(9 Dec 2017) LEADIN
There are very few sidecar motorcycle makers left in the world - but the last in Russia is still going strong in the small Urals city of Irbit.
Founded 75 years ago it has become successful again due to increased popularity of retro sidecars in the USA.
STORYLINE
They're an image that features on many vintage posters and in classic films.
The motorcycle sidecar was once a popular mode of transport but now few makers are left in the world.
The last one in Russia is based in the small Ural city of Irbit.
The factory was founded 75 years ago, when Stalin ordered the evacuation of a Moscow motorcycle plant ahead of WWII.
During the Soviet era, the Irbit factory produced more than 50 thousand heavy motorcycles in Ural annually. In the 1990s, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and decline of the Russian economy, the factory faced serious problems. Demand for motorcycles declined sharply and the only way to survive was to find new markets.
"Purchasing power of (Russian) population fell sharply (in the 1990s), and the number of motorcycles we have been producing exceeded sales," explains Deputy Development Director of Irbit Motorcycle Factory, Eduard Miller.
A boom in demand for sidecar motorcycles in the USA has meant the business has came back to life again.
From 1993 producers began exporting motorcycles to the US with largely positive feedback. But in order to be successful it needed to make changes: drum brakes were replaced with disc brakes, carburettors disappeared and the sidecar got a drive shaft.
The factory now produces five models of Ural motorcycles in 60 colours. Most of the parts are imported from Europe and Asia.
Today's Ural differs drastically from its Soviet predecessor: although the bike still looks old-school with its nearly 360 kilogrammes of Soviet-style metal, it has acquired the reliability and the performance of a modern motorcycle. The bikes can cruise at 120 kilometres per hour.
The main advantages of Ural remain unchanged - it has the sidecar, reverse gear and go-anywhere ability.
Vintage models became fashionable after celebrities like Brad Pitt were photographed driving them.
Every year the Irbit factory produces approximately 1.5 thousand vehicles and 95 percent of them are sold in Europe and the U.S. with a starting price of 14,000 US Dollars.
The extraordinary success of the Ural motorcycles attracted other industry players: those who restore used Soviet motorcycles.
Alexander Myasnikov, one of the largest renovators in the region, has a refurbishing garage in Yekaterinburg, 200 kilometres south of Irbit.
He sells the repaired Urals for 2,500-3,500 US Dollars, seven times less than the new ones.
"Nostalgia is what people feel. People try to collect the M72 (Soviet motorcycle) of the war (WWII) times or postwar period, some special motorcycles, for example GAI (the Soviet traffic patrol), touristic and others. There is certain demand (for the used, but renovated Ural motorcycles)," he says.
Myasnikov's motorcycles are particularly in demand among local residents on a smaller budget.
Maksim Karfidov from the neighbouring town of Artyomovskiy inherited his father's sidecar made in 1974.
Despite difficulties in finding spare parts for his old motorcycle, he thinks that it is still very useful for village life.
Also, villagers will continue buying used ones "because people cannot afford new ones" say Karfidov.
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