IMZ Ural Motorcycle With Sidecar

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Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. I don't know much about motorcycles, but I do know that we need more Russian vehicles!

I spotted this Soviet bike in just about the same parking place in which we saw the 1978 MG Midget earlier in the year. Normally, a non-four-wheeled vehicle wouldn't qualify for this series, but I've given up hope of ever spotting a GAZ Chaika or even a Lada in Alameda and so the rules shall be bent to allow this three-wheeled comrade entry into the DOTS pantheon.

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The Ural can trace its ancestry back to pre-World War II BMW forebears, as can be seen here in its boxer-twin engine design. This particular model may not be very old (hey, you can buy 'em new!), but its design goes way, waaaay back.

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