Ural - Horizons Unlimited

**Kurt** · #1 30 Apr 2002

Anyone have any feelings or experience with Urals? Specifically the '2 wheel drive' sidecar outfits?

Kurt

**Grant Johnson** · #2 30 Apr 2002

Did you see the story of Mullie© and Nobilé, Netherlands, Cape Town to Netherlands. In last years ezines.

Urals have their virtues, but they escape me personally...

Agricultural, circa 1940...

Yes I have had personal experience, albeit limited. No thanks. For ME. YOU may have a blast.

------------------
Grant Johnson

Seek, and ye shall find.
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One world, Two wheels.
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

**Kurt** · #3 1 May 2002

Granted, they aren't the cat's meow as technology goes, but that is one of their plusses as far as I'm concerned. I get a little worried with some of the newer technology: EFI, computer controllers, ABS, power brakes, etc. Can't get that technician to fit in my saddlebags and he eats like a pig.

Kurt

**Grant Johnson** · #4 1 May 2002

True, but with a Ural you need the sidecar to carry the ordinary spare parts, like pistons, valves, heads, coils, crankshafts...

Mullie replaced a valve at the side of the road... a piston somewhere else I think...

Simple is one thing, crude workmanship and bronze age metal technology is another I'm not prepared to put up with. OTOH, they are improving significantly, the manufacturer is trying hard. See the Aussie distributors site.

A fair number of people ride them and love them. Many hate them and would never touch them again. You pays your money you takes your chances.

I LIKE electronic ignition and wouldn't consider going back for a regular riding bike. EFI - if it's as reliable as EI then it's fine by me - and so far it seems to be. Yes it will strand you if it quits, but it's simple to fix - phone/email your friendly dealer and DHL the new part to almost anywhere in the world in a matter of days.

Remember that there are other parts that can and will fail too, requiring the same DHL fix. See the Ratays shock story, or their oil in the airbox story, or Chris Brights shock story, or Dag Jenssens broken crankcase story or any of a hundred others, all require shipping bits. So it's not just the new tech that can stop you, it's the stuff we should have down pat by now, like shocks.

Pick a bike that you LIKE, don't sweat the small stuff and have fun. If anything breaks, deal with it.

------------------
Grant Johnson

Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------

One world, Two wheels.
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

**Kurt** · #5 2 May 2002

I'm told they're using 750 engines in all the new bikes which are supposed to have some more reiable parts: Pistons, valves, etc. Time will tell I guess.

Kurt

**vincent danna** · #6 15 May 2002

hi
now in novosibirsk, russia
already some 5000 kms in russia
soon in mongolia
great, very friendly and helpful people with my bmw
URALS all over !!!!
they seem ok, a lot of spare parts, they always compare urals and bmw
dneipr are same too

safe travels
i guess you need a lot of spare parts for ural

**zippy** · #7 5 Sep 2002

Hi
I have lots of experiance with Ural/dnepr

http://www.ura.freeuk.com/shout.htm
finishes with my experiance of the latest russian version of electronic ign.
They are much improved,but I would still not recomend them other than a hobby ,and I love them dearly,like a wayward child.
Having said that I know people like Fred "oily" Wells rode an outfit across the Sahara back in the "60's. and Others who are doing Uk to Oz
and the parts are dirt cheap...you just need so many of them.
I have a dead Dnepr motor next to me now.a good simple design poorly built,out of crude alloy,the best ones went to soviet military.

**bergie** · #8 13 Sep 2002

My friend has a sidecar-less Ural Wolf 750, which participated on our European tour this summer.

Our trip was about 8500kms, half of which was driven on East European roads (Via Baltica and southwards).

The bike's main issue was the short service intervals (about 3000km), but Ural maintenance shops were relatively easy to find, and they provided excellent service.

After the trip we finally started doing the maintenance by ourselves, so this shouldn't be a problem next time. The Ural is a very simple machine to maintain, and provides easy access to all major components (air filter, oils, valve clearances, carbs).

The Russian tyres shipped with the Ural were very slippery, resulting in several crashes. We replaced them with Avons resulting in much better handling.

Gas consumption varied between 6,5 - 12 liters per 100 kms, better gas mileage being on the slow (60 - 90kmh) roads in the east. The bike was a new one, so the mileage is bound to improve slightly with usage.

The only problem on the trip was that the valve clearances started slipping on our way back through Germany. Reasons for this were exceeding service limit by 1500kms and blasting at full speed on the German autobahns. Bad valve clearances caused the bike first to not start with kickstart, then stall at traffic lights, then significant loss of power, and finally only start by hill starting. Valve clearances were quite easy to set correctly next weekend over some

s. :-)

All in all, the Ural performed much better than our expectations, and will participate on our future excursions as well.

The Ural is a very nice bike that causes lots of interest in other bikers. The Ural rider community also is a very friendly one, resulting in lots of nice chat and

.

BTW. I've seen a 650cc Ural Solo Classic run a Iron Butt Bun Burner test (1500 miles in 36 hours) succesfully.

Next summer we'll probably also bring a Jawa along. We'll have to see how that performs.

You can read about our trip and see pictures at http://reissut.nemein.net/