One for Bruce and The Sidecarista...

[Richard]

I was in the West of Ireland a few years ago and stumbled across a meeting of the Zundapp/BMW owners club for Eire.  These were the original WWII style bike and boasted diffs to the Right hand sided sidecars.  I've got some pictures somewhere I will post one day.  Certainly there was a lot more there than the simple dog clutch on 'modern' Ural/Dniepers.  I've not yet seen an older style Russian made bike with a diff but think it would be best without anyway, as it would be for off-road use only in any event and of no real advantage on the road.  Where I think they really score is in having a sidecar brake. 

I was wondering if buying a 2WD Ural in France and riding it back, before re-registering for UK road use, might be an alternative to the Tricycle registration route, which is a bit dodgy IMHO.  As for the swapping of frame numbers.............

Richard

[Andy M]

You'd need the froggy papers to say it was pre-81. If you've got a spare €20,000 you can always beat DVLA by going the R75 or K600 route 

Andy

[stevexbr]

I was in the West of Ireland a few years ago and stumbled across a meeting of the Zundapp/BMW owners club for Eire.  These were the original WWII style bike and boasted diffs to the Right hand sided sidecars.  I've got some pictures somewhere I will post one day.  Certainly there was a lot more there than the simple dog clutch on 'modern' Ural/Dniepers.  I've not yet seen an older style Russian made bike with a diff but think it would be best without anyway, as it would be for off-road use only in any event and of no real advantage on the road.  Where I think they really score is in having a sidecar brake. 

I was wondering if buying a 2WD Ural in France and riding it back, before re-registering for UK road use, might be an alternative to the Tricycle registration route, which is a bit dodgy IMHO.  As for the swapping of frame numbers.............

Richard

You can always replace the post 81 frame with the identical pre 81 frame if you want a fully legal 2wd outfit.
Interestingly I've never heard of anyone being prosecuted or having an insurance claim refused for having a right hand chair.I'm not even sure that it would stand up in court given that we are all europeans now and what's legal in one member state is meant to be legal in any other , regardless of what the dvla rules are.
You dont even have to inform the dvla that a chair is fitted (I rang them and checked) but you do have to inform your insurance company.

Steve

Steve

[SteveC#222]

This is the basic Ural set up.






There really is little benefit unless you're doing some serious off roading.