Topic: Ural

[demon78]

Anyone run a Ural? My eldest wants one I think she's crackers but I'll go along and check it out with her.
Bill the demon.

[70CB750]

My friend had one over in Prague. Helped him many times to fix it, veyr poor excuse of an engineering, the quality is pure russian.

It was fun to hop on for a spin in those rare moments it was actually running, his was with sidecar. 

Bottom line, they would have to pay me to get one, but if you have enough time and are patient enough, let her have it - I suppose you will be the mechanic in charge 

[Bankerdanny]

Since they still make them and there is a reasonable sized dealer network in the US, I wouldn't be afraid to buy one.

I think they are seriously cool and would love to own a 2WD sidecar version with the Earles type fork.

[Leino]

Plenty of people in Finland like these bikes for some odd reason, I've sold at least three or four GS 1100 front fork assemblies with wheel, brakes etc. etc. they call it upgrade, I call it old crap 

[70CB750]

I know guys in Czech Republic who ride them too - but its a fix or repair daily. The sidecar helps on snow too - but there are many more czechs who run Jawa and Velorex combo.

[Terry in Australia]

While I've heard lots of positive stuff in bike mags about the latest Urinals Bill, as has been said before, the older ones are rubbish.

In the US (and I presume Canada, but I really don't know) you can buy a good used BMW from the 1970's or 1980's for a lot less money than a new Urinal, and strap a sidehack on one and it'd be ten times better than one of those schidtboxes.

I had to laugh when I read the review on the new Urinal. The journo who wrote the article found someone who's owned a Urinal for a couple of years to write an "I own one" side-bar, and even though the owner put a positive spin on it, he admitted that it's had two major rebuilds in only two years of ownership, but was very upbeat about it, explaining how easy they are to work on, and how cheap Urinal parts are. Great, they break down a lot, but they're easy to fix.

Personally, I think your daughter needs some fatherly advice Bill, tell her to stay away from Urinals, nice girls shouldn't go anywhere near one...........

[HotCarl73]

i have a 1995 ural tourist. it was the last year of the 650 kickstart only. mine has been upgraded to a 2000 750 engine and electric start. it had some problems when i first got it. i stripped it to the frame and rebuilt it with a from scratch wiring harness, power arc ignition, japanese alternator, italian scooter handlebar controls, and various other "upgrades". i haven't been inside the engine or transmission yet. i painted it with krylon in the backyard during a wind storm. looks just right. the new ones are supposed to be quite a bit more reliable than the ones from just ten years ago and they have a pretty good warranty from what i understand. new ones are expensive (starts at about $12,000) for what you get, which is old technology and russian quality control. i love mine and drive it almost every day. i don't take it on the highway, because mine doesn't like going over 60 mph for too long. the new ones are supposed to be better at cruising at 65 all day. you would still need a tailwind to crack 70 mph. if you like talking to people, you will always have a crowd around it. i usually park it and get as far away from it as possible as fast as possible. your run to the corner store can take hours answering questions. people always ask what year it is and are shocked to find out it's a 1995. when i told one guy it was a '95, he said, "i didn't even know they made motorcycles in 1895!" to sum up: it's an antiquated piece of russian crap, and you should get one as soon as possible.


tons more pics here:
http://s458.photobucket.com/user/HotCarl73/slideshow/Ural

[Terry in Australia]

it's an antiquated piece of russian crap

+1

[Bankerdanny]

Antiquated piece of crap or not, I'd still have one.

[70CB750]

Better get some classic BMW.

[grcamna2]

Better get some classic BMW.

+++1 The beemers run a LONG time & classic Airhead parts are readily available everywhere. 

[Leino]

Different strokes for different folks, I can see the fun factor in getting a Ural but old BMW... where's the joke in that?

If you don't take yourself and motorcycles too seriously, no problem in owning and riding, (not to mention fixing) a Ural.

[HotCarl73]

when i say it's an antiquated piece of russian crap, that's meant to go into the "pro's" column.  that's what's so neat about it.  mine had some teething problems when i first got it, but it's needed nothing but oil changes and basic tune up work for about 5 years now. most of the time that i leave the house, it's on the ural. whether it's running to the store or on a 100 mile ride to the lake and back. having the sidecar is great. it always has about 25 pounds of tools in it, a couple helmets, a jacket, a bottle jack, a couple gallons of water and other various things. i don't even have to clear any of that out to take my 300 pound brother for a ride to home depot to pick up a few gallons of paint. and this is without the two luggage racks that i've removed and have hanging in the garage. on my two wheelers, i can't even find a place to stash my sunglasses other than my pocket. it's not about how fast you get there, it's about how much fun you have getting there. and the ural is just plain fun.
http://youtu.be/lla5fvwSt7c

[heffay]

Wow, tough crowd...
I would like to get one for camping trips with my wife.  The 2 wheel drives will go anywhere.  The older ones do have more issues.  We watched a Ural video at MMI at the end of the year and there was old world war era footage of a 15' tall pile of sprockets and the workers would just toss them in the pile as they were coming off of the line.  There was also old footage of soldiers doing donuts in a snow covered field.  Urals are just fun, plain and simple.  My dad has an '06 2wd.  No trouble that I know of since it was new.  Here's a shot of it circa 2008...

[Terry in Australia]

I'm looking at a 1970's Honda C50 stepthru on EBay at the moment. It's the same model bike that I learned to ride on in 1968 when I was 8 years old.

I have no reason to want one, I'm a big fat man with a garage full of big fat powerful bikes, but there is an emotional attachment that keeps drawing me back to this little bike.

