Capt James Cook navigated his way north along the east coast of Australia in 1770. These rock monoliths look every bit as spectacular today, and are very popular with rock climbers. One of them, Mt Tibrogargan, can be climbed without the use of ropes or other climbing equipment. I know because I did just that back in the mid sixties when I was a member of a Motor Scooter club and Mt Tibrogargan was the destination of one of our Sunday rides. Morning tea gave us all an opportunity to properly meet one another and to admire the various machines, with many of us getting the cameras out. There hadn’t been any breakdowns (a trend that was to continue) although the Scott required coasting down the steep road for a short distance to encourage it to restart afterwards! The run continued northwards, with the country becoming more hilly. We seemed to be forever climbing laboriously up a steep incline, only to coast down the other side before doing it all again! Naturally this was accompanied by lots of blue exhaust smoke - a reminder of days gone by when emission laws were non-existent and most small and medium capacity motorbikes were two-stroke powered. The big difference this time was that nobody suffered the embarrassment of fouling a sparkplug, a phenomenon quite common back in the 1960s when specially, formulated two stroke oils had yet to be invented and everyone ran their engines on a diet of ordinary SAE30 or SAE40 mineral oil and super - ie leaded petrol! There were no set positions in the lineup. I tended to stay back towards the rear, watching the other riders and admiring the scenery through the haze. Eventually I settled in behind the old Scott. This bike looked lovely, having been carefully restored by its owner. It sounded lovely as well, with a smooth bass purr that was a joy to listen to. Obviously it was being ridden sedately as there was no hint of the famous Scott ‘yowl’. I’ve read about in various classic motorcycle magazines over the years, but every once in a while it emitted a savage puff of thick blue smoke on the overrun which puzzled me immensely. It wasn’t doing this because it was being followed by a Russian bike - surely! I mean, I could understand the Scott being somewhat less than happy had Sasha been in front, but not the other way around! Eventually we emerged from the winding back roads onto the main road which connects the township of Landsborough with Maleny, a small tourist village perched on top of the green, picturesque Blackall Range. We rode down to Landsborough and then on for a few more kilometres to the larger town of Beerwah for our lunch stop. This was held in the garden of a club member’s house, set on a few acres of land just north of the town. There were a few old stationary engines on display, plus one or two old bikes sleeping in the big machinery shed out the back. A few more photos were taken here, and riders’ past experiences exchanged. The owner of the MZ301, an Englishman, was particularly interested in Sasha and asked so many questions I thought he had intentions of tracking down a Jupiter for himself! I learned that this particular MZ was the only one of its kind in Australia and that he’d ridden it up from Lismore, NSW, in order to participate in the run. This meant that I hadn’t ridden the longest distance, but I did nonetheless ride the longest distance that day as he’d ridden up to Brisbane the day before to overnight with friends before coming to the rally! With lunch over everyone started getting ready for the return trip. This was to be PAGE I 23 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 via a different, slightly shorter route, thus enabling the participants to arrive back at the Pioneer Village in good time for afternoon tea and the presenting of awards. I hadn’t officially entered the rally and didn’t go just in the hope of perhaps winning something, so decided to part from the group and ride back to Toowoomba by a more direct network of roads. This had the advantage of allowing me to arrive home before dark, always a prime consideration with a 6V electrical system, in this present age of impatient car drivers who seem to have difficulty seeing motorcycles even in bright sunshine! It also meant that I wouldn’t have to winch poor Sasha over Mt Glorious again. That road, although running through spectacular countryside, is not only winding but very, very steep! took me along a much quieter, little-known road which meanders through peaceful, hilly country before the even steeper climb up the range. Second gear certainly saw a lot of use this day! I’d brought along 400cc of two-stroke oil, which enabled me to add 10 litres of petrol at Beerwah before setting out for home. To my surprise this topped up the 18 litre tank to almost full, so Sasha hadn’t been using much fuel. I’ve managed up to 400 km on this bike before having to switch to reserve, although the Czech Jikov fuel tap fitted in lieu of the standard Russian one (mainly because it doesn’t leak) allows only a few kilometres of travel before the tank runs completely dry! } I’ve always been attracted to simple systems that work - these being much more logical to me than complicated systems that work - and the Jupiter would have to be one of the simplest, most basic bikes ever made. There’s not one bolt, one wire that isn’t absolutely essential to the bike’s operation! } It’s generally unloved and often ridiculed by most motorcyclists (to say nothing of what other road users must think of it when they’re trying to get past!) and I’ve always favoured the underdog. I guess this is an essential ingredient for owning any Russian bike, come to think of it. } The Jupiter represents a lot of nostalgia as it’s very similar to the earlier models of Czechoslovak Jawa and CZ bikes that reliably and faithfully carried me to many parts of this vast country, some of these being thousands of kilometres from home. } It flies in the face of the general consensus that one must have a machine of at least 1,000cc and mega-horsepower in order to travel distances of more than a couple of hundred kilometres. Low-powered it may be, a pain to ride in city traffic it definitely is, perfect it certainly isn’t, but Sasha still occupies a very special place in my heart. The return route thus chosen took me over a much lower mountain range and onwards to the town of Kilcoy, then continuing westwards for some distance before turning south and meandering through gently undulating countryside via the small townships of Harlin, Toogoolawah, Esk and on to Gatton - the latter situated in the Lockyer Valley mentioned earlier. Another 40 km of pleasant riding brought me home again, though I decided not to climb the Toowoomba Range via the Warrego Highway as it’s the main arterial road inland from Brisbane and therefore carries a lot of heavy transport vehicles enroute to the big southern cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, via the flatter and more open outback highways. The Range Road - as it’s locally known - is also looked upon by many drivers of cars and 4WDs as the local racetrack (something to do with getting to the top of the range before anyone else, I think) so it can be very dangerous. Sasha PAGE I 24 I arrived home late afternoon, much to the surprise of my wife who wasn’t expecting me before dark, after covering a total distance of 468 km. It had been a great day, enjoyed by everyone who attended. None of the bikes broke down and I managed to listen to the sounds of most of them during the run - especially Ian’s Jupiter which was missing its baffles and therefore made its presence felt! This (inaugural) two-stroke rally took my mind back to the old Scooter Club days when I was much younger and the world seemed a far less complicated place. And although it catered primarily for scooters this club also allowed light motorcycles up to 250cc, these consisting of many different makes and models that are rarely seen today - particularly out on the roads! There are several reasons why I still like riding something like Sasha when it’s so blatantly obvious to everyone who knows anything about motorcycles that it’s totally unsuited to the cut and thrust of modern-day traffic. In fact, it was regarded as being well out of the mainstream 33 years ago, when this model was built. Being a masochistic, oddball lover of strange motorcycles does have its compensations if happiness and contentment are part of the package! HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 A SIDECAR CONVERT - THIRTY YEARS IN THE MAKING Steve Lyons - wind-up bear and tricycle winner at the Three Magpies I’ve driven some odd bits of machinery over the last 30 years; double decker buses, dumper trucks, bulldozers, but there’s nothing on earth that could have prepared me for my first time at the controls of a sidecar outfit. And the first thing that grabs your intestine is that they seem to be governed by their very own laws of physics! Outfits are to motor transport what googlies are to cricket, they look like one thing but behave like something else. Needless to say my first outing onto the roads of Britain was a very memorable affair. Twelve months ago I was just a biker with a pretty and very red Harley Sportster. A Sunday mornings and warm summer evenings toy, excellent for chugging through the Cotswold lanes, by-ways or roaring down their Roman straights. With a Sportster traffic is no problem and there is always an abundance of plate glass windows for a bit of reflective thinking. Then one wet winter’s evening, as I surfed the net I came across F2, C&C and MPC and a whole host of other eccentric sites purveying weird and wonderful oddities. At first I observed with wonder, they can actually make a living out of selling them? Blimey! Whilst other dealers offer brain numbing rocket ships capable of mach 3 or nippy 125cc hoppers that bob & weave to infinity and beyond, these weirdos proudly sell and boast about it too, machines that: with a following wind, a down hill run and the aid of a tow truck regularly achieve speeds of ……….. 50mph! “You’re having a giraffe!!!!” “Oh no,no, no, no, no, no, that’s just the Chinese version; the Russian models are much quicker. They can get to 60mph!”