Ural Pilgrimage 2008 ~ lead by the
European Ural importers based in Linz Austria
In summer 2008 Ural Europe
will offer for the fourth time their tours to Irbit in Sibiria. These
tours are made for Ural-Insiders or those who are thinking about also
being one. Ural owners always had the wish to see the place where these
motorcycles are being built. In the last 3 years people from all over
Europe have participated in this trip, many journalists accompanied the
groups, TV teams from England and Germany have made reports. During
these two tours ten new motorcycles, model 2008, will be available for
the participants. All bikes have sidecar wheel drive, as many of the
roads which we drive are unsurfaced. On both tours of course a visit to
the factory and the adjoining motorcycle museum is compulsory! Overnight
stays are in tents, mostly by a river or a lake. Both tours are
accompanied by a support van together with a crew consisting of
translator, cook, mechanic and the head of the group, Sergey Ziranow, a
former Russian sidecar motocross champion.
The dates for the 2008 Ural Trips:
1st. Tour: 24th July until 1st August.
2nd. Tour: 31st of July until 8th August.
Price for the tours: For
the driver: EURO 1.420,00. For the Co-pilot: EURO 1.316,00. Included in
this price is the following: Tents, sleeping-bags and mats, meals,
support vehicle including crew, rental fee for motorcycles including
fuel for bikes, 2 overnight stays in the hotel, entrance to the museums,
fees for the invitation letter which is necessary to get the Russian
visa. Not included in this price is the flight: We normally fly from
Prague directly to Ekaterinburg and back. The price of this flight is
approx. EURO 500,00 (including taxes). Exact price can only be defined
after booking.
Timeplan Tour 1. 24th July until
1st August
This first tour is very popular as it
includes the visit of the Irbit motorcycle show. In this show thousands
of Russian bikers participate and celebrate a really unique festival, a
sort of motorcycle Woodstock
Particularly interesting
for us are the motorcycles which can be seen there. Although the amount
of Japanese motorcycles is growing, most of the bikes are of Russian
origin. Motorcycle tuning on Urals, Dneprs and Ish from the highest
level and own adventurous motorcycle creations – this can only be seen
in this form and this abundance on the Irbit motorcycle show.
The programme in short:
24th of July: Departure from Prague to Ekaterinburg, 25th July: Arrival
in Ekaterinburg, transfer per bus to Irbit, takeover of the motorcycles.
26th until 27th of July: Visit of the motorcycle show. 27th until 31st
July: Tour from Irbit towards Ekaterinburg (approx. 500 km). 31st of
July until 1st of August: Overnight stay in a hotel in Ekaterinburg,
departure to Prague.
These Russians are serious about their off road riding!
Timeplan Tour 2. 31st July until 8th August.
The second tour is made
for people who want to drive longer distances. This tour is a roundtrip
with about 1000 km through the southern Ural mountains. The highlights
of this tour are driving on roads which cannot even be found in any map.
The programme in short: 31st July: Departure from Prague. 1st August:
Arrival in Ekaterinburg, takeover of the motorcycles. 2nd Aug. until 6th
Aug.: Tour from Ekaterinburg towards Irbit through the Ural mountains.
6th August: Visit of the factory and the motorcycle museum. 7th August:
Transfer per bus to Ekaterinburg, overnight stay in Hotel. 8th of
August: Departure to Prague.
2007
Tours of Irbit with the Ural importers ~
this could be you!
Green lane Riding,
hundreds of miles of country roads, fords and bridges. From hard packed
earth to bottomless muddy morasses, lovely warm sunshine into the
pouring rain. Utopia on earth, blissful unending paradise, punctuated by
the necessary interruptions of nature, food, drink and gasoline. And
occasionally, sleep. Pilgrims on their way east, to the holy shrine at
Irbit. Deep within Mother Russia, Far from the Heinkels reach, this is
fast becoming a very popular pilgrimage for the more adventurous Biker.
These two groups found
that there is off-roading and then there is off the road again! Oops!
A green lane Paradise,
millions of acres of it, every conceivable type of landscape. These
riders are certainly taking full advantage of terrain they don’t usually
get to enjoy at home. I’ll bet the rider with the battered sidecar above
upper is glad that it is a hired outfit and not his own. The riders
crossing the rivers, might be able to give us a few pointers here with
the weather we’re getting of late!
These pictures are from
www.ural.cc. These riders are on their way to Irbit as part of a tour
deal, as on front pages. I wish I could afford to do this, must remember
to do lottery! If this is you, sign up now!
Martin
If you should
think that owning Russian and other eastern bloc motorcycles is a
minority sport, think again! Monowheel riding has to make `us’ look huge
and by comparison, relatively sane. I’ve had a look at several of these
monowheels on the www, mostly powered by small bike and lawnmower
engines, some of the video clips show that they can be ridden, if a
little erratically, under (nearly) full control.
 However,
for the ultimate adrenaline rush, the above photo depicts the most
awesome machine you could ever imagine, let alone ride! This is
monowheel is powered by a Buick alloy V8 motor and Mr McLean is intent
on land speed records attempts at
Bonneville, his
sights firmly on breaking the ton! While I could contemplate having a go
at a
monowheel, this V8
monster has me firmly placed in the spectators gallery, at a safe
distance, There are NO effective brakes on these machines, could you
imagine attempting an emergency stop?
Martin.
Ace Cafe ** Red
October Meet** 2008
19th October all day &
celebrate their 70th anniversary
(caution - this clashes with Dent Autumn
Rally)
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