Ural motorcycles was founded in 1941 in Russia, making sidecar motorcycles to aid in the Russian war effort. These days, they're manufactured in Irbit, Russia, and are managed out of an office in Redmond, Washington.
Any Ural with a sidecar is what you'd call a "social lubricant." Every trip will take you an extra half an hour as you're stopped everywhere you go by curious onlookers wondering about this wacky rig you've just parked.
This Ural with a sidecar is several orders of magnitude more interesting than a stock example. There's so much to see, that even someone who knows Urals will want to stare and ask a bunch of questions, even if you are in a hurry. It is an oxblood leather, brass pointed, houndstooth tweed, gold-accented thing of steampunk-evoking glory.
The shop that did the work is Le Mani Moto; that shop's Gary Capone and Scott Avery are obvious artists whose attention to detail is nothing short of astounding. This bike started life as a stock 2006 2WD Ural sidecar outfit, with two driven wheels (one of which is on the sidecar). The Le Mani Moto team tore it down to the frame and redesigned the sidecar suspension while tidying up the frame itself. There is so much to say about the build. Everywhere you look, parts have been repainted, upgraded, replaced, or covered in leather.
The seat of the motorcycle has been reupholstered in leather and tweed which matches the interior of the sidecar. Every hydraulic line has been covered in stitched leather. Every light and several points in the sidecar are brass or brass-pointed; there are rivets and polished wood that evoke something extremely expensive and seaworthy. Every single inch of the machine has had some love, from the front double headlights and hand-leafed Russian coat of arms on the front of the bike, to the intricate tooling on the valve covers, to the completely custom fabricated tail.
Capone said, "my background in the interior design biz is always knitted into every detail, such as the color combinations, fit, and finishes, material selections, etc. The bikes are completely designed and details are curated before we turn the first wrench. Paint schemes, leather and textile selections, metal patina finishes, etc. Exactly the same methods as developing an interior design project."
Go over to the Silodrome page for a lot more photos, because it is worth studying this incredible machine in each of its tiniest details.
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