. “Golly” So what’s their attraction? Who in their right mind buys a machine that needs a set of oars and a spinnaker to get to full revs? Well there are lots of these strange folk about, and I’m proud to say that now I’m one of them too. These machine might not be super fast and with their drum brake set-up, they don’t want to be. After my first canter down a steep hill, hurtling towards a sharp left hander I very soon understood why. But what they lack in speed they gain in stability. How many times this summer have you set out under cloudless sky only to get soaked on the return, having to negotiate your way home along greasy dieseled carriageways or muck-strewn lanes. At last with that extra wheel, a sunken manhole cover or dollop of horse crap, always to be found at the apex of a bend (ED Horses get nervous round fast bends too!), isn’t going to send you into a painful slide. Those drums actually aid in the Ural’s uniqueness. Having such an antiquated braking system enables quick wheel changing and the total interchange-ability of all the wheels. Front to back, back to side, spare to wherever you want, and the tyres are easy to change too, suddenly the Ural becomes the ideal adventure/expedition bike. All you’ve got to do is outwit its strange laws of physics. I think I’ve managed to overcome those strange laws now, though they still bite me in the bum when my concentration wanes. Mind you that’s only after a couple of hours in the saddle, as fatigue gnaws at your brain. ‘Coz sidecar outfits need a lot of thought; they are a thinking person’s machine. For me, when fatigue does take a grip, I’ve got 30 years of solo riding waiting to take control, and only the other day I suffered one of those thirty year throwbacks. I was on my way to ‘Sidecars Galore’ at Popham. I was doing everything right, or so I thought, shifting my weight over the chair on a left hander yet it wasn’t turning and the hedge was getting closer. Panic was tapping me on the shoulder and I was able to pick out the different species of hedge plants! Then it came to me in a leafy flash, ‘I’m on an outfit’, turn the bars you dickhead, and I did and it did, phew panic over. I had a few moments like that over the last nine months. Classic things like bumping the sidecar over the pavement or diving (right) on a left hand bend because I used the front brake etc etc. But I’m happy to say these moments are getting less. I’ve got a Dalesman, four years old, a 750cc engine, a bit of a hybrid. And like its comrades it’s constructed from more steel than Corus produces in a week. An export batch of Urals is probably equal to Russia’s gross national product.! Yet despite their robust build they are amazingly easy to manoeuvre and the reverse gear certainly turns a few heads,. I’ve done two rallies over the summer (2005) with a passenger, the Red Star and the COC National Rally at the ‘Three Magpies’. Both times we carried two complete sets of camping gear and there wasn’t a spare inch of space. The vehicle must have doubled in weight, yet on both occasions it pulled phenomenally up the steep hills out of Stroud as I climbed the Cotswold ridge, and speeds of 55ish were achieved along a lovely stretch of the fantastic Fosse Way. In September I went to ‘Sidecars Galore’ at Popham - of course it was raining as it always does when you turn the key. But as ever it pulled beautifully and stuck to the road like a sticky thing. As you can gather I’m now a total convert - the 883 is up for sale and I can’t wait for the next camping trip which will be the Dragon. But it’s not just the draw of the machine with its weird characteristics; it’s the club, the COC and the people you meet. The friends you make, the shared knowledge, the smiling faces out on the road, the misty eyed ancients who want to share a memory, the incredulous expressions as you whizz backwards in a car park or seeing how others have made their outfits unique. It’s much more than that though; Urals, Dneprs, Cossacks call them what you will, they are links with the good old days of simplistic mechanisms and old fashioned road-side fettling. PAGE I 25 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 POWERED TWO WHEELER ACCIDENT STUDY Powered Two Wheelers cover 50cc machines to superbikes but not sidecar outfilts Executive Summary The increasing role of Powered Two Wheelers (PTWs) in transport policy for sustainable mobility, particularly their potential benefits for congestion and cost of urban transport require solutions for reducing PTW’s riders fatalities in Western Europe. PTW riders form one of the most vulnerable groups of road users and road accidents involving injuries to them are a major social concern. It is therefore essential that all parties work together to understand and further improve the safety of this valuable mode of transport. In order to better understand the nature and causes of PTW accidents, the Association of European Motorcycle Manufacturers (ACEM) with the support of the European Commission and other partners conducted an extensive in-depth study of motorcycle and moped accidents during the period 1999-2000 in five sampling areas located in France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Spain. The methodology developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for on-scene in-depth motorcycle accident investigations was used by all five research groups in order to maintain consistency in the data collected in each sampling area. A total of 921 accidents were investigated in detail, resulting in approximately 2000 variables being coded for each accident. The investigation included a full reconstruction of the accident; vehicles were inspected; witnesses to the accident were interviewed; and, subject to the applicable privacy laws, with the full co-operation and consent of both the injured person and the local authorities, pertinent medical records for the injured riders and passengers were collected. From these data, all the human, environmental and vehicle factors, which contributed to the outcome of the accident were identified. PAGE I 26 To provide comparative information on riders and PTWs that were not involved in accidents in the same sample areas, data was collected in a further 923 cases. The collection technique was specifically developed to meet the circumstances of this study and is commonly referred to as an exposure or case-control study. This exposure information on non-accident involved PTW riders was essential for establishing the significance of the data collected from the accident cases and the identification of potential risk factors in PTW accidents. For example, if 20% of non-accident involved PTWs in the sampling area were red, it would be significant if 60% of those PTWs involved in an accident were reported to be red, suggesting that there is an increased risk of riding a red PTW. On the other hand, if none of the PTWs in the accident sample were red, it would be an interesting finding, needing further study. Findings In Brief The PTW accident data collected in this study indicated that the object most frequently struck in an accident was a passenger car. The second most frequently struck object was the roadway itself, either as the result of a single vehicle accident or of an attempt to avoid a collision with an OV [Other Vehicle – Ed]. Whilst each sampling area contained both urban and rural areas, the majority of the accidents took place in an urban environment. . Travelling and impact speeds for all PTW categories were found to be quite low, most often below 50 km/h. There were relatively few cases in which excess speed was an issue related to accident causation. The cause of the majority of PTW accidents collected in this study was found to be human error. The most frequent human error was a failure to see the PTW within the traffic environment, due to lack of driver attention, temporary view obstructions or the low conspicuity of the PTW. Once all the data had been collected, it was entered into a database for each sampling area and compared with the exposure data referred to above. Statistical analysis identified PTW accident risk factors by comparing the accident data to the exposure data. Thus, for example, the exposure data indicated that whilst scooters represented the majority of accident cases, scooters were not over represented in accidents in comparison with their presence in the sampling area (i.e., their exposure). When the accident riders were compared to the exposure population, the data demonstrated that the use of alcohol increased the risk of being in an accident, although the percentage was lower than in other studies. Unlicenced PTW operators who were illegally riding PTWs that required a licence, were also found to be at greater risk of being involved in an accident when compared to licensed PTW riders. The data collected during this study represents the most comprehensive in-depth data currently available for PTW accidents in Europe. It is expected that this data will provide much needed information for developing future research in relation to public policy issues. Recommendations for future countermeasures and investigations are provided. Aims & Objectives A need for a common methodology European statistical coverage of motorcycle accidents is insufficient and not harmonised, and causation data and analysis of a full range of standardised parameters are lacking. Specific research studies of PTWs use different data collection criteria and different data collection methodologies, thereby limiting the ability to compare the different studies and to develop a comprehensive European strategy for the reduction of PTW accidents. HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 Previous in-depth research into PTW accidents has been conducted in North America (Hurt et al 1981, Newman et al 1974) as well as in the United Kingdom and Europe (Pedder et al 1979, Otte et al 1998). All of these studies have shown the need for in-depth investigations in order to provide a clear, detailed and objective analysis of the causes and consequences of PTW accidents. This in-depth PTW research has also shown the need to collect information regarding the non-accident PTW/rider population (ie a control population) in order to determine the relative risk of a given PTW/rider factor. MAIN FINDINGS Rationale for action The 921 on-scene, in-depth accident investigations have provided a large volume of data related to the general characteristics of PTW accidents; including accident causation and rider and passenger injury information. The outcome of these investigations can be considered in the identification, development and introduction of countermeasures. } With the support of the European Commission and other partners, the Association of European Motorcycle Manufacturers (ACEM) conducted this extensive in-depth study of motorcycle and moped accidents in five European countries: France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain