Category: Ural motorcycles

More café than racer: The Ural with an espresso machine

Post author By Chris Hunter
Post date October 16, 2018

More café than racer: The Ural sidecar with a built-in espresso machine
As we all know, customs and coffee go together like eggs and bacon. In some shops, the espresso machine gets more of a workout than the English wheel.

See See Motorcycles spotted this trend a long time ago, and have been serving fine Stumptown coffee in their Portland, Oregon HQ for years. But shop owner Thor Drake and his band of merry pranksters have now elevated their coffee game to new heights—by installing an espresso machine in a Ural sidecar.

More café than racer: The Ural sidecar with a built-in espresso machine
Thor may be a coffee connoisseur, but he also hates being pigeonholed.

“Someone once said to us: ‘You guys build those cafe racer bikes, right?” he recalls. “We didn’t know how to answer, because we do quite a bit more than just build bikes. And technically, we’ve only ever built one cafe bike—an XR400, well over ten years ago.”

More café than racer: The Ural sidecar with a built-in espresso machine
Ever since, Thor has avoided building a cafe racer, mainly to rebel against the stereotype. “Well, until now. We’ve literally built a real cafe racer!”

The bike is a 2014 Ural cT—so it’s a 750cc sidecar with a reverse gear. “It’s the same bike that saw service in World War II, updated with better brakes and fuel injection,” says Thor. “A great platform for any custom build: it’s simple in design, and easy to change out small parts.”

More café than racer: The Ural sidecar with a built-in espresso machine
See See have installed a La Marzocco Linea 2-group espresso machine, which is probably worth more than the Ural itself. The machine is fed by a 26-gallon water tank, via a purification system, and once in place, was fettled by the techs from Black Rabbit Service Co. to ensure peak performance.

There’s also a hand sink, a pitcher cleaner, a built-in cooler, a coffee grinder, plenty of storage, and a 220v/110v electrical panel.

More café than racer: The Ural sidecar with a built-in espresso machine
The espresso machine weighs more than 50 kg (112 lbs), and 26 gallons of water weighs almost double that. So the sidecar required bracing, and there’s a discreet airbag suspension system to stop the precious cargo from being rattled around too much.

The Ural cT comes with a choice of 14 colors—including two camo patterns for an extra $1,500 outlay—which has to be a record for a production motorcycle. But See See have chosen an elegant custom scheme, reminiscent of a classic Italian bar.

More café than racer: The Ural sidecar with a built-in espresso machine
“We used lots of custom brass bits, and flat black as the base,” says Thor. “Plus a custom removable umbrella!”

“The Ural makes transport a breeze with forward and reverse gears. When riding around town, you can see onlookers all thinking the same thing—coffee on the go!”

More café than racer: The Ural sidecar with a built-in espresso machine
We reckon it’s an excellent idea that should be widely copied. If you’re in the Pacific Northwest, you’ll find the Ural at events ranging from motocross races to fancy polo matches, with fine Stumptown Coffee running through the veins of the La Marzocco.

“Our goal is to hit up as many races as we can, weaning those energy drink consumers onto something a bit more natural!” says Thor.

More café than racer: The Ural sidecar with a built-in espresso machine
We love the fact that this machine is a true United Nations build: the motorcycle is Russian, the espresso machine is Italian, the generator is Chinese, and it was assembled by a Norwegian in the US.

Saluti!

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Cool As: Customizing a 63-year-old Ural in Siberia

Post author By Chris Hunter
Post date August 30, 2017

Made in Siberia: A customized 1954 IMZ Ural M72
You find custom builders in the most unlikely of places. A month ago, we featured a bike from Hong Kong for the first time; today, we’re showing our first custom from Siberia. It’s a little different to our usual fare, but bear with us.

This rather stylish little bobber-flavored Ural chop comes from the home workshop of Roman Molchanov, who lives in Novosibirsk—the third biggest city in Russia. It’s about 900 miles (1,500 km) east of Irbit, where Ural motorcycles have been made since 1941.

Made in Siberia: A customized 1954 IMZ Ural M72
Roman’s Ural is a little younger than that, but not much: it’s an IMZ M72 built in 1954. The M72 was a reverse-engineered version of the late-1930s BMW R71, hence the similar-looking cylinder heads with eight visible boltholes on either side.

