a chinese ural

[ferguzzi]

I know some of you have a strange attraction to agricultural eastern bloc monsters ,so I thought I'd mention this.

I was in shang hai last week, and walking out of one of the markets I saw parked on the side of the road what I took to be an old BMW/DKW? boxer with a side car. I went over to have a look and got talking to the owner. It looked pretty ropey, plenty of rust at most of the weld joints and looked like it could do with some tlc and a polish. If the guy had said it had been a blitzkrieg refugee from the Ukraine, I wouldn't have been surprised. Turns out it was chinese made(I didn't get the name), and was only 2 years old! The owner was french, and not very complimentary about it, but he missed his bikes at home, and this was a neat compromise. He said it had been stupidly cheap to buy. And it takes serious balls to ride a bike in this part of the world. It easily trumps India, or anywhere else I've been.

Anyway, he mounted up, and with a resigned gallic shrug, put-putted his way off in a plume of blue smoke. Another happy biker.

[macguzzi]

Used to be called the Dong Hi

[Guest ratchethack]

More’n likely a Changjiang, if it was made in China.

 

FWIW, here's a link to an English translation on the history and relationship between Ural, Dnepr, and Changjiang, all of which have common roots -- meaning, a Russian interpretation of the original design of the German Wanderer, a 2 hp, 50 km/h, two-speed gearbox, bicycle pedals, no rear suspension design, taken from Germany as reparations after WW II, and a Chinese interpretation of what had eventually superceded this, the Ural "Model 72", the 750 boxer side-valver knock-off of which is still manufactured today in China by Changjiang. Post-WW II was evidently about as "advanced" as the core engineering ever got:

 

http://www.autosoviet.altervista.org/ENGLI...Moto(Dnepr).htm

 

The Dnepr kinda strikes me as the Yugo -- or better yet, the Trabant -- of motorcycling: On the cutting edge of Third World post-revolutionary Russian agricultural manufacturing technology. The Changjiang kinda strikes me as a poor knock-off of Third World post-revolutionary Russian agricultural manufacturing technology. Check the note on cotton insulation on plug wires, and hand-beaten "coachwork" panels on the sidehacks -- as evidently still produced today, according to the source.

[callison]

More’n likely a Changjiang, if it was made in China.

 

FWIW, here's a link to an English translation on the history and relationship between Ural, Dnepr, and Changjiang, all of which have common roots -- meaning, a Russian interpretation of the original design of the German Wanderer, a 2 hp, 50 km/h, two-speed gearbox, bicycle pedals, no rear suspension design, taken from Germany as reparations after WW II, and a Chinese interpretation of what had eventually superceded this, the Ural "Model 72", the 750 boxer side-valver knock-off of which is still manufactured today in China by Changjiang. Post-WW II was evidently about as "advanced" as the core engineering ever got:

 

http://www.autosoviet.altervista.org/ENGLI...Moto(Dnepr).htm

 

The Dnepr kinda strikes me as the Yugo -- or better yet, the Trabant -- of motorcycling: On the cutting edge of Third World post-revolutionary Russian agricultural manufacturing technology. The Changjiang kinda strikes me as a poor knock-off of Third World post-revolutionary Russian agricultural manufacturing technology. Check the note on cotton insulation on plug wires, and hand-beaten "coachwork" panels on the sidehacks -- as evidently still produced today, according to the source.

 

Eh? The Ural/Dnepr and all of the Chinese off-shoots have their roots in the R-71 the German army turned down in favor of the R-72. The Russians supposedly bought or stole 5 units and reverse engineered them somewhere around 1942. Frankly, I don't care what the actual truth is, they're fun but not a quality item. I just got back from dropping mine off at the dealer 310 miles away because the engine blew up with a whopping 2350 Km's on it.

[Guest ratchethack]

Sorry about your Ural experience, Carl. I imagine you won't be repeating anything like that any time soon?

 

The source at the link above was a translation that was very brief, and a little tough for me to completely comprehend.

 

Here's a link to a page offering the history of The Changjiang Collective that's evidently a native English write-up.

 

http://www.changjiangcollective.com/index.php?p=History

 

The opening photo at the link above is wot looks like a military parade/review of some kind. It appears to be a demonstration that not only can the Changjiang sidehacks lift the chair wheel and ride on 2 wheels, but a very proud demonstration that each is equipped with a spare wheel and tire.

