DNEPR SPORT??? Anyone know anything??

[wheelsucker]

I've seen a couple of these kits on ebay, was just wondering if anyone has any knowledge of the DNEPR bikes. Looks like a BMW motorcycle with a sidecar.

[Guzzista_Joe]

I've seen a couple of these kits on ebay, was just wondering if anyone has any knowledge of the DNEPR bikes. Looks like a BMW motorcycle with a sidecar.

 

Yeah I know about them...there's a dealer near me...where are you based?

 

They were originally based on the BMW R71 from the 40s...legend has it that the general manager of the BMW motorcycle plant was ordered to torch it as the Russians advanced towards it. He apparently couldn't bring himself to do it and it fell into enemy hands. The Russians, so the story goes, lifted the entire production line and relocated it beyond the Ural Mountains...hence the Ural company name.

 

They continued making solid, reliable, cheap as chips bikes ever since. They were originally 650cc engines but in later years they were enlarged to 750cc and had modern technological improvements added such as electronic ignition and...er...indicators.

 

You either love 'em or hate 'em...the sidecar combis are fantasctic off road as they have a driven side car wheel too...easy to work on and repair...hell you can fix them with a hammer and chisel! I happen to love 'em...

 

Those that don't point to the fact that they are crude...they are supposed to be...how long would a jap bike survive the Russian steppes in winter? Bikes don't get more rugged than this!

 

Check out this site: http://www.candcmc.co.uk/ural.php these dudes have been selling them for a while and are based near Maidstone in Kent....ENJOY!

[wheelsucker]

I'm on the east coast in the U.S. I saw the kits on Ebay, dirt cheap and always liked the classic bmw w/sidecar look. I like the urals and think the design with the driven sidecar is great. They come as kits for about $4500, and so would be a good long term project for my son and I. Might be ready by the time he can actually ride in it in another year or two(he's 8 right now).

[Guest ratchethack]

For those with more than a little innate hankering for the unusual, the outright odd, and off-the-beaten-track 2 and 3-wheeled transportation, there's nothing quite like taking the concept of "retro motorcycles" all the way back to the Industrial Age, when motorcycles were for the most part agricultural-class implements.

 

Hm. A Dnepr in the garage. Wot could be more simple, reliable (theoretically speaking, y'unnerstand ), and yes, in it's own post-Tzarist nostalgic way, ROMANTIC, than 100 year-old German technology captured as spoils of war, and "perfected" by decades of sporadic 3rd World Hammer-and-Sickle "refinements" accomplished by tractor mechanic peasants under at least several of the former USSR's perennially failed 5-year Plans??

 

One pictures lumbering non-stop for thousands of km's at little more than walking speed across the snow-covered steppes -- perhaps pursued by starving wolves? Perhaps a dark and tragic Russian drama featuring transport of Dr. Zhivago over frozen wastelands by Dnepr to save the life of a beautiful, yet fragile and sickly exiled Tzarina hiding from the KGB in the remote wilderness of Ukraine, now dying of consumption in a hunting lodge. In the bitter grip of a Russian winter night. In the thick of a driving snowstorm. With trusty 2-wheel drive, and extra cans of watered-down fuel oil, a few bottles of farm-brewed vodka, and a rusty AK-47 in the sidehack, you're MORE THAN equal to the task! . . .

 

I reckon if you can sell this kinda "vision" to the wife, y'er already half-way into the driver's seat. To set the mood, may I suggest several hearty glasses of Stolichnaya accompanied by a stirring recording of The Sixth Symphony by Pyotyr Illych Tchiakovsky Пётр Ильич Чайкoвский, or Igor Stravinsky's Игорь Фёдорович Стравинский Firebird Suite on the home sound system -- you know, to sorta warm her up to the idea before you submit it for approval.

 

Sure, I kinda like the concept meself, but I find the Guzzi fills at least some of this niche very nicely , whilst taking advantage of a few very nice "modern amenities" that have spoilt most of us into taking them for granted. . . You know, stuff like speed, acceleration, brakes, handling -- that kinda thing.

 

More info and access to like-minded romantic tragedy dreamers and drama seekers here:

 

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/dneprheads/

 

NOTE: I'm sure someone can make the no doubt important distinction between Ural and Dnepr, would like to have a clarification meself. . . ??

 

Hey Rich, you still out there?

[wheelsucker]

the link to the bike I'm talking about:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2007-DNEPR-...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

and another more military minded one:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Super-Dnepr...1QQcmdZViewItem

[Ballabio Bertie]

Be very wary of buying a Dnepr. They were built in the Ukraine,but the factory is closed or at best mothballed for the last couple of years. The later models (MT11 I think) have a poor reputation for reliability, (everything from exploding alternators to crank breakages,at low mileages.) The Ural is built in the town of Irbit,in Russia and is a different beast altogether. It looks similar to the Dnepr but no parts are interchangable. I have only 2 gripes about my 2005 model-the finish is poor and the Russians seem unable to make good quality rubber components-they perish and crack quite quickly.

[wheelsucker]

thanks for the advice. I've been doing a little research and it seems that yes the DNEPR's are not worth the money as of right now. I think I'll be sticking to trying to get a Ural.

[Ray]

I've had a Ural since 1998. It's been quite reliable, as far as what you'd expect from a vintage bike - has a higher maintainence regimen than a modern bike, but it's very user serviceable. Max speed is about 60 - more recent models about 65 with 5 speed and electric start, and most importantly, a disc brake up front. These are cute and quite stable when stopped. When riding, they are widowmakers - pull into oncoming traffic when braking (sidecar is momentum), pull to shoulder when accelerating, at least in countries who drive on the right side of the road, sidecar is drag... Imagine a motor with half the accelaration, a quarter of the handling (wants to flip over on right handers), half the braking, and which takes up a whole lane. That being said, it's a whole lot of fun. But it's not a safe alternative, and it's not anonymous. For some reason, civilians think it cute and unintimidating, people who wouldn't dare speak to you on two wheels.

 

I've used mine most happily on dirt roads when I lived in Maine and Texas, off the beaten track... Mine's a one-wheel drive 1996 model.

[Guest ratchethack]

FWIW, here's an English translation on the history and relationship between Ural, Dnepr, and Changjiang:

 

http://www.autosoviet.altervista.org/ENGLI...Moto(Dnepr).htm

 

The Dnepr kinda strikes me as the Yugo -- or better yet, the Trabant -- of motorcycling: On the cutting edge of Third World post-revolutionary Russian agricultural manufacturing technology.

 

Oh hey -- No offense meant by association of Dnepr with Ural, Ray.

[callison]

You DO NOT want to deal with the eBay Dnepr's. They're assembled out of various used pieces of bikes and have typically been unreliable (if they've run at all) and nearly impossible to title. If you're really interested in going down that path, check out the Russian Iron forum (currently off-line for an SQL error) or contact someone like Wagners Cycles in Arkansas for more detailed information. Caveat Emptor and all that. You get what you pay for and sometimes even less.