The custom motorcycle scene is small in Siberia. That’s not surprising, given the climate—the average daily temperature in midwinter is somewhere around 3 °F (-15 °C). Still, that hasn’t detered Roman from building roughly one bike per year.

Made in Siberia: A customized 1954 IMZ Ural M72
Roman’s English is limited and we don’t speak Russian at all, but we’ve managed to figure out what he’s done. He chose the M72 because it’s rare to see a custom M72 in Russia. “And no electronics, no microchips. Absolute simplicity and reliability.”

It’s no secret that the build quality of early Urals was somewhat suspect, so Roman stripped the M72 down to the frame, removed the brackets he didn’t need, re-welded the ones he did, and tidied up all the seams.

Made in Siberia: A customized 1954 IMZ Ural M72
He’s also completely rebuilt the forks, shortened them five centimeters and fitted modern internals—plus custom triples to accommodate the wider wheel.

The front wheel is a back wheel from a Kawasaki Vulcan 800, and the back wheel is custom-made from odd parts. Since it’s wider than the original wheel, Roman had to ‘spread’ the twin spars of the rear frame, but the look is nicely OEM.

Made in Siberia: A customized 1954 IMZ Ural M72
The original shocks are refurbished: after all, piggyback Öhlins would look a little out of place here. But the tires are spot-on: Shinko’s 270 Super Classic, in 5.00-16 size front and back, and just perfect for the vintage vibe.

Roman describes the tank as a generic catalog item, so we don’t know its exact provenance. But we do know that the headlight was lifted from a Russian tank, the taillight from an old truck, and the rear fender is hand-fabricated.

Made in Siberia: A customized 1954 IMZ Ural M72
The motor has had a total refresh, and Roman’s built a custom stainless steel shorty exhaust system with hidden baffles. (“Without unnecessary kitsch.”) There’s also a Denso alternator for reliability’s sake, but it’s the dimpled finish on the engine cases that had us most intrigued.

After polishing the cases, Roman pounded them with a tiny hammer over two weeks. And he’s calculated that there are around 150,000 little hits in there, to get the textured effect.

Made in Siberia: A customized 1954 IMZ Ural M72
Why? “The texture is unusual … Little things can have a huge force, filled with the energy of manual labor. Then a motorcycle can be perceived on another level, and becomes something more than just a motorcycle. It gets a soul.”

He has a point. And he’s built one of the most unusual machines we’ve seen in the history of EXIF, with lovely attention to detail and a refreshingly original concept. What’s Russian for “Hats off”?

Made in Siberia: A customized 1954 IMZ Ural M72

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Punk Rock Boxer: K-Speed’s slammed custom Ural

Post author By Wesley Reyneke
Post date December 8, 2016

Punk Rock Boxer: A slammed custom Ural by K-Speed
Practicality is a hot topic around here—so much so that we’ve added the word ‘fenders’ to our comment moderation watch list.

But our own tastes are eclectic, and we can appreciate everything from finely tuned race machines to bobbers with wafer-thin saddles. And we love the machines that roll out of K-Speed.

Punk Rock Boxer: A slammed custom Ural by K-Speed
We’ve seen them subtly tweak modern Triumphs to perfection—and then build dark and scruffy BMWs that arrest our attention every time.

This one is called Diablo and it has no fenders, a dubious seat and trials tires—but it’s just so damn cool. And no, it’s not another BMW; it’s an early-80s 750cc Ural boxer knockoff.

Punk Rock Boxer: A slammed custom Ural by K-Speed
K-Speed’s primary business is parts and accessories. They’re based in Bangkok, but have branches all over Thailand. With their ears close to the ground, they spotted this Ural in a junkyard in the northern eastern region—incomplete, but still plated.

“We wanted to buy it because of the boxer engine,” they tell us. “We tried to start the engine—and luckily it worked! But at that time our garage had a lot of jobs to do, so we left the Ural for three months.”

Punk Rock Boxer: A slammed custom Ural by K-Speed
“We got the bike very cheap, and we set the budget for customizing at 50,000 Baht (about $1,400). That made it very challenging for us.”

