What it means to funktion on the Road of Bones

In 2015 we managed the off-road conditions along the old Road of Bones in Far East Russia on 5 old Ural Motorcycles. In this short preview interview we want to give you a taste of what it means to travel a "non existent" road.

5 Artists on Ural Sidecars vs. Magadan & the Kolyma River

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In 2014, a two year journey on “a bitch of old Ural 650 motorcycles” with sidecars was started by a group of artists stitched together from all over the world. They began their journey from Halle Saale (East Germany) with the aim of reaching New York in 2016. Their journey was split into three stages. STAGE 1was Europe, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Siberia. STAGE 2 was Far East Russia including the Old Road of Bones and ending up in Magadan. You might remember Magadan as the place where Ewan McGregor began incessantly whining and complaining in the Long Way Round. It was no match for our merry band of heroes.

It’s time for STAGE 3 – Traveling from Magadan on the Kolyma Challenge. 5 friends traveled 600 km, riding their floating Urals, literally on top of the Kolyma River in rural Russia. This is their story.

Last we checked in with our heroes, they and and their bitch of Ural sidecars were in North America. They were testing out their amphibious Urals. That’s right. They built platoon-like platforms to ride their Urals across rivers. How else would you get over large bodies of water on three wheels? This month, we got back in touch with Suzy, about this magnificent world-tour that began in 2014 and continues to this day.

YouMotorcycle: How did the amphibious Ural project go?

Suzy: Great! We got to test out the technicalities on the Fraser River. Our test drive did not last longer than 3 kilometers against the current before we had to get pulled out to shore by a neighbor’s Zodiac. Other than the fact that the engine was overheating the pontoons worked perfectly – our steering system was perfect – and the sense of driving a Ural on water was beyond awkward 

A couple of weeks later we had our Russian visas ready and our bags jam packed with 250 kg of pontoons, custom made chains, sprockets and small propellers. Bonus: each of us was allowed to take a pair of underwear and socks!

YouMotorcycle: I can only imagine the shipping costs. Air Canada must have loved you.

Suzy: You know it. We headed out of Vancouver towards our first destination by air: Guangzhou Baiyun to Beijing (China). From there we took another flight to Vladivostok where we picked up another 3 pairs of pontoons (an addition of 100 kg to our luggage). From Vladivostok we flew out to Khabarovsk and another flight to Magadan. By the time we arrived in Magadan we all had x3 bigger biceps from carrying around all the puzzle pieces for our float…

YouMotorcycle: How did you feel about air travel after all of that?

Suzy: We all swore we’d never step in an airport again! But we reached Magadan and were eager to get things rolling. We finally got to meet our 4 “new” doppelgaenger Urals along with old friends at the local biker’s club. We also got to meet up with some good friends from Germany: Martin Henz – an electrical engineer from Bavaria who had replaced his BMW in Mongolia for a horse and then his horse for a Ural.

OGIER ET MICHELIN : QUATRE VICTOIRES À MONTE-CARLO !

SÉBASTIEN OGIER ET JULIEN INGRASSIA (FORD FIESTA RS WRC/MICHELIN) ONT REMPORTÉ LEUR QUATRIÈME RALLYE MONTE-CARLO CONSÉCUTIF ET LEUR 37E VICTOIRE MONDIALE AVEC MICHELIN. L’ÉQUIPAGE OGIER/INGRASSIA A OFFERT LE PLUS DE SUCCÈS EN WRC AU MANUFACTURIER DE PNEUMATIQUES FRANÇAIS.

Les conditions ont été particulièrement difficiles sur ce 85e Rallye Monte-Carlo, première manche du Championnat du monde des Rallyes FIA 2017, qui ouvrait une nouvelle ère en WRC avec des World Rally Cars plus puissantes et les retours de Toyota et de Citroën dans la série.

Les routes verglacées et enneigées autour de Gap et dans le Haut-Pays niçois ont piégé de nombreux concurrents et compliqué les choix de pneumatiques. Les pilotes Michelin ont utilisé toute la gamme à leur disposition : Pilot Sport super-soft SS5, soft S5, Alpin et Alpin-clouté.

Le rallye a basculé dans l’ES13 quand le pilote belge Thierry Neuville a brisé une suspension de sa Hyundai i20 Coupé/Michelin contre une bordure en béton. Il avait jusque-là remporté cinq épreuves spéciales et comptait 51 secondes d’avance sur Sébastien Ogier.

Le quadruple Champion du monde, qui découvrait quant à lui sa nouvelle Ford Fiesta RS WRC/Michelin, avait concédé une quarantaine de seconde dans un fossé (ES3). Il a hérité de la place de leader avant la dernière étape, et, sur la neige recouvrant le Col du Turini, Sébastien Ogier n’a pas tremblé pour remporter son quatrième Rallye Monte-Carlo d’affilée et offrir une première victoire mondiale à l’écurie britannique M-Sport depuis 2012.

M-Sport aurait même pu envisager le doublé avec Ott Tanak victime d’un problème moteur le dernier jour. L’Estonien est néanmoins parvenu à conserver la 3e place face à Dani Sordo pour une poignée de secondes. Les ennuis de Tanak ont profité au Finlandais Jari-Matti Latvala qui offre une 2e place à Toyota/Michelin pour son retour en WRC depuis 1999. En WRC-2, l’équipe Skoda Motorsport et Michelin ont signé un doublé avec Andreas Mikkelsen et Jan Kopecky.

Sébastien Ogier a remporté sa 37e victoire mondiale avec Michelin, devenant ainsi le plus pourvoyeur de succès de Michelin en WRC devant son compatriote Sébastien Loeb (36) et le Finlandais Tommi Mäkinen (23).

Bmw R80 by Jerikan Motorcycles

If you are a cafe racer enthusiast, you have to remember the TV commercial about Coco Chanel perfume.
This commercial was the inspiration point for the amazing project of the Bmw R80 Cafe Racer by the french Jeremy, owner of Jerikan Motorcycles. 
Enjoy the video, and also the sexy Coco Mademoiselle, keira knightley.

https://youtu.be/DYwHgdlq9cY