and Italy. Objectives } } } } } To identify and indicate the causes and consequences of PTW accidents in a well-defined sampling area. To compare the accident data to a control population in order to determine the risk associated with certain factors (eg alcohol). To apply this comprehensive and reliable data source in the development of proper countermeasures that will reduce the frequency and severity of PTW accidents. The same methodology for on-scene in-depth motorcycle accident investigations, developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), was used by all five research groups in order to maintain consistency in the data collected in each region. A complete description of this methodology is presented in the ACEM report titled ‘MAIDS Report on Methodology and Process’ (ACEM 2003) } } } } In 37% of cases, the primary accident contributing factor was a human error on the part of the PTW rider. In some situations, the human errors that occurred involved skills that were beyond those that typical drivers or operators might currently have. This is often due to the extreme circumstances of some of the accident cases, including an insufficient amount of time available to complete collision avoidance. Among the secondary contributing factors, PTW riders failed to see the other vehicle (OV) and they also made a large number of faulty decisions, ie, they chose a poor or incorrect collision avoidance strategy. In 13% of all cases, there was a decision failure on the part of the PTW rider. The number of cases involving alcohol use among the PTW riders was less than 5%, which is low in comparison to other studies, but such riders were more likely to be involved in an accident. In comparison to the exposure data, unlicenced PTW riders, illegally operating a PTW for which a licence is required, have a significantly increased risk of being involved in an accident. PTW riders between 41 and 55 years of age were found to be under-represented, suggesting that they may have a lower risk of being involved in an accident when compared to other rider age categories. When compared with the exposure data, 18 to 25 year old riders were found to be over-represented. } In 50% of cases, the primary accident contributing factor was a human error on the part of the OV driver. } OV drivers holding PTW licences were less likely to commit a perception failure than those without a PTW licence, ie, they did not see the PTW or its rider. } In about 1/3 of accidents PTW riders and OV drivers failed to account for visual obstructions and engaged in faulty traffic strategies. } Traffic control violations were frequently reported, in 8% of the cases for PTW riders and in 18% for OV drivers. } Amongst the wide diversity of PTW accident and collision configurations that were observed in this study, not one configuration dominated. } 90% of all risks to the PTW rider, both vehicular and environmental, were in front of the PTW rider prior to the accident. } Among the primary contributing factors, over 70% of the OV driver errors were due to the failure to perceive the PTW. } The roadway and OVs were the most frequently reported collision partner. In 60.0% of accidents, the collision partner was a passenger car. } Tampering in order to increase performance was observed by visual inspection in 17.8% of all moped cases. This value is lower than those reported in other studies. The exposure study only shows 12.3% of tampering. PAGE I 27 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 MAIN FINDINGS CONTINUED } } Only modified conventional street motorcycles were found to be over-represented in the accident data. There was no evidence of an increased risk associated with riding any other PTW style. There were PTW technical problems in less than 1% of the accidents. Most of these were related to the tyres, illustrating the need for regular PTW inspections by the owner. There were no cases found by the teams in which an accident was caused by PTW design or manufacture. } In over 70% of the cases the PTW impact speeds were below 50 km/h. } In 18% of all cases, PTW travelling speeds were greater than or less than the surrounding traffic and this speed difference was considered to be a contributing factor. } } } 73.1% of all PTW riders attempted some form of collision avoidance immediately prior to impact. Of these, 32% experienced some type of loss of control during the manoeuvre. 90.4% of the PTW riders wore helmets. However, 9.1% of these helmets came off the wearer’s head at some time during the accident, due to improper fastening or helmet damage during the accident. Overall, helmets were found to be an effective protective device to reduce the severity of head injuries. 55.7% of PTW rider and passenger injuries were to the upper and lower extremities. The majority of these were minor injuries, eg abrasions, lacerations and contusions. Appropriate clothing was found to reduce, but not completely eliminate, many of these minor injuries. } Roadside barriers presented an infrequent but substantial danger to PTW riders, causing serious lower extremity and spinal injuries as well as serious head injuries. } For PTW riders, a roadway maintenance defect caused the accident or was a contributing factor in 3.6% of all cases. } For PTW riders, a traffic hazard caused the accident or was a contributing factor in 3.8% of cases. } Weather-related problems either caused the accident or contributed to accident causation in 7.4% of PTW accidents in the study. 5 DIFFERENT WAYS TO ABUSE A 2CV Now, I always liked the 2CV. I think of it a little bit like the Ural - cheap and very practical. OK, so driving it was a bit like crossing the Channel in a force-8 gale - you felt a bit sick, but it was the first real MPV. You could take different seats out and fit different things in, including a sheep! I progressed from a 2CV to a Citreon Visa. Same engine (I managed to get a fully laden car up to Scotland on one cylinder) and same lack of cornering finesse. The Visa though, had this extraordinary hand grenade attached to the steering column, housing all the controls for lights, wipers etc. At least the mechanic didn’t need to search the entire loom to find an electrical fault - he went straight to the grenade, and it was probably just as dangerous! He solved all the electrical faults by wedging in a 20volt fuse - excellent! The yellow bike featured here with a 2CV engine has another common feature with the 2CV - it’s nauseating! The 2CV sidecar can be driven via the sidecar or the bike - very ingenious. Both the Dnepr and Ural have 2CV engines whilst the Escargo has kept the essence of the 2CV shape and lines with this cute, 3-wheeler. I don’t reckon you’d get a sheep in it though! PAGE I 28 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 FIRE SAFETY UNUSUAL OUTFITS I’m sure these examples will be in your local showrooms by the Spring! As these disressing images show, it is always advisable to carry a Fire Extinguisher whether you are on your bike, combo or in your car. In the worst case scenario, it can make the difference between life and death, if not for you and your passengers, for someone else involved in an accident. I listened to a TV broadcast where a man described how he was unable to help in any way, whilst a woman perished in her burning car, following a car accident. He said himself, that had he had an extinguisher he would have had time to get her out of the car. Buy a Fire Extinguisher for someone this Christmas - it could be the present of their lives. PAGE I 29 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 TECHNICAL & TROUBLESHOOTING ALTERED VALVE TIMING - URAL M63 1970 Rod Knight Back in 1992 I met the parents of a then-new friend, Bill, who had purchased a 1974 Dnepr MT9 sidecar outfit on my recommendation. I’d gone to visit him to see if everything was OK with his new acquisition, and to ask whether he’d had any regrets about launching himself into the sometimes dark, forbidding world of Russian motorcycle ownership. I’d driven my own MT9 outfit there so that Bill could make some comparisons, and it was at this time that his Dad - another Bill - made mention of a bike which was languishing in an old barn in a village some 30 km north of Toowoomba that looked somewhat similar. Bill (senior) is another keen motorcyclist, his current mount being a 1985 Moto Guzzi California that I get to ride occasionally. The suggestion was made that we both ride up there one day to see this mysterious machine, but somehow we never got around to it and the weeks and months passed. It must have been more than a year later that I called in on one of my occasional visits, arriving just in time to see a shabby, rusty old black motorbike being wheeled into their garage after having been unloaded from Bill’s ute. It was, as I suspected, the aforementioned bike from the village and it was a Russian bike - a Ural M63, in fact. It was in a dreadful state, and I didn’t think it was worth doing anything with. However, I did take the trouble to check the rear drive unit to determine which crown wheel/pinion gearset the bike had been fitted with when it was being put together in the factory. To my surprise I counted just under four turns of the driveshaft to one turn of the rear wheel. So it had been blessed with ‘solo’ gearing! Very few Ural M63s had come to Australia so equipped! With a 1970 build date stamped on both its frame-mounted dataplate and engine crankcase, this machine was also one of the first Urals to have been imported. Bill had purchased the Ural with the intention of getting it running again, and, since it was missing many of its original parts perhaps build a ‘special’ of some sort. But the weeks went by without anything happening, and I thought that if I offered to do some work on one or two components for him I might start the ball rolling. Bill was more than happy for me to do this, and I was given permission to do whatever I liked. An old teachest full of greasy bits and pieces (including most of a spare gearbox) had come with the bike, so I started on these after ferreting out all the non-Russian stuff. I won’t bore you with a step by step account of the restoration project as this isn’t the subject of this article. Suffice to say that I spent the next two years restoring various components - working on them when time permitted - and eventually coming to the engine. During this period Bill had the wheel hubs powdercoated and painted one or two other pieces before losing interest as other, more appealing, projects came his way. He asked me if I’d like