K-Speed started at the back, lopping off the subframe in favor of a gusseted, single tube support to hold the solo perch. An off-the-shelf taillight is neatly tucked into the end.

Punk Rock Boxer: A slammed custom Ural by K-Speed
The fuel tank’s an old Kawasaki TL unit, found at a second hand market. And the handlebars are second-hand too—fitted with Biltwell Inc. grips, and new controls and switches.

This particular Ural came with an Earle’s-style leading link front end—a rare feature that K-Speed wanted to keep. So they simply upgraded the suspension, fitting shorter YSS shocks at both ends to lower the bike.

Punk Rock Boxer: A slammed custom Ural by K-Speed
While the bike’s lacking in gauges or turn signals, it does have a headlight: a modded spotlight retrieved from the garden of K-Speed’s boss, Eak…

The engine, carbs and airbox have mostly been left stock, but K-Speed have added a new set of mufflers. And they’ve refinished everything in black, with select fins polished to add some contrast.

Punk Rock Boxer: A slammed custom Ural by K-Speed
Even the wheels received the two-tone treatment, before they were wrapped in vintage 19” trials tires.

You might think the fuel tank is too small, the seat is too thin, the bike is too low or the tires are too silly. But we think K-Speed’s Ural is pure punk rock—and a reminder of why we got into custom bikes in the first place.

K-Speed website | Images by OverRide Photo

Punk Rock Boxer: A slammed custom Ural by K-Speed

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Custom Bikes Of The Week

Post author By Matt Neundorf
Post date April 17, 2016

An insanely fast Honda CB1300, a Ural sidecar that holds no less than four people, and a sneak peek at the latest Wrenchmonkees bike. Meet the machines the revved our engines this week.

Yamaha Yard Built XSR900 by Wrenchmonkees When Wes reported back to us on Yamaha’s new XSR900 he called it a “Brute in a suit—a well balanced machine that was bucket loads of fun.” Wes did have some aesthetic niggles though, namely a pair of plastic warts—electronic module boxes—festooned to the XSR’s minimalist frame.

With the Yard Built program back in full swing, it was only a matter of time before the XSR900 was given some pro-builder polish to clean those things up. Enter longtime Bike EXIF favorites, the Wrenchmonkees.

As with any build to come out their Copenhagen garage, the Wrenchmonkees did more than simply scrape the barnacles off the Yammie. Murdered out in matte black and shod on Continental TKC tires, the brute has shed its suit for a pair of combat boots and a tactleneck. We’d love to share more information on this bike right now, but ‘MonkeeBeast’ is making its debut, as you read this, at the Bike Shed Show in Paris. Don’t worry if you’re not there in person though—you’ll get the full skinny in a feature in a few weeks. [Wrenchmonkees]

Honda CB1300 by Yamamoto Racing If you call Canada or the United States home, chances are your only exposure to a Honda CB1300 has been on the internet. If you’re lucky, you may have a friend who knew a guy whose cousin imported one through the grey market—but Honda’s Super Four has never been sold in North America.

Sadly, that isn’t changing anytime soon. So we’ll simply tease you with this CB1300SF track day weapon created by the skilled hands at Yamamoto Racing of Iga-shie in Japan. Built as a test mule for a line of performance parts, this Super Bol D’Or has also crushed the record at Suzuka’s 8-hour Spec-A endurance race. Twice.

It’s those Spec-A parts that make this bike move so fast: Like the 4-into-one exhaust, rearsets, and radial-mount brake supports. There’s also a new upper and lower cowl, hot-rodded engine internals and a quick-shifting race transmission. All can be installed on your own Super Four…should you live anywhere other than North America. [More]

Ural Tourist by Kevil’s Speed Shop If you’ve ever had the pleasure’ of riding a Ural, you’ll know they can be an extremely quirky machine to handle. These Siberian sidecar sleds buck to the right under acceleration, and yaw to the left the moment the twistgrip is rolled back. There’s never a dull moment, but the upside is transportation for three. Or four, in the case of the 2007-spec Tourist 750 here.