 

Lest I be found guilty of Forum Probation violations , I offer no commentary wotsoever with respect to reasonable expectations of translation of words like "quality" and "reliability" once the entire process of mass producing a motorcycle has passed through the alimentary canal of a "collective".

 

Let's just say that the more I read about the Changjiang, (in a reversal of my usual healthy interest in the history of just about any moto marque I can think of) the less interested I became in reading further. . .

 

BAA, TJM & YMMV

[DeBenGuzzi]

geeze, I thought those Ural's were supposed to last damn near ever. I guess I was wrong there. They look like a fun bike for say communting or if there are no other motorcycles available

 

I don't care what anyone says I kinda like the looks of the flat twins. One of those bigmoneywasters might be a bike for me someday.

[John in Leeds]

Lest I be found guilty of Forum Probation violations , I offer no commentary wotsoever with respect to reasonable expectations of translation of words like "quality" and "reliability" once the entire process of mass producing a motorcycle has passed through the alimentary canal of a "collective".

 

Let's just say that the more I read about the Changjiang, (in a reversal of my usual healthy interest in the history of just about any moto marque I can think of) the less interested I became in reading further. . . <_>

 

BAA, TJM & YMMV

 

Yeh, right.

 

For others who may appreciate a fun element with these outdated and unreliable tractors that were stolen by the Commies http://www.imz-ural.com/downloads/movies.htm

[macguzzi]

The parts are very cheap thats because they are made from cheese

[GuzziMoto]

Goverment cheese?

[Ballabio Bertie]

Sadly not so cheap anymore.A new Ural is now in the same price range as a Harley Sportster! This is partly due to the adoption of "superior"western components (mine has Paoli forks,Keihin carbs,Denso alternator etc) but there has been a rash of failures of German gear clusters.....

[Steve G.]

Eh? The Ural/Dnepr and all of the Chinese off-shoots have their roots in the R-71 the German army turned down in favor of the R-72. The Russians supposedly bought or stole 5 units and reverse engineered them somewhere around 1942. Frankly, I don't care what the actual truth is, they're fun but not a quality item. I just got back from dropping mine off at the dealer 310 miles away because the engine blew up with a whopping 2350 Km's on it.

 

This is correct.

There is a member of our local vintage bike club, of Chinese decent, who is legally bringing these things in, restored models 15 yrs old and older [ Transport Canada minimum age for non U.S. sourced vehicles] . Even in restored updated condition, these things make Urals seem space age. I personally would never buy a Chinese made bike, whether it's a copy of a WW2 German R71, or a recent copy of a Honda Z50, Yamaha TT250, or Vespa scooter. Nothing about banning Chinese goods [ heck we'd all be walking around naked if we did that], it's just that these products are so incredibly bad as to seem unimaginable. Brutal!!

Steve

[DavidL]

I thought the title of this thread was Chinese Urinal... boy was I disappointed. On second thought I was right.

[badmotogoozer]

This is correct.

There is a member of our local vintage bike club, of Chinese decent, who is legally bringing these things in, restored models 15 yrs old and older [ Transport Canada minimum age for non U.S. sourced vehicles] .

 

Hey Steve - how's he doing that? One of my coworkers bought one a year or two ago (Built in 70's serial number confirms, was restored in China and shipped over). Customs told him it was a new one he was trying to sneak in and banned it from the country. Last I heard he had it stored at a friend's in WA.

 

He fought with them a long time.

 

cheers,

[callison]

Well, it's off to Bonnerdale, Arkansnot to pick up my Ural Saturday. I have a potential buyer for the beast in OKC. While it's fun, it's not fun enough. If I can't sell it though, I have this spare V11 Sport engine...

[Steve G.]

Hey Steve - how's he doing that? One of my coworkers bought one a year or two ago (Built in 70's serial number confirms, was restored in China and shipped over). Customs told him it was a new one he was trying to sneak in and banned it from the country. Last I heard he had it stored at a friend's in WA.

 

He fought with them a long time.

 

cheers,

 

 

I don't know how he's doing it. He had 4 of the silly things at the swap meet 2 wks ago. Maybe being Chinese has something to do with it!

Steve