to buy it. At first I declined, having suffered many less-thanhappy experiences with a 1981 Ural M67 I’d bought new and run for 7 years and PAGE I 30 67,517 km. I had two Dnepr MT9s I was very happy with, thank you, - a solo and a sidecar outfit - and didn’t need to have an old Ural! Still, the offer of the M63 haunted me, as did the persistent Bill! By now I’d reached the stage where I could see that, in spite of its dreadful outward appearance the bike had not been abused, or damaged in a crash. The rear drive unit, for example, was like new inside - as was the gearbox apart from three of its bearings! Dismantling the engine confirmed the bike’s good overall mechanical state. Apart from rust on the main bearings and a slightly corroded top ring in the left cylinder everything was in excellent condition. Well, almost everything - the valves and guides weren’t too good, but that was to be expected. Eventually I gave in and bought the bike for $800. Everything that wasn’t already at my place was promptly loaded into Bill’s ute and suddenly my back shed was cluttered with a Ural frame and lots of other big metal bits. New ballraces replaced the original mains, the roller bearing big ends carefully checked (they were like new) the cylinders given a light hone to deglaze them (this also removing the brown mark where the aforementioned ring had stuck to the bore), new rings fitted to the pistons and the bottom end reassembled. The cylinderheads were submitted to a local engineering shop for bead-blasting, to have the valve guides reclaimed by the fitting of thin walled bronze inserts (much cheaper than having the guides replaced) and valve seats recut. Another Russian motorcycle-owner friend sold me 4 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 new valves, the valve spring caps were remachined and new bottom cups made to enable the fitting of highquality Jaguar valve springs and the future of the old M63 was looking very bright indeed. During the bike’s restoration I had been corresponding with yet another friend, Geoff, who had owned several Ural M63s during his 20 year association with Russian motorcycles. He kept highlighting a problem he’d experienced with a number of these early models, namely, the valve timing marks stamped on the timing gears. (Yes, I’ve finally come to the subject of this article)! He insisted that some of them had been incorrectly marked - ie: one tooth out on the camshaft gear - giving retarded valve timing which was anything but conducive to either performance or exhaust valve life. The way to check this, of course, is with a degree wheel, but first one needs the correct timing figures - which I didn’t have. However, I did have a lot of respect for Geoff’s hard-won knowledge of Urals. Dneprs too, as he built a much modified and very clever 780cc Sports Roadster - complete with 12V electrics courtesy of a shaft-driven alternator from a Morris 1500 car - out of an old MT9 a few years ago. Consequently I kept his words in mind, although I still wasn’t sure which way I should go. In the end I decided to consult an excellent reference book I have on engine tuning, written by an A. Graham Bell (not the chap who invented the telephone)! His chapter on valve timing was very informative. In short, it stated that advancing the cam would improve bottom end and mid-range power, while retarding it would decrease power in the bottom end and mid-range but may very slightly increase the top end. Advancing it from between 4 and 8 degrees would show a marked improvement in mid-range power, with some decrease in maximum power. This improvement at low RPM and in the mid-range apparently comes about as a result of a decrease in the reverse pumping action, which raises cylinder pressure. Because the inlet valve is being closed earlier, there is less mixture being pushed back up the inlet port as the piston moves up on the compression stroke. And because the exhaust valve is also being closed earlier, there is less chance of the exhaust gas turning around and being drawn back into the cylinder as the piston descends on the intake stroke. When I reinstalled the camshaft (after replacing the two timing gears as the originals were worn beyond “quiet” limits) I took the plunge and advanced the valve timing by one tooth on the timing marks, which, in Ural (and Dnepr) engines equates to 7.5 degrees. This meant that, when setting up the ignition timing after replacing the timing chest cover I had to rotate the points box to the end of its travel in order to get the timing correct. It was then that I realized that the new gears almost certainly would have had their marks in the correct places, but I decided to leave things as they were and see how the engine would run with its ‘new’ timing. It took nearly two more years to finish restoring the Ural. I had to track down a number of missing parts, including a front mudguard to replace the aftermarket plastic one and correct Russian handlebars in lieu of the bent, rusted Harley ‘buckhorn’ bars that a previous owner had fitted. I also had to make up a complete wiring loom from scratch, but this wasn’t difficult as I simply used the diagram in my Dnepr MT9 manual as a guide. The strong original ‘sidecar’ springs in the front forks were replaced with a set of ‘solo’ ones from a later M8.123 model, while I had a set of softer springs specially made for the rear suspension units. And what’s it like on the road? In a word - different! It’s different to my previous Ural, the M67 (and yes, I know the cam lobe profiles are different on the later engines) and it’s different to my Dnepr MT9. Mr. A Graham Bell’s comments are spot on. Black Beauty - which I’ve obviously kept - pulls like a train from almost zero revs and is very torquey at low and medium engine speeds. Being fitted with the later K63 carburettors it runs cleanly at all speeds and idles beautifully - far better than my K301-equipped M67 could ever manage! It’s something akin to an old tractor to ride. I don’t really have to rev it or anything, and it’s so beautifully docile I can chuff up to most corners in top gear, feather the throttle, negotiate the bend then pick up speed again without the need to change gears as long as I’m still travelling at 40 km/h or so. It laughs at steep hills, including the more than 2,000 ft. climb up the Toowoomba Range from the Lockyer Valley below. Yes, I know the low compression pistons (6.2:1) and heavy flywheel help the engine’s low-speed tractability, but it’s still markedly better than standard. Better, that is, until the revs rise to 4,000 RPM or so - where it quite suddenly loses interest and power begins to fall away. The owner’s manual quotes the M63 as producing 30 HP @ 4,800 - 5,000 RPM, but I don’t think Black Beauty is now capable of this. It feels as though it could produce 27-28 HP at 4,300 - 4,500 RPM, but of course I’m guessing. Sidevalve engines have power/torque characteristics like this, and I’ve always had a soft spot for big sidevalves. The bike has been back on the road now for seven years or thereabouts, during which time I’ve run up 15,000 km. Not a great distance, but I do have a lovely old Dnepr MT9 that I generally (but not always) use for long distance runs, and a 1971 Izhevsk Jupiter 350 I also enjoy riding. Would I recommend this ‘mod’ to other riders of Russian flat twins? Well, it all depends on what you want your bike to do. I’m happy riding my M63 at 80-85 km/h (3,300-3,500 RPM) when out on a long run, and this would be far too slow for most people. Fortunately for me there are many long, lightly-trafficked country roads in my area to take advantage of, but I wouldn’t like to be riding it on a busy motorway. Like the other Russian big bikes, it would benefit from higher overall gearing - or at least a higher top gear - to make better use of its strong low and mid-range torque. And because alternative high gear sets are readily available (in Europe, at any rate) it’s an option I have sometimes considered. PAGE I 31 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 TORQUE SENSE P J Ballard TORQUE SPECIFICATIONS from THE Ural 750 2003 Manual NB If you have a Ural manual with torque figures, then use those quoted in the manual. Metric US Equivalent Location on Bike 54 to 61 Nm 40 ft.lb to 45 ft.lb Cylinder heads 237 to 251 Nm 175 ft.lb to 185 ft.lb Fly wheel tightening screws 19 to 30 Nm 14 ft.lb to 22 ft.lb Top shock absorber 38 to 49 Nm 28 ft.lb to 36 ft.lb Bottom shock absorber 30 to 35 Nm 22 ft.lb to 26 ft.lb Bearing nut 30 to 35 Nm 22 ft.lb to 26 ft.lb Final drive to swing arm bolts 16 to 19 Nm 12 ft.lb to 14 ft.lb Oil pump bolt 6.7 to 11 Nm 5 ft.lb to 8 ft.lb Engine sump 14 to 19 Nm 10 ft.lb to 14 ft.lb Final drive case nuts 25 to 30 Nm 18 ft.lb to 22 ft.lb Nut fastening the pinion bearing Patrol, Gear Up rear axle only 68 to 90 Nm 50 ft.lb to 66 ft.lb Nut fastening the pinion bearing 22 to 27 Nm 16 ft.lb to 20 ft.lb Reverse gear lever nut 19 to 22 Nm 14 ft.lb to 16 ft.lb Alternator gear nut 136 to 163 Nm 100 ft.lb to 120 ft.lb Steering stem nut Standards It should be noted that the metric thread system used by the current bikes and the post WWII Soviet bikes is NOT quite the same as the current DIN (Deutsche International Norm - German International Standard) system. One big difference is that Urals have a 8mm diameter thread with a 1.0mm pitch that is used widely on the bikes; this is not a metric DIN standard although it is also used by some Japanese motorcycle manufacturers. Typically the M8 threads in aluminium alloy castings are DIN standard M8 with 1.25mm pitch, but many threads on the exposed ends of M8 studs and on paired ‘nuts and bolts’ are M8 ‘fine’ with a pitch of 1.0mm. If you without such documentation then consider those quoted below:The torque figures are valid for lightly lubricated good quality threads, any increase in lubrication will reduce the torque to be applied. Based on PAGE I 32 coefficients of friction µ total of 0.1 The following figures are guidelines only Figures in Nm [Newton metres] Tightening Torques for Metric Coarse Thread Bolts and Screws Property class M4 M5 M6 M8 M10 4.6 1.02 2.00 3.50 8.40 17 5.6 1.37 2.70 4.60 11 22 8.8 3.0 5.9 10 25 49 10.9 4.4 8.7 15 36 72 Tightening Torques for Metric Fine Thread Bolts and Screws Property class M8 x 1.00 M10 x 1.00 4.6 7.3 15 8.8 22 43 10.9 30 60 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 Single carbs Conversion Figures To get N.cm from N.m N.m x 100 To get inch pounds from N.cm N.cm x 0.08851 To get foot pounds from N.cm N.cm x 0.00737 To get foot pounds from N.m N.m x 0.7376 