The client had a simple wish: To be able to transport his family of four up the Jurassic Coast in England on holiday. To make that dream a reality Kev Hill, the English BMW expert, has cut, grafted and fitted a rumble seat onto to the rear of the sidecar. Ingenious in its design, the second-row seat simply unfurls when needed, and disappears when not—held in place by a set of leather straps crafted to match the newly upholstered seats. [More]

Kawasaki KZ650 by Magnum Opus Based in Wilmington, North Carolina, Magnum Opus Custom Bikes is helmed by Ezio Covelli—a man with a growing resumé of impressive builds. His latest custom work is this turbocharged Kawasaki KZ650, which made its debut at the Handbuilt Show in Austin, Texas last week. Its period-correct alterations have me all kinds of impressed.

Starting with a standard 1978 son-of-Z1, Ezio wanted build a bike that would slot somewhere between the Z1 and the bonkers Z1r-TC Turbo in performance terms. So the factory mill was overbored to fit a 70s-vintage MTC 803cc kit. Then a period-correct American Turbo Pak kit, the same brand used on the Z1r-TC, was fitted on top. Currently the bike is running at around five to six pounds of boost during the break-in period, but Ezio figures she’ll handle ten pounds of spool once all is said and done. That’ll deliver about around 110 horsepower in a bike with the handling characteristics of a sprightly 500. [More]

Honda CB350F by Kinesis Moto The worst thing that can happen to a custom build is to over-do things. Function becomes stymied, and the soul of the motorcycle—its rideability—is lost to superfluous frippery. This is a lesson Jeff Gittleson, the man behind New York’s Kinesis Moto, takes very seriously.

“Simple, lightweight and distraction free” is how Jeff describes his 1973 Honda CB350F cafe racer and I’d say he’s bang on. Stripped of redundancy, Jeff wanted to highlight the Honda’s inline-4 engine over everything else. So everything except the mill was scaled back in design and streamlined. The front disc brake was swapped for a lighter, more elementary drum unit, which thanks to the CB350’s 50-lbs weight loss has more than enough bite.

The front end was lowered 1.5-inches to straighten the CB’s spine and a custom tray was welded into the new subframe. This houses the minimal remaining electronics, which can be easily accessed by lifting the gorgeous one-piece leather wrapped seat.

The result is a playful juxtaposition: the complexities of a small displacement inline-4 with the barest essentials of motorcycling, finished in a fitting shade of white. [More]

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Aircraft designer builds a Ural for his dog and surfboard

Post author By Chris Hunter
Post date March 16, 2016

I’ve always had a soft spot for Ural sidecars. Yes, they’re relics from a bygone age, and their reliability is hotly debated in online forums.

But they’re also practical and charming, like the old ‘Series’ Land Rover parked next to the Moto Guzzi in my garage.

There’s little point in hot-rodding a Ural for speed, and the aesthetics are on-point from the start. But Queensland man Peter Adams has built a Ural we couldn’t resist showing. It’s designed to transport his Boxer dog ‘Argo’ and a surfboard.

Peter started his career in boat building, and then moved on to the design and manufacture of light aircraft. So he knows his stuff when it comes to engineering.

The most drastic mod on the Ural is an increase in the sidecar track of four inches. It provides more clearance for the surfboard—and also makes the rig more stable in corners.

The surfboard rack mounts are made from cold-drawn 4130 chromoly steel,
a left over from an airplane project. The racks themselves are removable, and made from stainless steel—all the better to resist corrosion in the sea air.

The planked beech wood ‘boat deck’ on the sidecar bodywork is also an aviation leftover; Peter has replaced the original heavy steel panels with molded epoxy composite panels.

They’ve been rebated to take the beech strips, which are bonded in place and separated with a flexible urethane.

On the mechanical side, Peter’s increased the sump capacity of the boxer engine. It keeps the air-cooled motor happier when chugging through soft sand in the hot Australian summer.

Other mods are compact LED blinkers, bar end mirrors and a mount for a Garmin GPS on a discreet, dedicated arm between the bike and sidecar.

It’s a low-key, classy build, as befits an engineer who has also tweaked the Triumph Thruxton and Dunstall Norton Commando in his garage. And it’s given us a serious case of lifestyle envy.

Anyone else fancy taking the dog and surfboard down to the beach?