Cossack Owners Club
 

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Ural Rentals in South Africa

CRUISECAPADES SIDECAR ADVENTURES

Remember Dr Zhivago, the Sputnik, Yuri Gagarin,  the first man in space, the May Day military parades in Red Square, the rockets, the Kirov ballet, the Hermitage, iced vodka with pickled herrings, Soyuz and then Glaznost and Perestroika?

Times have changed but you can still enjoy the nostalgia of a country that spans 15 time zones––all the way from Germany to China, Japan and Alaska and which stretches north to south from the high Arctic to the Black Sea.

CruiseCapades operate a fleet of Russian IMZ Ural 750 sidecar motorcycles which you can hire for your own adventure or travel with one of our chauffeurs. The combinations comfortably carry three people with light picnics and minimal luggage or two people with surprisingly large loads.

The bikes are rugged, reliable and simple to maintain, identical to the

1938 BMW R71, but obviously much improved with highly reliable electrics and fuel systems and vastly improved braking.

The bikes are built tough like Russian tanks and were originally specifically designed for military use. Instead of soldiers with machine guns or bazookas they now carry you and your luggage comfortably on a range of tours from our base at the Rendezvous Tourist Centre in Hazyview through the diverse and beautiful scenery of the Lowveld and the Panorama route. Our Ripping Rides have been specially selected to keep you to the most scenic roads and landscapes.

Ripping Rides
From Hazyview to Sabie––enjoy morning tea, breakfast or lunch, visit one of several picturesque waterfalls in the area and return. An easy half- to full day ride.

Hazyview to Sabie and then on to Graskop for a hearty breakfast or a delicious variety of pancakes. From there its just a short ride to Pilgrims Rest where you can enjoy lunch in this historic living museum village before a leisurely ride back to base.

The Panorama route is a long day’s ride but takes in the best of the escarpment.

From Hazyview to Sabie, then Graskop and along the rim of the Blyde Canyon to God’s Window, Bourke’s Luck Potholes and the famous three Rondavels viewpoint. From there you can ride comfortably on a good dirt road to Pilgrim’s Rest for a late lunch before returning or better still why not spend the night at the historic Royal Hotel enjoy a leisurely dinner and drive slowly back to base the following day.

Expeditions
The bikes are stable, remarkably comfortable and suited to sedate riding. Slow revving and long-legged they can take you on longer rides to Mozambique or Swaziland.

We will be happy to tailor a memorable ride for you to tourist attractions in the Lowveld and elsewhere.

Corporate
We offer an unusual experience for small team building exercises and can add something special and unusual to a corporate event.

The Small Print
For a self-drive adventure, you must be in possession of a current license valid for a 750 cc motorcycle. A short introductory lesson is mandatory for all self drive rentals.

Our vehicles are fully road legal and licensed to carry the driver and two passengers. All bikes have a surprisingly spacious boot and luggage rack.

Our Ural sidecar fleet is meticulously maintained. You can be confident that your bike will have been fully serviced, safety checked and tanked up with fuel before you leave. The bikes carry a spare wheel which will fit either the bike or the sidecar. They also have a toolkit and a comprehensive manual in case you need to change a wheel.

We have a back-up vehicle available to rescue you anywhere within 150 kms of base should something go wrong. Further afield we endeavour to facilitate support for you through another support service.

All our drivers are fully licensed and accredited tour guides. Passenger liability on all vehicles is underwritten by Lloyds of London. General accident insurance of up to R500 000 can be purchased for a small daily premium.

CONTACT DETAILS

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Any Cossack Owners Club members visiting South Africa and want to go on one of these trips, a discount will be offered

Supercharged M35

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.

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.

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.

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.) The models planned are based on 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.