January,
the year has begun, the evenings have lengthened perceptibly and the
sun’s zenith has heightened, promising the new season to come.
Please let’s have a real summer this year! You can tell what the
last two years have been like, there’s not a spot of tar on my bike
anywhere, the weather hasn’t been hot enough to melt the tar, I
haven’t any stone chips either, for the same reason. Got some rust
flakes though!! I hope to have cleaned the winter off of my bike by
the time the better weather starts. Dent is the next in the rally
agenda, quite a long hike from here, we would like to go up there
this year.
Martin.
Useless Information
January was
established as the first the first month of the year by the Roman
Calendar. It was named after the god Janus (Latin word for door).
Janus has two faces which allowed him to look both backwards into
the old year and forwards into the new one at the same time. He was
the 'spirit of the opening'.
In the very earliest Roman calendars there were no months of January or February at all. The ancient Roman calendar had only ten months and the new year started the year on 1 March. To the Romans, ten was a very important number. Even when January (or Januarius as the Romans called it) was added, the New Year continued to start in March. It remained so in England and her colonies until about 200 years ago.
The Anglo-Saxons called the first month Wolf monath because wolves came into the villages in winter in search of food.
Welcome to the new issue of the "Irbit Informer"! This informal
publication is designed to keep you, the Ural customer, informed
about what's happening with us here at
Irbit MotorWorks Of America
(Redmond, USA), at the factory in Irbit, Russia and with Urals in
general. Things are happening with the company at a much faster than
typical Ural speed, so watch for your issue and stay "Informed".
Dear Subscribers!
It has been more than a year since you received the last issue of
our newsletter. So, first, we want to apologize for such a long
silence.
2008 was a very tough year for Ural. It is not to say that the
previous years had been easy, but we will remember the last year for
its unreal combination of obstacles of different sorts. We were so
focused on solving our internal issues that, frankly, almost lost
contact with you, our owners, present and future.
We would like to begin restoring our communication by first sharing
with you what was happening in our company during this past year.
Sales
We sold 904 motorcycles worldwide in 2008. 99% of these sales were
sidecar bikes.
In the US, we sold to dealers 460 motorcycles, which is 8% less than
in 2007. Over 80% of these bikes were motorcycles with the sidecar
drive - the record figure for 2wd unit sales in our history. Forest
green
Gear Up was the most
popular model in 2008 with over 200 units sold. This is also all
time high! The second most popular model was the good old woodland
green
Patrol.
Our sales in Europe got a late start in April of 2008 due to the
delays with receiving of certification papers (as you might remember
the new Euro-3 standard was introduced in Europe January 1st 2008;
Ural successfully passed the tests in the very end of 2007). Because
of that, our sales in Europe in 2008 were significantly lower than
in 2007: 235 vs. 405 units in 2007. 2wd models accounted for more
than half of the sales.
Our distributor in Canada - Ural Canada - showed solid results
again. Even though sales in this market were lower than the 2007
level, 90 units is still a very good result, considering all
complications.
After a very long break, Ural made its return to the Australian and
Japanese markets. We would like to thank our distributor in
Australia (John Taylor,
www.imz-ural.com.au) for
the wonderful job he did - 70 bikes in the first year! Our new
distributor in Japan (www.ural-jp.com)
sold 35 units last year, which is also a very good result for the
first season.
In Russia we only sold 16 motorcycles in 2008. No new government
contracts were signed. At the end of the last year, we decided to
close our sales office in Moscow.
Factory
Our factory in Irbit experienced dramatic changes in 2008. We were
able significantly increase the productivity at the factory by
finalizing the number of outsourcing projects, eliminating waste and
increasing production efficiency.
Reorganization and, especially, personnel reductions, were extremely
painful, but necessary steps to improve the health of the factory.
Today there are 210 people working at the factory, almost three
times less the number in 2007. Everyone there is showing an
extraordinary commitment to the idea of transforming the old
Soviet-era "zavod" into modern-day enterprise, dealing with
challenging infrastructure and geographic remoteness on daily basis.