To get kg force.meters from N.m N.m ÷ 9.81 Property Class Designation - Threaded component Material and Treatment - Typical Applications 4.6 Low or medium carbon steel - Cycle parts, general fasteners 5.8 Low or medium carbon steel, cold worked - Cycle parts, general fasteners 8.8 Medium carbon steel, quenched and tempered – most engine bolts 10.9 Medium carbon steel, quenched and tempered – 650cc Cylinder head nuts & probably big end bolts on 650cc Dneprs Nevals worked with SU Butec to put a Metro carb on the Dnepr MT10-36. It was pretty good, it met the USA emissions requirements and was pretty economical. I put one on my M66 outfit, and got 50mpg on most trips including green laning! BAD NEWS though, on frosty days the thing always iced up! The 2CV has a joint inlet/exhaust manifold to keep the carb warm, but for good efficiency you want the air going into the engine to be cold, not warm! These two creations look to be very well done. The one on the K750 seems to use a standard K63 carb (I may well be wrong) and a nice cast manifold - very neat! Definition Torque is the twisting moment. It is calculated by multiplying the force applied by the distance at which it is applied. A mass acted on by gravity generates a force. Thus 1.0 kg under gravity of 9.81 m/sec/sec = 9.81 N (Newtons). Thus a torque in the metric system is force multiplied by distance, thus Newtons multiplied by metres, this is written as Nm or N.m, and not N/m (and not N/m or feet per pound or kg per meter etc)! Sidecar suspension height adjustment The correct ‘lean-out’ of the bike is essential to maintain hands off in a straight line. However as you load up an outfit with gear or crew the amount of lean-out can change significantly, this can be adjusted back by adjusting the preload of the suspension units - how do you get a ‘C’ spanner in between the sidecar body and the unit? can be used to adjust the height of the top of the suspension unit. Note also the disc brake still to be fitted with a caliper. The one on the late 650cc Ural seems to be a car carburettor, I know not which! The tubes seem to be from tube, formed and welded to suit, also very nice. This modification seems to show a hydraulic pump and a cylinder that FRONT REAR DRIVE URAL This device was attached to the front of a rather basic hand made motorcycle. I have been working on a set up with a down draft carb from a 602cc 2CV attached to the aircleaner base on the gearbox and then fed to the carbs through suitable tubes. Will be neat and give lots of room for the feet, but not sure how it will go though! PAGE I 33 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 TIMING BELT Here is another home conceived method to drive the generator, cam shaft, and it looks like a starter motor. KMZ front brakes The KMZ K750 has short leading link forks, I like these – they have short travel but are great on normal roads. The brake plate pivots on the axle and the brake plate then pull through a link attached to the fork leg. The link is on rubber bushes and prevent the swinging arm riding up under braking as on the little Honda C50 machines. You will also see the brake cable going in the top for the cam and the adjustable pivot for the other ends of the shoes. The MT9 brake owes a lot to this, but of course reacted against the telescopic fork leg instead. I did not manage to find such a brake for my 1951 IMZ M72 which has the later KMZ front forks, so with significant help from Frank Cropp a sidecar brake from a Dnepr was mounted in place. A steel plate is attached to brake plate and reacts through the same fixing on the fork leg. (Aside – it was noted by Frank that the fork assembly weighted more then his Minsk125!). This brake works well which is good since the bike is heavy and goes very well – thanks Frank. Three Cartu-Motorrad cartoons PAGE I 34 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 M72 PLATE HEADS INTERESTING OUTFITS There are variants in the cylinder head designs. Certainly the later K750s, the MT12 and the MB750 (Two wheel drive) had a cylinder head with open fins, however the early K750 had a more enclosed finning design. This may have kept mud and dirt out of the fins, but was in time dispensed with. I wonder if this is Russia’s equivalent of the Carol Nash Breakdown Service below? The other pictures show ununsual cominations from the past. Twin Wheel drive excessive tyre wear on the rear. This is an alternative twin wheel drive. The bike is probably a pre 1970’s BMW R69S. The owner has obviously widened the frame by a few inches, the mudguard is not as stylish as it could be, but I like the twin pipe silencer between the bike and the sidecar. Many years ago there was a Brough with an ‘Austin 7’ engine that also had win rear wheels, must help with an outfit on loose surfaces and reduce PAGE I 35 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 POWERING THE ZIMBABWEAN QUEEN Alan Summerill - a recollection by a ship’s engineer There was I, comfortable in my rural residence in South Gloucestershire, complete with wife, 2.4 (?) children and dog. When I opened my eyes I found myself living alone in a tin shack in a Black township in Zimbabwe. Quite a metamorphosis! One day I was approached and was asked to assist with a fishing co-operative on a local lake. It seemed they needed assistance as they were in dire financial straits (so was I), and all their equipment needed upgrading or replacing. Their boat resembled a cross between ‘the African Queen’ and the Kon-Tiki – though older. Stepping into six inches of water and lifting the ‘engine cover’ revealed a heap of stones. Even with 15 years service in the Navy I could see problems ahead. “The stones are for ballast”, I was informed. “The engine doesn’t work so we removed it”. Also, when not if the boat starts sinking we can easily throw the stones overboard! Just out of curiosity I enquired where the engine had gone and was shown a pile of firewood – no it hadn’t been sacrificed, simply buried and forgotten. Forty five minutes later all was revealed - an ancient Dnieper engine in ‘kit’ form, just needing a clean and reassembly – I was sold! Well from a distance it did appear complete and after several hours with a yard broom didn’t look too bad, (although it still smelt of fish) so it was all thrown into the back of the truck and taken home for a closer inspection and hopeful rebuild. Both pistons cracked (nothing new there then), no circlips for the gudgeon pins, just about every thread crossed or stripped, only one carb’ off a Morris Minor I think and an ancient dynamo probably from the same source mounted backwards on top of the gearbox and which I later found to be belt driven by the propeller shaft; oh and the proverbial box of ‘spares’ resembling that which an autojumbler might have thrown away. Fortunately I do have a large supply of ‘Passap’ knitting machine spares – many of which came in very useful, and eventually it all nearly fitted together. My limited supply of tools including chainsaw and flame thrower meant that I left the gearbox well alone. The finished effect was quite nice; the exhaust pipes joining into a very smart 2 into 1 system rising vertically over the engine and supporting an ancient leaking ‘Jerry Can’ for fuel. Turning the engine over revealed beautiful fat blue sparks, at the points, and not a lot at the plugs, but who dares wins so it was decided to replace the beast back into the boat and see what happens. It took four men and a lot of effort but everything seemed to line up – if a little off centre. Even the rudder appeared from the chicken run where it had been used as a door. The said four men all leapt into the vessel and looked at me as I attempted to kick start the beast. Two hours later and with an almost flat battery, the fuel vapour which had been collecting in the vertical exhaust stack ignited with an almighty roar and a sheet of flame came precariously close to the leaking fuel tank, then the engine came to life and eventually settled to a rattling uneven tickover – reputation saved! So engage gear with a load crunch and release the ‘suicide’ clutch (another er……. modification) and away we don’t go…. A few more revs and still nothing – ah. Thinks perhaps the propeller is spinning in reverse so now actually selecting reverse with an even louder crunch, try again. Most strange, the prop shaft is turning spraying me with water from the badly leaking stern gland, so why doesn’t the boat move …. Yep… no propeller! PAGE I 36 The story continues…. As well as several edible types of fish, the lake is also home to a small herd of hippos and a rather large species of freshwater crocodile – none of which I wished to become familiar with. So the boat had to come out of the water to measure and make, with the help of a local wood carver, a propeller. I also tried repacking the stern gland with banana skins. Three weeks later we were ready to try again; whilst waiting I had managed to fine tune the old Dnieper to the point where it would easily start on the 72nd kick and almost run as smooth as a stone crusher. One problem that had occurred to me was how to keep the engine cooled, but it soon became obvious that with 6 inches of water in the bottom of the boat the sump was submerged and thus the oil was cooled. Another few inches and both barrels were also kept cool. I later discovered that the fishermen assisted engine cooling by roasting their catch on the cylinder barrels. Problems so far are fortunately few, the sides of the boat are very close to the cylinder heads so any work will involve engine removal again. Fuel consumption is minimal due to low revs, normally just over stalling speed is sufficient, too much throttle just causes the whole boat to vibrate in a most alarming way. The dynamo doesn’t work and it is important to always take the oars with us……as we have found to our cost. Draining the oil is now impossible but with to total loss system fitted, not a problem. So there we are, probably the only motor fishing boat in the world powered by Dnieper. Now if I could only find the rest of the bike, and if it was an outfit. Perhaps I could use it for ploughing…we still use oxen here! Watch this space! HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 LIVING WITH K301S AND OTHER THINGS Phil Hardcastle It has to be said that back in the 1970s and 80s when you bought a Ural or Dnieper, usually in bits, the first things consigned to the unusable heap were the K301s. This was because by the time they ended up in your possession they were usually the cause of the bike being sold in the first place. For