Editing IMZ-Ural (section)

==History==
IMZ-Ural's origins are linked to developments in the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] during [[World War II]] as the [[Soviet Union]] was preparing to repel possible military action by [[Nazi Germany]]. Mobility was especially stressed after the Soviet Union had witnessed the effect of the blitzkrieg on [[Poland]], and a small, rugged, multi-purpose vehicle that could handle Russia's underdeveloped road network and pockmarked battlefields was a priority.
[[File:BMW R71 at the War & Peace show 2010 pic2.JPG|thumb|A BMW R71, the bike from which the original IMZ M-72 was developed.]]

=== Pre-war and the Nazi Invasion ===
[[File:IMZ M-72 in Moscow 01.jpg|thumb|An IMZ M-72 on display in Moscow]]
A meeting was held at the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR at the end of 30s to devise a motorcycle that would be suitable for the [[Red Army]], and the Nazi [[Wehrmacht]]'s [[BMW Motorrad|BMW]] R71 motorcycle was found to closely match the Red Army's requirements. Five units were covertly purchased through Sweden and handed over to Moscow Motorcycle Plant, recently organized in a retooled bicycle factory. Soviet engineers dismantled the BMWs and reverse engineered the bike's design in every detail. Molds and dies were made to produce engines, gearboxes and other components. The production of these new military sidecar motorcycles, designated M-72 by the Red Army, started in August 1941.
[[File:1941 IMZ M-72 Formation.jpg|thumb|A formation of Red Army IMZ M-72 motorcycles.]]
The suspected military offensive occurred in the summer of 1941, as the Nazis executed [[Operation Barbarossa]] and invaded the Soviet Union. The opening stages of the attack were so swift and so effective, that Soviet strategists worried that Moscow would quickly be in range of [[Luftwaffe]] bombers. On October 21, 1941, the decision was made to move the motorcycle plant east, out of bombing range and into the resource-rich Ural mountain region. The site chosen was the town of Irbit, located on the fringes of [[Siberia]] in the [[Ural Mountains]].

[[Irbit]] was chosen because it had been an important trade center throughout [[Russia]]n history and was the site of the country's second largest fair before the Revolution of 1917. The only available building large enough to contain the factory was a brewery outside of town, beyond the railway line. This brewery became the Irbit Motorcycle Factory, or IMZ (Russian Ирбитский мотоциклетный завод; Romanized Irbitsky Motosikletny Zavod), and quickly began cranking out motorcycles for the war effort. On February 25, 1942, the first batch of motorcycles—assembled from the parts brought from Moscow—went to the front. During WWII a total of 9,799 M-72 motorcycles were delivered for reconnaissance detachments and mobile troops.

=== Post-war Developments ===
After the war, the IMZ factory was expanded and updated, which including construction of frame and body parts shops, an aluminum foundry, and other shops to produce various motorcycle components. Throughout the 1950s, the motorcycles produced by IMZ were for military use only. By the end of the decade, however, military production was moved to a sister plant in [[Kyiv|Kyiv, Ukraine]], (KMZ) while IMZ focused on producing bikes for the domestic market. During this time, the IMZ facility grew into a massive, Soviet-style collective factory that produced nearly every component used to build its motorcycles. The factory's various shops produced everything from rubber and plastic parts to shock absorbers, brake components, and control cables. Nearly 10,000 people worked at the massive factory, and at its peak it produced around 130,000 motorcycles annually—primarily for the Russian domestic market as a cheap alternative to automobiles.
[[File:Irbit HQ.jpg|thumb|The old IMZ-Ural production facility in Irbit]]

=== Ural Exports ===
IMZ began exporting motorcycles in 1953, mostly to Soviet states and allies in the Global South. Over the next five decades, Ural motorcycles were exported to every corner of the Soviet Union and could be found as far afield as Western Europe, Southeast Asia, India, and even the U.S. In the 1970s, UK company [[Satra|Satra Motors]] imported Urals to sell under the Cossack Motorcycles brand. In 1994, an independent distributor called Ural-America began selling Urals in the United States. This set the foundations of Ural's presence in America and led directly to the formation of the current IMZ-Ural company.

As of 2023, Ural Motorcycles are sold all over the world through a network of over 190 dealerships and service centers. Ural's main market is the United States, but the company's bikes are popular in Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and throughout the European Union.