It is hard to believe that just 5-7 years ago Ural was almost 100%
built at the factory from basic materials. Almost all the components
were made in-house, from every engine part to shocks, rims, seats,
rubber parts, nuts and bolts ...
Today, almost 90% of components and semi-finished products (casting,
forgings etc.) are outsourced both domestically and overseas.
As Russia is becoming a part of the global world, Ural is already a
"global" motorcycle. Imported components account for more than half
of the production costs, and we outsource them from the
manufacturers in Japan, Germany, Italy and over 10 other countries.
With that said, Ural still is and will always be a Russian
motorcycle, with the soul and hard labour of Russian engineers and
workers put into it.
Quality
In 2008 we continued to work hard on improving quality and
reliability of our motorcycles. Frankly speaking, we think that the
reputation of Ural is now far behind its actual quality.
Ural today is a solid piece of machinery, which will serve its owner
for long years. The best proof of it you can find on the Internet,
in blogs of Ural owners, who use Urals for their long trips, or ride
them on daily basis, accumulating ten, twelve, fifteen thousand
kilometers a year.
As a manufacturer, we can see the real results through the lens of
warranty statistic. Just in the last three seasons, the number of
warranty claims per bike per year dropped almost 4 times!
2009
For our company the new "production" year begins this week.
Factory was closed during January and part of February. We were able
to use this pause to finalize the consolidation of the production
operations. Now all operations - from welding to machining to
painting and assembly have moved to the main production building
with the total area of 220,000 sq. feet.
We are not introducing significant changes in 2009 models. At the
same time, you can expect several running changes, we will announce
as we go. These changes will mostly be the result of outsourcing of
several components, changes in production processes or changes of
suppliers.
Our goal for 2009 is to manufacture and sell about the same number
of motorcycles as we did in 2008.
One of the top priorities for 2009 is to resolve remaining issues
with parts and accessories supply. We already made some important
steps in this direction and we plan to tell you about it in the next
issues of this newsletter.
Finally, our most important goal for 2009 - is to reengage with you,
our customers. We promise to inform you frankly and regularly on
what is going on with our company. We will do our best to grow the
community of owners - probably the most valuable part of the entire
Ural Story.
In the next issue:
Parts distribution center moved to Michigan;
Gzhel - the very exclusive motorcycle;
And more...
Upcoming Events:
Sidecar Get Together in Daytona
Daytona sidecar show will be held on the south side of the Daytona
flea market, located off hwy 92 & I-95.
THE DATE IS THURSDAY, MARCH 5th: NOON - 3:00pm.
Our dealer Gene from Holopaw hopes to see lots of Urals there again
this year!
We want to hear from you! Send us your riding stories, photos,
questions, suggestions at
madina@imz-ural.com.
Enjoy the Ride!
Supplementary Power Socket Connections
Outfits commonly pull a trailer these days, this may be of use 12N
Normal Socket 12S
Left indicator 1) Reverse
Fog 2) Battery Charge *
Earth 3) Earth
Right indicator 4) Power feed
Right side light 5) Spare
Brake 6) Fridge *
Left side light 7) Earth for pin 6 (1998 on)
*NB It is essential that pin 6 is wired thro’ a split relay from
1998 on!!
Some safety advice for 2009. Ride Safe, Enjoy.
If all you can see in front is the road that's going round and round and all you can hear is commotion coming from the passengers, then things are not at all as they should be.
Good judgment comes from experience. Unfortunately, the
experience usually comes from bad judgment.
Remember, gravity is not just a good idea. It's the law. And
it's not subject to appeal.
Keep looking around. There's always something you've missed.
The ONLY time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.
Motorcycling isn't dangerous. Crashing is what's dangerous.
 |
 |
| Police Urals and Lada's | IZH with a Mongolian Family |
From BBC ‘TopGear’ ~
Two of the greatest bikes in history (plus Richard & James), the
125cc Minsk from Belarus and the Honda C50 the biggest selling bike
in the world……….ever! We are trying to get in touch with Richard to
ask him to write a few words especially for us, & of course tell him
that the Minsk is not Russian.
