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By Mel Sinquefield

Hello All, I'm working in Baku, Azerbaijan now. Although a world away I can still keep up with your escapades there in Anchorage through my connection with you and the Northern Riders e-mail notes. Here are photos of me and my Ural that I bought upon arrival shown below.

A whole troop of riders rode their Urals on a Rally from Baku to Tblisi (Georgia) to Ceyhan (Mediterranean Coast of Turkey). They spent nine days on the journey. I wanted to go but couldn't spare the time. After a couple of months with the Ural and repeated visits by the mechanic, I sold it to someone so that he could make the trip. The Road Rallyers (Baku Bad Boyz) took a mechanic with them and basically a bike's worth of spare parts in the side cars. Even though this is the BMW of 1938, it sure doesn't have the reliability of the Boxers that we find so dear today.

There were 17 Urals that were brand spanking new and had been located in an old warehouse where they'd been stored for about four or five years. One of the guys I work with bought all 17 and then re-sold them to his friends at cost. I paid $770 for mine, complete with sidecar. They required considerable assembly and pre-delivery inspection work which was also part of the fun. The story of how these 17 came to be where they were is somewhat of a shady story with a few sketchy details. Apparently somebody owed someone a wad of money and was unable to pay cash. He was somehow or another able to come up with these motorcycles. The warehouses where we found them stored were formerly used in Soviet times for temporary storage of materials and equipment unloaded from the trains. The tracks are adjacent to the buildings. You certainly identify the Beemer heritage with these boxer engines. My best regards to you all and Happy Riding. You've got another good month of driving - that is, for those of you that are suited for it. Enjoy the pics...

Mel Sinquefield Manager, Health & Safety BPX(Caspian Sea), Baku Office sinquemm@bp.com (994 12) 97 96 72 (direct line) (994 12) 220 3154 (mobile) (994 12) 97 72 07 (home)

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