I thought it was a gutsy (and pretty true post).
I thought long and hard about getting one here in Australia.
I'm a long time BMW airhead owner, and have a soft spot for flat twins, but I knew I planned to do a lot of riding, much of it in isolated country and decided they were just too risky to bother with.
(By isolated, try to imagine a country roughly the geographical size of the USA, but with only 20 million people in total and +85% of those people living on the coastal fringes).
In the end I bought a low mileage, second hand Suzuki GSX 1400 and with a couple of mates, fitted a leading link and aluminium bodied chair.
The whole thing cost me about $2,000 less than a new Ural in Australia.
That was three years ago and I've now done two west to east crossings of Australia plus thousands of dirt Kilometres.
Not a single mechanical issue. Not one. And I still get lots of attention from Joe (and Josephine) Public.
I've never felt the need for a reverse gear or two wheel drive.
I get fuel consumption figures anywhere between 10 kms/litre to 13.5 kms/litre. Depending on my throttle hand.
That's roughly 28 miles/imperial gallon to 38 miles/imperial gallon.
Plus I have the grunt to sit on highly illegal speeds if I want and can pass large semi trailers with ease.
Plus my boot is watertight
and can double as a table, see below.