some reason best known to myself years ago, I had kept a pair of K301s. Digging them out of hibernation I found that I was in possession of 1.3/4 K301s. The slide in these carbs is in two pieces, back and front, allowing very easy needle positioning. The front of one was missing so undeterred, I made one. Next was the re-tapping of all the threads because most of the bolts were either the wrong length, wrong thread and as mentioned above there was the ubiquitous self-tapper. Next, attention to the flanges. When the two carb flanges were placed face to face you could pass a fifty pence piece through the middle! The reason these flanges became so bent is, I think, because of the original heat insulating washers being made of compressible material (a bit like Balsa wood!). As the carb bolts were tighten the washers were compressed at the edges but not in the middle, hence bent flanges. So, the flanges were made flat again and Tufnol insulating washers made. The carbs were duly fitted and cables connected and set to equal lengths such that the two slides started off in the same place, the bottom. Starting the bike was no problem but trying to see through the black smoke with smarting eyes was! Try again with both needles in their bottom position, no difference. One cylinder then stopped firing because the plug was sooted up and just as I was thinking what would happen if enough soot fell off to allow just one spark to ignite the mixture in the cylinder to allow very hot gases into the exhaust pipe full of unburnt gases.......it did. My, what a bang. The garage windows survived nevertheless! Using the dimensions in the Autumn 2005 magazine, page 37 I made two new pilot jets. The jet size of 2.6mm is critical and should only be done with a brand new drill. Unless the point is absolutely dead centre it will drill a bigger hole than 2.6mm. You can guess by now that black smoke ensued again. Two more jets made this time using a brand new 2.5mm drill. The bike, now, would only start and run with the air filter restricter half shut. I actually set the carbs up like this and bike runs very well with performance being good throughout the speed range. It has been in these pages before but it is essential that you inform your insurer of any alteration to your bike. Having owned my present bike for 19 years, it has been in the same state for most of that time until last year when I decided it was time to put it back on the road after 5 years off. I bought the original bike from Peter Ballard in 1987 but as you have read before, it has changed a bit. I put on the road originally with a left hand sidecar and until I took it off the road 5 years ago it still had a lefthand sidecar. Cutting a long story short I bought, again via Peter, a complete right hand chair. Strangely, even the colour was right! As the bike was made in 1972 I was able to fit this chair to the bike, legally. Being a little unsure as to the set up of a left hand drive outfit I looked in the old club magazines for clues but there are precious few, tons for right hand drive but virtually nothing for left hand drive. I set it up with 10mm toe in on the sidecar with the bike leaning away ‘a bit’ as a starting point. It seemed fine when I went for the MOT, I went a long way round to take in all sorts of roads. In fact it felt good. Later, much later actually, after winter but that’s another story, I was going out of the village when more or less without warning the outfit went left off the road onto the grass verge towards a ditch. Happily, at that very point the grass verge ended and the pavement started so I steered back onto the road. It felt for all the world like a rear tyre puncture, but it wasn’t. I carried on, feeling a little nervous of course. All was well for a while but coming into the village from another direction one day it happened again. Luck was again with me as the dry stone wall I was heading for ended so back onto the road I steered and without stopping carried on home. On reflection, both instances occurred because the sidecar wheel hit a bump in the road. However, I journeyed to a local vehicle show one Saturday and used all the back roads, which should have been enjoyable but was certainly not. It felt like being on roller skates on a 30-degree slope in a strong wind, on ice. 30mph was the maximum believe me! Drastic action called for. Past experience with left hand sidecars showed that solo they were great, but put a passenger in and the whole plot leans the wrong way and starts: }Breaking rear wheel spokes. }Pulling to the right all the time; to the extent of the right hand twist grip rubber coming off! Answer: Spring the body, not the chassis. This I now did on my right hand chassis, replacing the suspension unit with an adjustable link. I have set it so that I can just remove the wheel without it fouling the mudguard. Next, set the bike so that with me sitting on it, the bike is vertical. The outfit is now absolutely marvellous, an unbelievable transformation. With a passenger (Not easy to find with a right hand chair) the handling is the same as riding solo. Looking again through old C.O.C. magazines (From the 1970s) I came across a letter from a club member saying that the handling of his outfit with right hand chair was transformed when he reset the whole plot with the bike vertical with him sitting on it. The answer is out there somewhere whatever the problem! PAGE I 37 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 COSSACK BIKING NEWS RACING & EASTERN BLOCK BIKES P J Ballard Supercharged M35 I have little information on this, but this is what I gather. The supercharger is driven through a clutch from the front end of the crankshaft. Thus the supercharger can be brought in by the rider when a extra power is needed to get past a competitor. The supercharger sucked in air through the carburettor, then compressed it before forcing it into the inlet ports. This seems to be an interlocking vane type compressor that needs to run a high speed to be effective – but it must have been wonderful to ride. This is similar to the vintage Mercedes Benz Kompressor cars, when the supercharger was engaged, the boost was very significant and the scream of the compressor vanes would make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. The extra boost was so great that the supercharger could not be used for more than a few seconds, the same no doubt for the M35. Racing Minsk Back in 2004, there was a chap up in the NE who had bought a racing Minsk from somebody who had got it from Neval Motorcycles, plus one in spares. Both were 1979, well in the period when Nevals were importing Minsks whilst SATRA were importing Urals, Dneprs, Jupiters, Planeta Sports, Voskhods and other such delights. The frame numbers of these two Minsks were consecutive at 105 and 106. The low numbers seem to imply that these were part of a low volume production run of race bikes rather than modified road bikes. When you look closely there is ‘216’ stamped over the original model designation. The owner was convinced that the PAGE I 38 There is a strong history within the IMZ (Irbit Motor Zavod) Ural motor Works of road racing, both solos and with sidecars. You can see photos of these bikes on the following page. There are enthusiasts, often from Germany, who bring road going Urals up to vintage racing standards to scare the BMWs. Here are a couple of pictures of a 1960’s 650cc Ural M63 and a 1956 750cc M72 built into quite respectable vintage racing outfits. The M63 is quite significantly a ‘special’, but looks very nicely put together, the wheel hubs are Ukrainian Dnepr but I wonder how much else of the frame and running gear is Russian. You can see though the M72 is running a set of leading link forks. bike had been put together in the UK by Nevals rather than by the Minsk factory, and hence he was selling them as Nevals. I thought about buying them, but decided in the end not to, my 6’ 1” frame might be a bit long. I contacted the Minsk factory, but they would not help identify the bike. I am sure that it was not assembled by Nevals, but is a genuine racing Minsk. The front brake and forks look standard, but a lot else looks special. The owner has decided to change all the original Soviet nuts and bolts with stainless items, what a way to treat a Vintage bike! I bet he threw away all the rubbish old nuts and bolts! Back in 1958, the Minsk factory were making their bikes quick with streamlining! [1958-racing Minsk] HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 SOVIET FLAT TWIN ROAD RACING P J Ballard M35 - 350cc IMZ M35-S ~ ~ M35K | M35 M52 and M53 – 500cc URAL M52-C ~ URAL M52-S ~ IMZ M-53-S ~ M75 – 750cc URAL M75 RIGHT ~ URAL M75 ENGINE } M75 CORNERING }} M76A – 820cc M76A ~ URAL M63 650cc - 1960s ~ URAL M72 750cc - 1956 } PAGE I 39 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 ICE RACING P J Ballard Whether this is done with standard tyres or tyres fitted with long spikes it all seems rather weird to me, and perhaps some may say a little dangerous particularly from competitors coming up your inside, so to speak! In Moto, the Russian bike magazine, is a picture of a hero of motorsport, he used to ride M72 solos in road races which is tough enough, but also rode what looks to be a ISH 350 on ice or snow. } Serious ice racers nowadays use what are I suppose speedway or grasstrack bikes, but here is a picture of a Ural M35 being used in anger, good technique with the leg trailing and throttle wound on. The M35 was around in the 1950s and here is a photo of a racing M35 and a line drawing from the manual. Specification 350cc, 20bhp at 6000rpm Back in the 1980s was the Planeta based purpose designed ice race bike PAGE I 40 from Ishevsk, using the 340cc two stroke engine. HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 OFF ROAD MOTORCYCLE SPORT P J Ballard There is a long history of motorcycle sport in the USSR and latterly in Russia. This article shows some of the machines used, from schoolboy events up to heavy sidecar events for real men. The ISH 350c was the factory produced off orad machine used in both ISDT/ Enduro and moto cross. THE LITTLE’UNS Both the Minsk factory in Belarus and the Kovrov factory in Russia have produced off road motorcycles. Minsk also made many road racing bikes, but those are covered elsewhere. Neville Mason of Neval Motorcycles (of Hull) and later of Regent (south of the Humber) worked with the Soviet manufacturers. After his success in grasstrack with the KMZ Dnepr Wasp outfit, he worked with the Minsk factory to produce a twin shock trials version of the Minsk. THE MIDDLE’UNS There is no difference between ISH and IZH it depends on the translation from cyrillic. Most of these machines are 350cc ISH bikes, currently well known for their Planeta and Jupiter models. ISH has a strong background in motorcycle sport, far more than the Ural or Dnepr models. This is either a well restored Planeta or a recreated one, in either case it is quite an attractive machine. He had already played around with a trials version of the 340cc Planeta Sport, but that was really as a one off. In the 1980s ISH produced the K16 as the motocross version of the Planeta Sport. These machines were aimed at the UK trials class that required twin rear suspension units and not the more effective modern mono-shock. Thus there was a market in the UK for a cheap trials bike for the novices to train on. In the next column is what I believe a factory trials version. ISH also produced some bigger little’uns’ around 125cc, but I know little. 