Ural Update on War-Affected Operations and Motorcycle Supply

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A look inside the Ural motorcycle factory in Irbit, Russia. Amid Russia’s war on Ukraine, Ural is adjusting its logistics so it can continue manufacturing its iconic two-wheel sidecar motorcycles. (Ural/)

As Russia’s war on Ukraine continues, Ural—the only high-capacity motorcycle manufacturer in Russia—continues to revamp logistics to address its operations and worldwide supply concerns. The creator of the iconic sidecar motorcycles that can traverse rough terrain ceased all business operations and production in February at its Irbit Motor Works factory in Irbit, an industrial town located in the Ural Mountains of western Siberia.

After more than six weeks since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ural is updating its customers via small posts on its blog. In its latest post, Ural says, “…the situation with logistics in and out of Russia hasn’t improved. We are still not able to import components to the factory.”

This is due to the squeeze on imports from suppliers outside of Russia. Ural says it is figuring out how to restart assembly, and the lack of shipping components to the factory, “among other things, amplifies the need for moving the final assembly outside of Russia.”

Due to the shortage, the company says there is now a six-month wait for the supply of new motorcycles. Additionally, it needs about a month to figure out logistics as it has some parts built at the Irbit factory on hand: “Our parts managers have been building up stock levels for a while in response to supply chain issues, it is now coming in handy,” Ural says on its blog.

As for those stateside motorcyclists and dealerships waiting for new Urals to arrive, two containers were stuck in a port in Europe since late February. Ural reports on its blog that if all goes well, those containers will arrive in New York at the end of April or early May.

“Our dealers have been extremely supportive of us and of each other as we all navigate the limited supply of bikes,” Ural says.

For those looking to place an order on a new Ural at one of the 74 dealerships throughout the United States, the company says, “If you are planning to place a custom order for future production, please contact your dealer as quickly as possible. When we receive information on actual orders, we can allocate production accordingly.”

Ural’s latest sidecar offerings include the 1WD CT and the 2WD Gear Up models. It also had some fun producing wild models, like the Ural Gear Up Geo, an adventure-ready, Nitron-suspension model that was limited to 20 units.

Each model in the current lineup is powered by a 749cc OHV air-cooled two-cylinder four-stroke boxer engine mated to a four-speed transmission that includes, of course, reverse.

Ural was born out of a war-torn country. During World War II, Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin wanted to protect Russia from German invasion, and the country’s Red Army decided that it would have a major advantage with a sidecar motorcycle to help with traveling across Russia’s tough terrain.

Soviet engineers purchased a few BMW R71 sidecar motorcycles, and reverse engineered them to create the M-72. The sidecar motorcycles introduced in 1941 were originally built in Moscow, but due to fear of German bombers, production was moved into Irbit, a town within the Ural Mountains that was out of bombing range. The M-72 was only produced for military use until the 1950s, when they became available for civilians.

Since then Ural had its ups and downs, building as many as 130,000 motorcycles per year before the fall of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in December 1991, to less than 2,000 a year in 2021.

As the war continues in Ukraine, many other motorcycle manufacturers and aftermarket companies have ceased production and business operations in Russia, including Harley-Davison, Polaris Inc., Honda Motor Co. Ltd., BMW, Ducati, Suzuki, Yamaha, Michelin Group, and Bridgestone Corporation.

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