Anyone tried out the newer versions available with sidecar. I have seen a few short trip reports [or long trips that turned into short trips]. Just wanted to see if anyoen had done any long trips on them.

long shot, but you're not the guy that rides Highland bike in the NE are you?

well im now officially riding so could be classed as a biker still not on my africa twin but got a little gx125 to run about in. Did a course to get my cbt in rain and sleet[ even got hailstones at one point]. And only so far been riding in the dark for a few weeks to and from work havnt been out in daylight yet or in non windy dry conditions.
Bikes off the road till new mirror turns up as it got blown over in the works car park but the roads have been sheet ice for the last few days and were still getting gales up here.

but so far i have learned

when a large 4x4 is facing the choice of hitting a stupid pheasant or someone sitting their bike they will always choose the guy with the L plate even if it means almost rolling their discovery by swerving onto your side of the road forcing you to swerve on to theirs. The pheasant was clearly of the ned breed as next time round the route I saw it kicking gravel onto the sharp corner from the side of the road into my path and pecking at a tin of tesco super strong lager.

IF you split up with the missus change your will and make sure they know the dogs getting everything that way when you ask them to tell you what the weather is going to be for your first drive home in darkness they dont forget to tell you about the severe weather warning, expected 80mph wind gusts and severe flooding of roads thats plastered all over sky news.

Council van drivers have a sick sense of humour they find backing up when they have just seen you so their friend in a lorry can pull out in front of you most amusing.

trying to give someone the finger or two fingers doesnt work when your wearing those twofinger mitten gloves. You just end up looking like a trekkie biker doing a spock salute. All credit to the kid in the back of the car who gave me a perfect salute back and even mouthed live long and prosper.

If you buy a bike from a gamekeeper check the headlight angle for the full beam as having it pointing at 45 degrees up the way may be great for spotting and shooting rabbits and deer on hillsides but its bloody useless for driving in the dark.[ unless you like the blitz searchlight effect everywhere you go]

In a crash helmet no one can hear you scream [ or shout "may your next crap be a hedgehog"]. So I have now adopted the subtle headshake and droopy shoulders when people try to kill me on the road.

Having fun all the same dont think ill ever be a fast rider but really enjoying the tinkering so far changed the oil, topped up brake fluid, sorted out the gear linkage on the gear changer as my feet are too big to get under it, fixed the dodgy speedo thingy on the wheel which was full of crud. adjusted the chain. which having never held a spanner before and doing most of it by torchlight in the freezing cold as there was a powercut was really good fun.

Also spent 4 hours trying to apply the haynes manual to the 650 africa twin which wouldnt start removed all the fairing and seat, checked plugs and battery and then realised I had forgot to pull out the choke and hey presto it started. Did find a small compartment in the fairing I never knew was there assume its for tools but its just the right size for half a baguette and a small bottle of wine maybe its because its the mainland europe version of the bike.

Buy a Ural , 200 million Russians can't be wrong .
[Can they ?]

Mount a machine gun on the sidecar and blast away at council vans .

Working night shift ?
Nothing on the telly ?
Let HU be your friend .

__________________
Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light. - Spike Milligan
"When you come to a fork in the road ,take it ! When you come to a spoon in the road ,take that also ."

Plenty of spare parts then.
I had a look on their web site, like the look of the two wheel drive version. I'm always up for a challenge.
Cheers
Ian

My preference goes to the one with the rocket thingy .. the front end of the tube fires the rocket .. so that would clear the way forwards, while be back end of the tube shoots out flames .. clearing the traffic off the back ...

__________________
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Regards Frank Warner
motorcycles BMW R80 G/S 1981, BMW K11LT 1993, BMW K75 G/S

And no doubt assisting forward motion !


A Uralling we will go !

YouTube - URAL parade side-car IMZ Ural Moscow
YouTube - Ural Sidecar Motorcycle Offroad Gear Up 2WD on Dirt Trail
YouTube - Ural Madness

I'd take a 2wd version RTW ,no question it would be a great laugh .
But I'd pack lots of spanners and spare parts .

__________________
Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light. - Spike Milligan
"When you come to a fork in the road ,take it ! When you come to a spoon in the road ,take that also ."

.........AGREED!!

__________________
'He who laughs last, was too slow to get the joke'
Never confuse the map with the journey.

"---------AND ANYTHING WITH MORE THAN 3 WHEELS......."

Oh come on now Dave , be charitable , I should hate to get shot at in my Series One Land Rover .[ might have to pull out the Franchi Spas hidden under the seat and shoot back !]

I reckon a Ural would be fun , but too expensive here -- $13,000 -- yikes !

__________________
Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light. - Spike Milligan
"When you come to a fork in the road ,take it ! When you come to a spoon in the road ,take that also ."

Quite a few people have fitted these bikes with either two or three cylinder diesel engines, The economy gives them very good range with more freely available fuel. They will also continue to run in deeper water

I took new Ural from Moscow to Kyrgystan via Kazakstan back in 2004.

It was doing fine (although large chunks of the bike would often fall off) until the engine catastrophically failed near Bishkek. I believe the shaft that drove the alternator fragmented and destroyed the engine. A common problem.

The locals did not know how to work on the new ones, however given they were smoking wild dope, drinking rot gut vodka and eating opium pellets they gave it the old college try.

My traveling buddy had it rebuild several times but it just blew up again, he ended up abandoning it in Uzbekistan due to a detoriating security situation.