Bill’s bike

To all appearances Bill Biber’s motorcycle sidecar combination is a German WW2 military BMW. However it is actually a rare Russian Ural which is intriguing, how Bill came by it is as interesting as the motor cycle itself.

Back in his motor cycle racing days Bill’s mechanic had one of these unusual bikes, which Bill much admired. In 2008 the mechanic contacted Bill to say that he knew of a brand new one looking for an owner – would he be interested?

The bike had been imported by an Australian. However as it is illegal to have the sidecar on the right side of the bike in Australia the Customs there refused to let it be landed. So the bike had been carried on to New Zealand and off landed at Tauranga.

Bill jumped at the opportunity and hastened north to make the purchase. The dismantled bike, packed in a single wooden case, was brought back to Martinborough to be pieced together – the instructions in Russian were not a lot of help.

The Ural has an interesting background. Russia’s motorcycles had already proved ineffective and unreliable in it’s invasion of Finland. Watching footage of the German Blitzkrieg offensive Stalin was impressed by the fast go anywhere BMW motorcycles each carrying three heavily armed soldiers. With Germany now turning it’s attention to Russia Stalin realised that he needed BMWs.

Six BMWs were ‘acquired’ through a Swedish intermediary and smuggled to Russia. Here engineers copied the design re-engineering some parts to suit their own manufacturing facilities and to add extra strength to cope with local conditions. One of the original BMWs is on display at the Ural factory.

It was decided to manufacture the bikes somewhere well out of the range of German bombers with the remote town of Irbit in the Ural mountain area being chosen. Production commenced in a former brewery with the first of the 9,799 bikes eventually produced going into action in October 1942.

In the 1950s production of the military version was moved to a plant in Ukraine with the Irbit plant shifting production to a commercial version which was named Ural after the area. Eventually the military production line was sold to the People’s Republic of China where they are still produced.

Three and a half million Urals have now been produced. With reliable flat twin four stroke motors, forward and reverse gears driving both the rear motor cycle and sidecar wheels Urals are go anywhere vehicles which are highly appreciated in remote areas of the world. A considerable number have also found their way to America.

While Bill’s bike is a common sight around Martinborough it is actually one of only three in New Zealand. Over the last four years Bill has travelled all over New Zealand and found it to be enjoyable to ride as well as completely reliable – and always the centre of curious attention.