We have sent various emails now, but as yet he
has not replied to us.
Okay! We had four right answers to the Kettenkraftrad last month,
illustrating no doubt that you have nothing better to do than read
the newsletter! Of course it wouldn’t be anything to do with this
cold spell, would it? This month’s offering looks seriously lethal,
but what is it? Apart from a likely haircut or a very close shave?
Congratulations to Chris Smith, Allan Hill, Dave Green and Phil
Hardcastle for their correct answers to last months puzzle.
Martin
December 2008 saw the Winter Treffen celebrating its fourth
birthday.
The Winter Treffen
is a strange event that grew out of an evener stranger email
conversation and it gets stranger every year! At its conception, and
because of that strange conversation, it became known as the Drag
Queen Rally, (or as we tried to translate, the Schleppen Konigen
Treffen). Schleppen – a dragging force, Konigen –
queen, Treffen – meet.
We owed that name and the conversation, and ultimately the rally
(the Winter Treffen) to Dave Cox and his ‘Drag Star’. Fortunately he
gave up on that machine and regained his street cred for the few
minutes at least that it took him to walk across the show room and
climb aboard his ‘Night Nurse ……er, ah! I mean ‘Midnight Star’. It’s
a bit like out of the bedpan and into mire! Never mind Dave, I
suppose someone has to ride them.
But I digress, the Winter Treffen. What is it and why is it so
special, and so strange? Special – because it just evolved, I think
that’s why it’s special: It grew out of a random comment. Don and
Sue of the 3 Magpies who thought we were crackers to want to camp at
that time of year, in their waterlogged field, welcomed us with open
arms and have done so year on year. Okay you might think, “Of course
they’ll welcome anyone who wants to camp. It’s easy money.” But it’s
not (they’re not) like that, they don’t always charge. At the 2008
they only charged the £3 for breakfast, the camping was free (but
even if they had, it would only have been a fiver for the night plus
breakfast).
So then why is it strange, ah well that’s mostly down to Dave
Ramsden and his kilt, and his very own style of dancing and of
course the crap pub singers that Don and Sue manage to find for us.
Dave and Tony rode down from Bradford, it took them two days! Paul
came down from Birmingham, Alistair across from the Isle of Wight,
Chris and Jimmer came up from Sherborn and Me from Bristol. The
riding weather on the Saturday was just right, a bit brisk but very
sunny, the ride back was much the same, but during the night Jack
and his cohorts came a calling and re-laid the field with a crisp
coating of frost! Chris, Jimmer and Alistair had bivvied under rood
shelters and were a wee bit chilled, but nothing that a hot cup of
tea couldn’t fix.
The Winter Treffen is an indoor rally, as the weather is usually
inclement at that time of year, and Sue and Don always reserve
tables for us in the bay. We gather around a table and natter and
talk bollux (rattin’ ol’ bores is what we are after all) and the 3
Magpies is just the place to do that. We went in at 5:15pm and came
out at 00:30am. Don and Sue want us there, and Don dons and so does
Sue Cossack Owners Club tee-shirts. Next year Sue wants to get a
kilt and says, if the revelers wear kilts too then the breakfasts
are free. I took a kilt this year, but left my bottle at home!
The kilt’s still in its packing: Maybe the next treffen. And maybe
next time the pub singer will know the words to Rawhide (it has to
be the Blues Brothers version though).
Steve Lyons
This is the chassis mounting point for the rear of the
sidecar’s body and is part of the sidecar’s suspension
system. Here it would seem that this has `bottomed out’ very
heavily causing cracks to appear. It is very tempting to
fill that large rack over the spare wheel with everything a
camper needs, without considering that all this extra weight
is exaggerated by the overhang from this rear mounting to
the rack, add to this an adult passenger too and you to
could be visiting a local friendly welder, just as Dave had
to. This may be an area where some extra attention may be
directed occasionally, for safety reasons.
On behalf of
Dave Ramsden.