Foreword

For some time now my wife, Lou and I have been thinking about a sidecar outfit of some description. We've had a Dnepr sidecar chassis  and a fibreglass Velorex body kicking around for years. Last year I started repairing them with the intention of finding a suitable bike to attach them to.

Velorex sidecar body after being unburied from a pile of compost behind

 the shed.

Dnepr Chassis

 The project trundled on for some time not helped by the crappy weather. At the time I was using a Kawasaki 550 Zephyr for work and general running around. the plan was to finish off the sidecar and attach it to the Zephyr. As it transpired The Zephyr proved to be less than reliable with constant problems with electrics and carbs amongst other things eventually I had enough, I really was pissed off with the complexity and hassle of working on Modernish  motorcycles

  What I needed In my life was something simple I could work on without having to strip half the bike down to do simple maintenance, no leaking and seizing hydraulic brakes, over complicated electrics, with bloody sensors on everything and the ability to repair stuff on the side of the road with basic tools. My thoughts turned to my old Soviet Knight Ural 650 that had been languishing in the shed in bits with a buggered motor for years. Talked it over with Lou and the plan was to look around for another Ural of similar vintage and bolt our sidecar to it, and therefor having a complete bike with a load of spares.

  Late last year we unexpectedly came into a bit of money, hence  another change of plan was in order. So we now decided to look around for a complete 650 outfit on the road and ready to go. A few came up on Ebay and other online sources, but nothing really grabbed us. A lot seemed to be imports from Europe and with a good chance of being ringers. Another Soviet Knight based outfit which we looked into at a garage in Kent Just didn't feel right. It subsequently sold and then turned up on Ebay a few weeks later. With some very dubious paperwork. I decided to have a look At MPC a company selling Russian bikes in Leicestershire. http://www.uralmotorbikes.info/ There was a soviet night based outfit on the site.

Picture borrowed from MPC site

But we were not sure if it was still available. We were also interested in the older restorations he was doing which were just about in our price range. For one reason or other we decided to put off contacting him or buying anything else until early this year. In early March this year I contacted Mick at MPC and asked him what he had available I explained that I had Soviet Knight in bits and was looking for something similar he said he had one in but it had a non standard sidecar body on it. He said he might have a few others coming in including a 2006 750 gear-up, military styled camo painted outfit. but we pretty much discounted it as the later 750 models as they were out of our realistic price range. ( And Lou hates anything camo!!)  We agreed to arrange to come up the following week and have a look at what he'd got. A car was duly hired and we planed our scenic drive up over the downs and skirting the Cotswolds. We set off early on the following Thursday morning. So much for our scenic drive thick fog all the way, visibility down to fifty yards or so in places. the drive was uneventful apart from avoiding the occasional Jezzer in his big Merc'/Audi/ other big flash motor driving like a twat. The first really scenic thing we saw was Bitteswell church in the village where MPC is based. We arrived at the farm industrial estate and proceeded to almost finish up in a field of cows thanks to a disagreement between Lou and Nazi-nagging Nora our sat-nav. After a quick detour through some piles of cow effluent and a few tractors we finally arrived at MPC. We got out of the Car to be greeted by a strange apparition glowing gently through the mist in its predominantly pink desert camo.

Pink Beastie found lurking in MPC car park.

Other side.

 After Lou had expressed her horror/disgust at the Russian take on SAS desert camouflage we joined Mick for a cuppa and a chat in his Aladdin's cave like workshop. The place was full of all manner of sidecar related projects including a family sized sidecar and one extra wide one designed for wheelchair access all beautifully made from epoxied plywood. this was particularly interesting to me,on a couple of levels as I run a woodwork workshop for people with disabilities. We also got a tour of his other unit containing all manner of other treasures. (Wish we'd  had more cash) We eventually got round to viewing the Soviet Knight outfit we were supposed to be looking at. The bike wasn't too bad and had a bit of time and effort put into it with quit a lot of extras and improvements the sidecar however proved to be another story. It transpired that it was the same one pictured above, but it had had its Ural body removed for another project and then re-offered at a considerably lower price. The fibreglass body was quite small with very little boot space and would require a fair bit of cosmetic work to get it looking presentable. Also as the outfit had been original a solo model it had no reverse fitted. This was one of our criteria for going for a Ural as we only have three working hips and one working knee between the two of us due to being old gits with Arthritis, and lugging a fully loaded up outfit around on soft or uneven ground would be an issue. So our attention turned to the pink thing in the car park. As I mentioned earlier whatever we bought would have to meet certain criteria which Lou and I agreed on before we started looking. This was not gonna be a weekend only toy it had to get me to work three days a week, cart shopping, sacks of animal food, tools and DIY materials etc and provide us with something to bugger off for a day out or even the odd rally or camping trip so storage and carrying ability was a must. Well the pink beastie had all of this, a bloody great rack on top of the spare tyre, an 80ltr boot capacity, and enough room to  mount more boxes and racks and plus it had a tow bar fitted with all necessary electrics.

Rack and Tow bar

Being originally built as an outfit it also came with reverse gear and leading link sidecar forks as standard. So with all boxes ticked so far we came to the colour. As anyone who knows me can contest I don't give a damn about what my vehicles look like as long as they work. Lou on the other hand, being of an artistic nature has more of an eye for aesthetics plus SHE DON'T DO BLOODY CAMO!! Mick had explained that although the bike was a 2006 model it had very low mileage 2100 or so miles, hardly run in and had spent most of its life in a shed covered in mud and cow turd. which had resulted in rust and other deterioration so was a bit tatty and in need of some TLC. We muttered about the possibility of respraying it. Mick said that would be a shame as the colour scheme was pretty rare particularly in the UK, and that it was not camo, but multi-coloured as that's what it said on the log book ( He also surmised that the Russian painters had been drinking the paint thinners on the day they painted it).We thought it best to think about it for a bit. Mick and I discussed things 750 Ural as I have had my reservations about them as there's a lot of myths and rumours concerning them, Mick managed to dispel or explain most of them to my satisfaction  while Lou wondered around the bike taking a few pictures. Now Lou has this thing we call her lame duck syndrome if anything needs repairing, is damaged or tatty, is sick or injured or down on its luck, be it a vehicle, animal or a people she has to take it in and look after it. (Probably how she finished up with me to be honest.) So the tatty Ural with its knocks and scrapes was a prime candidate, and mick had given her the Multi-coloured get out clause to avoid it being camo. She eventually returned and had the same expression she had when she first set eyes on our old Landy. I suggested to Mick we talk money because I knew that look. He did us a deal that was within our price range. and agreed to derliver it the following Sunday.
 Sunday arrived and Mick turned up early with the pink beastie on the trailer.We sorted out the paperwork and money and loaded up the Ural and Dnepr bits (which I had spent most of Saturday digging out of various sheds) which had been part of the deal, and he toddled off back to Leicestershire (Mick had kindly offered to take me out for some instruction, but due to my insurance DVLA not getting their acts together it wasn't properly legal )   Leaving us the proud owners of a strange Multi-coloured (definitely not camo) Russian sidecar outfit. At some point during that afternoon Lou came up with a Name. We had been referring to it as the pink beastie since first setting eyes on it, which she then abbreviated to PB and from there to Phoebe. So now she had a name she was now part of the family.  

Phoebe has moved in.

Me relaxing in the sidecar, a nice comfy place to sit  and watch other people ( Lou )

work in the garden. 

Lewys getting to know Phoebe