4 speed was based on the DKW NZ350) was well suited to off road competition, here is an advert that encourages prospective owners to buy one based on off road sport success. THE BIG’UNS Both the Russian IMZ with the Urals and the Ukrainian KMZ with the Dneprs PAGE I 41 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 developed off road sidecar and solo machines for enduro, moto-cross and in the UK grass track. Originally the Ural machines were based on the 750cc SV M72, these were heavy beats, but were tough. Typically the stripped down M72K was used with the high front mudguard and the external lever type friction dampers to try to control the rear plunger suspension. Later as the 650cc OHV Urals were developed these were used instead. These were lighter and produced more power. But there was an off road solo Ural built, very much along the lines of the BMWs. This looks to be a M61, since it has the plunger rear suspension. This Ural produced 28bhp as a factory produced competition machine. and leading arm fron suspension that was a lot better. The COC AGM entourage was invited to the Popham Sidecar rally that had been organised by the Brothers Grim (Bill & Chris Northcote). The weather was a bit misty in the morning but cleared up and got nice and warm. The KMZ factory produced some nice motocross outfits, one was ridden in grasstrack events with a right hand Wasp sidecar (Now converted to left side bay Wasp and under the control of Chris Northcote). Avoid the A303 to get there. There are several routes that take you through the unspoilt country lanes of Wiltshire and Hampshire - a much more pleasant ride with numerous pubs and watering holes. Since the demise of the original Little Chef chain, all the Little Chefs on the Eastbound 303 have now closed apart from the one at Countess Services. The site is huge and a bit confusing - it can be a little alarming getting in, as you appear to ride over the main runway for the numerous small aircraft using the airfield. The facilities are excellent with a cafe and refreshments and decent loos. There were lots of interesting outfits there too, some no doubt very quick and others extremely luxurious. The COC contingent was small but enthusiastic. Chris Smiths’ family members and friends demonstrated the ability to do left hand turns on an outfit but struggled with right handers, all good fun until the fuel ran out. Even the late 1980s, the IMZ 8 series was put into service as the basis for a motocross outfit, front drum brake and all! In the final years the KMZ factory produced a prototype ‘Enduro’ machine, perhaps more suited to the long distance desert racers, but it must have been a beast PAGE I 42 Dave Cox The COC AGM at Popham Airfield held in September 2006. These were 750cc engines with similarities to the ‘Escort’ police bikes. The IMZ also started to produce a 750cc Ural for competition, this was very much based on the 650cc engine and not that related to the current 750cc engines. These originally had drum front brakes, but later the disc POPHAM 2006 Although the minutes will be published soon hopefully, there was nothing terribly exciting decided. The biggest changes are perhaps: } Next year’s rally dates are now fixed and published. Instead of a ‘Rally Coordinator’ we intend to publish the dates frequently, on our website and on a Cossack Website being pulled together by Kevin. } The COC website is being reviewed with new graphics by Dave Cox and the ability to add news as required. HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 URALS AROUND THE WORLD P J Ballard AFGANISTAN When the Soviet Army attempted to control Afghanistan by supporting the communist president against the Mujahadeen they took many Soviet vehicles with them including Ural and Dnepr outfits. The Russians pulled out of Afghanistan allowing Osama Bin Laden, (backed by the USA) to gain power with the Taliban. The photo of the Dnepr outfit running through the streets was in many Newspapers and the COC used it on its front cover. I have since found the original in a German paper. IRAQ Urals abound in Iraq and are used for every use imaginable, military, police, taxis etc. RUSSIA & IRAN A taxi rank with a difference, somewhere in the formerUSSR. Why bother with a car, when you can get the entire family on a bike? This second photo was taken in Iran. PAGE I 43 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 KNOW YOUR BIKES P J Ballard The origins of the ISH 350cc twin The Ish 350cc single with twin exhaust port has very close associations with the DKW NZ350, indeed the Ish was developed from the DKW. There are no direct ancestors of the 350cc twin, but many that lent ideas. The nearest probably is the 1956 DKW RT350, which was a very nice machine in a pressed steel Germanic sort of way. The Russians seemed to have a way of destroying the practical elegance of German design and styling to produce a similarly robust machine, but one that does not quite hang together as a whole. Maybe the Soviet idea of aesthetics was different from Europe or maybe they just wanted to produce a different style – who knows. m series urals Photograhs - from left to right TOP ROW M52 M53 MIDDLE ROW M62 M63 BOTTOM ROW M65 M66 M67 PAGE I 44 649 3.5 1450 Fuel consumption per 100km at specified km/hr with sidecar Wheel base [mm] SLS 1440 N/A 95 N/A 320 noteS - M53, motor taken without licence from BMW R51/2 (1950), R51/3 (1951-54) or R50 (1955-69). 125 N/A 185 N/A Top Speed km/hr solo With sidecar Load max [kg] solo With sidecar Dry Weight [kg] solo With sidecar SLS SLS SLS Front Brake SLS PP-302 Oil bath Regulator Oil bath 65watt 6V Oil bath Generator Oil bath Oil bath Swing arm Air filter Plunger Swinging arm Rear suspension Plunger Telescopic Telescopic New design Telescopic Front fork Telescopic 3000-3500 4800-5200 RPM for max torque 4800-5200 4.5kg.m 4800-5200 Torque [Nm] 5600 4900 28 649 IMZ RPM for max power 28 649 IMZ 1965 - 1968 28 28 496 IMZ 1960s M63 25 496 Capacity IMZ 1950s M62 Power BHP IMZ Factory 1958-> M61 6.5:1 1958 Year M53 Compression Ratio M52 Model Model developMentS of civilian 500cc & 650cc Ural MotorcycleS Up to iMZ 8-XXX SerieS 1440 5.8 125 105 N/A 320 SLS PP-302 65 watt 6V Oil bath Swing arm Telescopic 4200 4.5kg.m 5300 32 (35DIN) 7:1 649 IMZ 1968-1970 M66 1440 N/A 105 N/A 330 TLS PP-330 150watt 12V Oil bath Swing arm Telescopic 4200 4.5kg.m 5400-5800 36 7:1 649 IMZ 1973-1976 M67 1440 130 105 TLS PP-330 150watt 12V New oil bath Swing arm Telescopic 36 7:1 649 IMZ 1976-1995? M67 - 36 8:1 & others 649 to 750 1995-now iMZ 8 SerieS Ural 500cc and 650cc Model Specification SheetS The following specification tables should be treated as ‘live’ documents, they will be completed as data is made available; although efforts have been made to ensure accuracy in the data it is difficult to guarantee it. They are intended to concentrate on model & number, place of manufacture, years of manufacture & brief details. HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 PAGE I 45 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 SOVIET M31 & EAST GERMAN AWO / EMW P J Ballard The Soviet M31 to me is one of those really odd and rare bikes that needs further research. I am not even sure it is a Ural!? After too much wine and with a bad back it is quite possible that a single cylinder Ural could be dreamt of; simply chop off one cylinder, put the other one on the top, keep the transmission and cycle parts and there you have a 325cc 15bhp bike weighting 400lbs, that should go well then, look at how many survived! But where did it come from? A little light history After the WWII had eventually burnt itself out, in 1945 EMW (Eisenach Motor Works) was set up in the new GDR (German Democratic Republic – East Germany to most of us) in the Dixi-BMW factory to mainly build copies of the prewar 1934 BMW singles. Remember the BMW Dixi was a licensed copy of the ‘Austin Seven’. Then in 1949, also in the GDR, a company called AWO was set up in the former Simson-Supra car factory in Suhl Thuringia. They mainly produced OHV singles similar to the BMW singles. They did produce some quite quick DOHC singles for racing. AWO produced a 425cc single that has some interesting similarities to the M31. Note the last BMWs, like those that went to Russia, used a stamped BMW logo on the tank to save money, and the EMW used a similar method. Also of interest, AWO also produced a 750cc OHV flat twin developed from the BMW R75 ‘War Horse’. This is where I get confused, this AWO, had EMW on its tank, so I presume these companies were very close in reality. The AWO/ EMW 750cc (700cc ?) engine had an interesting twist. The cylinders were not quite opposing, there was a 6Oangle off the horizontal, have a look at the photo! What a wonderful complication, I suppose it gave a bit more ground clearance, but what the heck! I don’t think it ever went into production, which is a shame BMW R75 examples and spares were given to the Soviets in 1946, after the Soviets restarted production in 1945 to get the technology. This must have been passed to the GDR. What happened then? Well the Russians continued to build the ancient M72 that was the last sidevalve that the BMW engineers ever wanted to set their eyes on in 1938! The Russians ignored the R75 technology for road and military bikes, instead used some of it in their race bikes. Refer also to: de/bmwenglisch/bmwe2.htmto Development of BMW R75 Back to the BMW R75 main page http://www.wehrmachtsgespann PAGE I 46 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 1937 to 1940 • Construction of the heavy weight bike 1941 • Delivery of the first BMW R75 750 