I guess emotional bonds transcend common sense, and that's probably why certain folk like certain bikes. It doesn't matter that a Urinal is a piece of poorly engineered cheap-arse Russian crap that is slower and less reliable than my Honda C50 stepthru, if you've developed that emotional bond, common sense takes a holiday.

Nothing wrong with that. The C50 has only 3 hours to go with no bids, I think I'll snipe it...........    

[HotCarl73]

i think you nailed it terry. good luck on you're C50!

i just remembered something else funny about the urals. on the sovietsteeds.com forum we have a term that we use to describe the time you have to add to each trip to allow time to answer questions. it's called "UDF" or ural delay factor. it's real and it has to be figured in to trip times.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks mate, I've got a CB750 Cafe Racer, a Suzuki GS1000, a BMW K100RS SE, a GL1200 Interstate and a Triumph Rocket III, and I have the same problem, wherever I park it or buy gas etc, I have someone, or a group of someone's, who want to ask me questions about them.

I was a tad concerned when I came back from paying for my gas and my Triumph was surrounded by some 1 percenters, but it turned out that they wanted to just ask some questions about the Triumph, because a couple of them were thinking about buying one. I asked them if they could own a Triumph, being a "Harley only" club, but they explained that their constitution said they could ride American or British bikes, so that wasn't a problem.

They weren't bad blokes really, they looked pretty scary, but they were genuinely interested in my bike, and I was happy that they didn't kill me. Speaking of killing me, I just mentioned to the wife that I might buy the C50 and she threatened to cut my balls off with a blunt soup spoon, so I guess I won't be buying it. Enjoy that Urinal.  

[HotCarl73]

bummer on the c50, but i guess if YOU want to enjoy a urinal again, you better do what the wife says, or you'll be sitting down to pee.

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, I rarely do what she wants me to, but the garage is so full it's overflowing into the patio at the moment, so I'll be good. Cheers, Terry.

[Bankerdanny]

From today's Mods vs Rockers event in Chicago

[BeSeeingYou]

Probably the closest most of us will get to owning a WWII vintage BMW.  Didn't they just reverse engineer the BMW/Zandaps they captured during the war?  Minus a few modern accoutrements it's 1941 all over again. How cool is that?

[Gregorymoto]

The ones sold in the 90's are crap. The ones that are sold now are good.

[HotCarl73]

i think that the nazi's gave the soviets the obsolete 1930's bmw design before the war. i think the germans were getting oil from russia before the war and they got the bmw design in return. there's an ongoing debate about whether it was stolen or given. i have books that say both. it was definitely a straight copy of the bmw built to much lower standards. the russian infantry used them in ww2.

[70CB750]

The russians collected factory equipment and more from all Germany, they used tanks to yank manufacturing machines from concrete pads and loaded them on the train any which way the stuff came.

Russians or Soviets have a long tradition on breaking patents and copyrights.

[Terry in Australia]

The Urinals are a copy of a much later BMW, probably the /5 series bikes of the 1970's. The Dnepr (another fine Russian motorcycle) most resembles the bikes in the pics posted by Rusty.
 
http://encarsglobe.com/gallery/dnepr-k-750.html

[70CB750]

Just like the Prague Sturgis 

[70CB750]

Chopped up Dnepr - original Ukraina.

[BeSeeingYou]

Just like the Prague Sturgis 

That's pretty funny....setting aside the Nazi thing of course.

Those look like Zunndaps in that picture.  Does the Ural drive the sidecar wheel  and have a reverse gear?  Would be an awesome off road machine.  How about going down the highway with a fake MG42 mounted on the sidecar....the looks would be priceless.

BMW R75 (1943) vs Zündapp KS750 (1944)

1942 Zundapp Military KS750 with Steib B2 Sidecar

[70CB750]

You got me there, I could not tell Zundap from a BMW

[BeSeeingYou]

You got me there, I could not tell Zundap from a BMW

The frame is the easy tell.

[HotCarl73]

as far as i know all urals with a sidecar have reverse. they make one wheel drive and two wheel drive. two wheel drive is selectable. mine is one wheel drive. the two wheel drive model is heavier, more expensive, more complicated, harder to work on, and has a higher center of gravity because the sidecar has to sit higher to clear the driveshaft. all of that not by much. you can only use 2wd on loose stuff like gravel and snow. the 2wd is obviously better for snow and off road. i don't do either of those so i went for the 1wd. i did mine kinda like a bobber where i took off a lot of stuff to make it lighter, lower and faster. it didn't help with that but it made it look how i wanted.
Before:



After:



you're not really supposed to ride it without the car, because of the weird steering geometry designed to work with the car, but i've done it a few times and haven't even died once. it does handle weird though, especially once the tires are squared off from never leaning with the car attached. it gets a lot quicker though.

[HotCarl73]

if any of you saw my thread about trying to hook up a hondaman key switch saver relay, you'll be shocked by this. the relay kit was four wires. 2 of which were power and ground. it took me about 10 questions to get it working right. i rewired the ural from scratch with spools of wire.

[Connito]

Anyone run a Ural? My eldest wants one I think she's crackers but I'll go along and check it out with her.
Bill the demon.

I got a 2002. In my opinion, one of the best ones to own for a few reasons.
This is one of the last years that have drum brakes all around, which makes the spare wheel usable in the front as well and once set up right, the drum brake stops just as well as the disk. On the hack, the stopping comes from both rear wheels, not the front as a on motorcycle or car. It has the "modern" 750 engine and an electrical starter. Only once I wished I had a two-wheel drive. The rest of the time is just an expensive dead weight.
My $.02

Cheers,
Pete

[knowsnothing]

Peter, i was waiting for you show up 

[Connito]

As you know I don't post much, but I couldn't resist giving $.02 about the Ural.
I see that I have to update my bikes in the signature line too... May be I will do that now.