Any one here owned a Lada Niva?

[mattbrown]

my fist car was a lada riva, drove link a tank, and i loved it,

 

[s_zigmond]

It would be as a toy, so refinement is unimportant. i could get a brand new one in LHD for 10K as they are back for sale in the uk, but i dont have 10k and its alot of money for somethiing so basic. i just like the fact they are easy to work on, and are good off road.
Think ill keep my eyes open for one after winter when the prices drop slightly.

Cheers for all the comments

 

[MCsanandreas]

i also rode a ukranian moterbike...they have a personality all of their own....

Ural? trying to think what else that may have been. worth a thread all of its own!

 

[Ivo]

i also rode a ukranian moterbike...they have a personality all of their own....

Ural? trying to think what else that may have been. worth a thread all of its own!

Ural is the Russian version, Dnjepr the Ukrainian one.

 

[silverclaws]

A pal who moved out into the country also liked the Niva, so much so he got one brand new, then another, then another before getting a Daihatsu Fourtrak. The reason he went through so many in the course of eighteen months was because of faults, big faults. What I got to hear about, was the first one the radiator just one morning dropped out and he ran over it, that was just getting out of the lane where he lives to the B road. The next one, the steering wheel became diengaged from the steering arrangement, he could turn the wheel, but it wasn't altering the steering, and it eventually went upside down at the side of the road in a ditch. I never heard about the third one what happened to that, but he lost his enthusiasm for them.

He was by trade, a motor insurance engineer, so knew his stuff, the faults occurred through fatigued metal, not bolts working loose.

But of any that still exist now, the problems should be worked out, and a fine little motor they are two, basically Russia's answer to the range rover, permanent 4wd, independant suspension and a 1600 cc motor, I quite like them, but then I tend to like anything weird.

 

[MCsanandreas]

i also rode a ukranian moterbike...they have a personality all of their own....

Ural? trying to think what else that may have been. worth a thread all of its own!

Ural is the Russian version, Dnjepr the Ukrainian one.

ah yes! all based on the ww2 German BMW militry outfit of course. never tried a sidecar,would be just the job today in the snow.

 

[gibbleking]

ah the cossak...lovely bike...makes me want to vist leningrad,,the chinease copied it too...

 

[MCsanandreas]

thats true but the Chinese built ones were not as good. cant remember where i saw it but was watching a travel show(i think) and the blokes went to the Dnepr(sp?) factory. a real falling down dump of a place now as no state funding after the fall of communisum.

 

[gibbleking]

a quick link to the ural and some babes

http://www.cossackmotorcycles.com/ural650.html

 

[MCsanandreas]

ha! cool