001 • Final development to production stage • Edition of the first manual R75, D605/5 • Leading brake cable of the front brake is omitted 750 100 • Tuning of the front brake is changed 750 101 • Opening to fill in the oil is transferred from the housing to the intermediate housing 751 592 • Camshaft is changed 750 601 • Shift fork of the lock is reinforced 751 301 • Brake pedal is reinforced 751 301 • Shifting segment spring is reinforced 752 350 • Gear shift sleeve is reinforced • The toe in is changed (0 up to 10 mm) • Edition of the first spare parts list (without D No.) 12 1943 • Clutch springs reinforced • Engine fan filter changed • Delivery of the BMW R75 765 281 • Second edition of the repair manual • Edition of a comparative list of the same parts for KS 750 and R 75 • Short edition of - Repair of Transmission 1946 • First reparation delivery of 8 BMW R75 to Russia 770 000 • Last BMW R75 is produced out of the remaining parts and delivered to Russia • In total another 98 R75’s were produced 770 097 • Production of 10 Sets spare parts for overhauling of each of 150 BMW R75 07/41 02/41 08/41 08/41 12/41 01/43 02/43 10/43 11/43 11/43 12/43 01/46 06/46 09/46 09/46 1942 • Step-up of the of the differential crown wheel is changed from 12:31 to 12:33 754 056 • The hardening of the push rods is improved 754 263 • Sealing of the rocker arm brackets is changed 754 263 • Edition of the second manual and spare parts list • Delivery of the bike with the no. 754 526 31.03.42 • Manual shift segment with fixed distance bush 754 541 • The bearing cap for camshaft is changed 755 000 • The magneto cogged wheel is reduced from 15 to 14 mm 755 000 • Foot change control reinforced 755 040 • Bearing cap of the rear camshaft improved now with 8 mm bolts • Edition of the first repair manual for R 75 • Lubricating instructions changed • Carburetor adjustment changed • Steering adjusted • Gear shift spindle now with continuous groove • Bigger metal heat guards for carburetor • Rocker arm changed from needle bearing to metal groove • Until now only Veigel- from now on also VDO speedometer (tropical version) • Saddle spring wire thickness changed to a softer version • The last R75 is produced in Munich chassis-no. 756 000 • Cylinder guard is fitted in front of the left cylinder 756 001 • The second repair manual is published • The front and rear bolts are elongated • The first 200 R75’s are delivered from Eisenach 756 001 756 • Brake light and sidecar rear light are omitted 756 522 • Transmission air filter is replaced by fuel air filter 757 201 • Transmission ventilation is adjusted 757 201 1944 • Delivery of the BMW R75 767 635 • Air raid on the factory. Time: 12.00 o’clock 10 hits of which 2 direct hits • Air raid on the factory. Time: 12.00 o’clock 65 hit of which 11 direct hits • Air raid on the factory. Time: 13.00 o’clock 5 hit of which 0 direct hits • News form of the factory in Eisenach that production has ceased 18.10.44 02/42 03/42 04/42 05/42 05/42 05/42 05/42 05/42 05/42 05/42 05/42 05/42 06/42 06/42 06/42 06/42 07/42 03/44 07/44 09/44 09/44 10/44 • Ignition plugs heat value is changed from 225 to 175 • The detent nozzle spring of the of the starter is reinforced • Pressure-proof oil sealing rings are fitted in the telefork • Front fork ventilation changed 757 250 • Wrecking hook omitted 758 001 • Heating unit omitted 758 001 • Inscription on the mudguard with axle pressure and dimensions 758 001 • Front kick stand changed 758 356 • Front mudguard changed 758 600 • Leather saddle bags are replaced by metal ones • Oil change interval is lengthened • Second edition of the manual • Edition of loose leaves technical data BMW • Outlet and inlet valves now in different materials • Second edition of the spare parts list (Edition B) • The last BMW R75 produced in 1942 759 007 • Leaf spring holder now welded at the sidecar 759 050 • Retainer screw for battery changed 759 580 • Left pillion foot rest put higher 760 704 • Front number plate is omitted 760 800 • Right pillion foot rest put lower 761 001 • Back mudguard made narrower 761 250 • Brake anchor plate of the sidecar drive now in cast steel 761 504 • Valve cover of steel sheet 761 851 • Telefork now with rubber bellows 762 260 • Control arm housing of cast steel 762 337 • Connection cover rear axle drive now in cast steel 762 337 1945 • Air raid on the factory. Time: 12.30 o’clock - 8 hits of which no direct hits • American troops occupy the factory. 60% of it is destroyed. • Russian troops occupy the factory (Russian Zone) • The BMW factory in Eisenach is confiscated from the County of Thüringen • Command No. 93 from Marshal Schukow orders the start up of production 09/42 09/42 09/42 09/42 09/42 11/42 11/42 12/42 02/45 04/45 07/45 09/45 10/45 This information has been taken from the following book. The Wehrmachtsgespann BMW R75 - Documents, drawings and photos. PAGE I 47 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 Ural M73 Back in the 1980s we were making do with 650cc Ural M67 models, which were only skightly above the M66 a decade before, then IMZ designed a 750cc prototype. It owed a lot to the current then Urals, but it was a very different machine. It would I am sure have sold well, but I suspect that there was little money to develop it any further and of course the 650cc machines were still selling. Riga 50cc racing There was a factory in Riga, the capital of Latvia, that made a range of 50cc road going mopeds. Note the open toed sandals and flat back tyre! The factory also made competition bikes for schoolboy motocross and national road racing! Here are a couple of photos of the standard models. In the front is the MX bike, at the rear a standard road bike and on the right a 45cc motor assisted bicycle, mmmmmm nice! Here are views of schoolboy motocross, they seem to be going for it! This is the start of a 50cc road race with a view of one of the bikes. PAGE I 48 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 COSSACKS OWNERS CLUB REGALIA David Cox Greetings all Winter is here. Winter comes all too quickly every year, gone are the warm days of the summer sun and the cool wet due on the grass in the early morning as you climb out of your tent. This is now replaced with howling winds and thick mud if you’re mad enough to go camping this time of year. Me, I’m warm indoors, and here’s the punch-line (with my nice warm Cossack Owners Sweat Shirt on keeping out the winter cold). You too could have a nice warm COC sweat shirt. OLD STYLE T-SHIRT The old styles of tee shirts are gradually being reduced, but are still available. £5.00 each Colours – Black – Blue – Burgundy Red Sizes – Small - Medium – Large – Extra Large – Really Large NEW STYLE T-SHIRT I have gradually built a small stock of the popular sizes of T-shirt and in all colours. £8.75 each Colours – Black – Blue – Burgundy Red Sizes – Medium – Large – Extra Large – Really Large POLO SHIRT As with the T-shirts I have built a small stock of the normal sizes. £12.20 each Logo - Normal COC or Star Colours – Black – Blue – Burgundy Red Sizes – Medium – Large – Extra Large – Really Large SWEAT SHIRT & HOODED SWEAT SHIRT We can offer both normal and hooded sweat shirts in the colours and sizes shown below. These are exceptionally warm in winter. £16.00 each Logo - Normal COC or Star Colours – Black – Blue – Burgundy Red Sizes – Medium – Large – Extra Large – Really Large HALF ZIP FLEECES & FULL ZIP FLEECES Both types of fleece are very warm and comfortable for a single layer jacket. They are mostly on an order basis as I normally do not stock too many of these. £20.00 Colours – Black – Blue – Burgundy Red Sizes – Medium – Large – Extra Large – Really Large PAGE I 49 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 HATS The Woolly Hat is the knitted type again and you can have either logo on it. They will come with the standard club logo, so if you want the Star logo, please ask. One size fits all. £5.50 each Logo - Normal COC or Star Colours - Black - Blue BASEBALL CAPS These are the normal baseball caps and you can have either logo on it. They will come with the standard club logo, so if you want the Star logo, please ask. £6.10 each Logo - Normal COC or Star Colours - Black - Black with Red Peak CLOTH BADGES A popular cloth badge is the COC Star Logo Cloth Badge. £3.00 each ROUND CLOTH BADGES As always there is a supply of round COC Cloth Badges in stock . £3.00 each Ural ROUND Tank LOGO £1.00 each Dnepr ROUND Tank LOGO £1.00 each Dnepr Gold Tank sticker 0.70p each ural Gold Tank sticker 0.70p each MANUALS PAGE I 50 There are a still a selection of manuals available but the stock has reduced considerably. Most of the 4-stroke manuals have gone but there are a few for MT10.36 & Ural M67. There are of course 2-stroke manuals available. HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 COC KEY RING The Key Rings have proved popular and seems to be a ‘must have’; these are basically leather with a metal disc which will have COC logo enamelled on. £4.50 each Golf sized umbrella Black with the COC logo on 2 panels and Navy and White with the COC logo on 2 panels, but if other colours are required a separate order will be needed. Ideal for rallies ‘just in case’ it rains! £18.50 each plus postage of £2.20 You can order regalia by phone, email or snail mail, but please, please do call me before 9pm. Contact me first if you are unsure of any item or price or want to check an item is in stock. NOTE: When sending an order, please ensure you give me a current contact telephone number. Mr Dave Cox Regalia Secretary SnailMail: Tanglewood, Romsey Road, Whiteparish, Wiltshire SP5 2SD Tel: 01794 884 492 eMail: [email protected] ROAD TO HELL! From englishrussia. com - take a look it’s brilliant! This is the Russian Federal highway Moscow City - Yakutsk City, named ‘Lena’. Nowadays. the road doesn’t have asfalt surface, though it is a vital federal highway. Everytime it rains the road gets paralised; these shots are made a few days before the traffic jam for 600 cars got stuck there. Hunger and lack of the fuel followed, according to the witnesses. One woman gave born to a child right in the public bus she was riding. Construction team are afraid to appear on site because during their previous visit they were beaten by people who were stuck in the jam for a few days. People breaking the locks on the trucks, in a search of food and warm clothes. Fuel, food, firearms and steel tow-line are the things that are needed. I’ll never complain about the M6 again! PAGE I 51 HORIZONTAL VIEW I Magazine of the Cossack Owners Club I Autumn 2006 PAGE I 52