My review of Ural Motorcycles (2012)

Whatever. You like motorcycles. We all do here.
I'll say it again, if you're letting some internet guy get you so worked up that you hold him in sincere "contempt and disgust" for whatever brand of bike he doesn't happen to like, you're taking this all way too seriously. You've probably got more posts in this thread than Bokad. He's been playing all you guys!

Oh, and admitting you would potentially commit insurance fraud on the internet is a bad idea too, in case you ever have a claim.

With a limitless budget, sure, that would be great. Ural makes, what, roughly 2000 bikes a year? That's can't translate to a lot of income for development. I think a lot of people see Ural as this big international company, and don't realize just how small an operation it is now.

The fact you can get in touch directly with the people that run the whole show, and that Ural takes consumer recommendations and acts on them at all is pretty frikkin' impressive.

Not to mention, what you're implying (or the way I read it) is that the manufacturer should make everything the best it can possibly be. Unless your talking luxury vehicles, NO ONE does that. They all cut corners to make a product that works acceptably well for the price. The catch here is that "acceptable" is subjective, based entirely on one's expectations. I think most of us Ural owners aren't expecting that much. If it was up to the manufacturer to make everything the best it could be, there would be no such thing as aftermarket.

~HA

Color me schooled. I was unaware of a lot of those (non-colored). So, not 70 years old, but still certainly not modern. Anyone got a timeline on when the other changes took place? I assume the electric starter is the most recent change...?

The red I knew about.

The stuff in blue I feel doesn't merit mentioning (JMHO). Certainly not the catalytic converter, since that's not even an improvement.

My sidecar has a swingarm (purple)??? I need to go look at that... never noticed!

~HA

Ha ha, he said he'd burn it. I don't think there was mention of making a claim on it. If I remember correctly, Mr. Cob has a history with incendiaries... maybe just a touch of pyromania?

~ha

You clearly don't get it. Out of all Ural owners, I would say Cob has the most contact with them and is their biggest advocate and representative around. They have a long history together which both sides have been benefitted.

The Ural community is small and we all bend over backwards to help one another. Even after all the shit in this thread, most people would help the OP if he broke down near them. People take this personally because this is a family even if we don't want to admit it. IMWA is a small company. When there is a part needed that they don't have in stock, other Ural riders step up and send the extra part if they have it. Ural riders have a different connection then other brands.

Group hug!

Dysfunctional family, but yes indeed, a family.

Since the dawn of the 'net, I have been member of different brand forums (IBMWR was one of the first on) including forums for my current stable of Rokon, URal, Honda ST and Argo (okay, at 8 wheels technically not a bike) and I would agree wholeheartedly that the Ural folks are the most likely to offer advice, tools, personal wrenching time, etc.

Definitely a different attitude of collective (communism from the bike's history?) belonging.

I think IMWA call you suckers.

Well said. Community is important specially when on the road full time. We are sitting in Salem now awaiting for our Gear Up to be delivered Wednesday and on set up to be #1 of a Special Edition called "Terra Explorer". Am I nervous? Apprehensive? Total opposite. How many Dealers would open up their home (with my Buddy "Spirit") for these few days? (We arrived too early!). How many Dealers would teach hands on all the vehicle's maintenance from A to Z? I already "did" one that was being set up... I am amazed at it's welcomed simplicity even compared to my 96 GS! So much looking forward to the continuation of this Journey on these narrow paths were a U Turn was an apprehension daily. And again, MrCob... Thanks for the much phone support of the Pre Dealer multitudes of questions.

Stay well, Ara and Spirit.
From somewhere on the endless Road...

Seriously! What other company would make you think it is a good thing that you can do your own servicing and warranty work?

Can you charge them for your labour?

BMW would go out of business in a heart beat if they did so!
In an average Lifetime of a GS (as an example) one will spend more money on Dealer Service than the bike's cost.

Really?........................Really?

Yet you and others criticize the "Uralistas" of having bad internet manners???

Seriously?! Have you ever owned a 60's-70's-80's British anything with wheels?


OMG, the stories I could tell you about my brother's Triumph Spitfire...

EDIT: To be fair, though, the Land Rover our neighbor had was a nice bit of kit.

Get what? I think you missed my point.
If I was the OP I wouldn't accept any help from any of the posters who ran me down with such venom. It seems disingenuous, to say the least. Riders should help other riders regardless of marque. You don't get any kudos from me for calling another guy a pussy, asshole, etc., and then saying you'd help him if he was down. He's been down, and some people here just piled on him. Gleefully, I might add.

Anyway, I'm a member of a Forum for each of my bikes and I can assure you members of all are just as helpful and chummy as the Ural folks, as are members of just about any group of folks with similar interests. It could be a quilting circle! The Ural "cabal" isn't exceptional on that account.

What I've not seen on any of the other Forums is the hateful language directed against a guy who isn't as brainwashed as some of the "cabal" seem to be.

Granted, Bokad used some provocative language, but he kept his cool a lot more than some here, as another member pointed out.His posts didn't equal the responses he got.

I think he's just like a kid poking a hornet's nest for fun, at this point. You all fell for it. He's laughing his ass off in some internet cafe on the other side of the world right now!

Should I dim the lights for you guys now so you can have your group hug?

America is a big place, with limited Ural dealers it's awesome that Ural will send you a replacement part and let you install it and still honor the warranty. What other company will do that. BMW dealerships are kinda rare here as well, so if your dealer is 300+ miles away, would you rather trailer your bike to the dealer and deal with that or put in your own part at home??

And an easily serviceable bike is awesome, way better than say my VMax or Venture or or or other bikes that if the specs are off you have to pull the cams, measure shims and all that crap. My Guzzis and my Ural are/were super easy to service bikes, that's a plus!!

But say you don't know one end of a screwdriver from the other, Ural will pay any shop you choose to replace the defective part. They overnight the part and send it with pre-paid shipping for the return defective part. Try that with any other mc company.......

rotflmao!

So making a customer trailer their rig hundreds of miles for something minor that they can do themselves is a better solution?
How is giving the customer the additional options of doing it themselves or paying any legitimate MC shop to do the work a bad thing?

Most changes took place in the late 1950's and early 1960's. The e-start probably came out in the mid 1990's as an option depending on where the bike was destined to be sold.

The same with CV carbs. I know that some of them are auto-choking, so that's cool, but mostlty it's an EPA thing because they don't vent gas/fumes to the atmosphere.

Yep! Your sidecar has swingarm suspension! Some of the German R-71's had sidecars bolted directly to the frame. OUCH!
http://holopawcorvette.webpointusa.com/images/customers/209234/docs/IMG_0031_NEW.JPG Items 7 and 18.

Clearly you have never seen some the flame wars on IBMWR..........................

When I was learning to do regular maintenance on my Ural, I had regular advice and personal support from fellow forum members (CURD) in my area.

The OP and his henchmen started by bashing the brand and its owners. We have all had bad experiences with machines, but please show me the thread in many years on forums where I posted "You Should Not Buy a BMW K100RS" or anything like it.

Fair use for him to post about his issues and there was help offered, but he and his cohorts went off on rants about deluded Ural owners.

If it had been contained to the statement "I will never buy a Ural again", that would be reasonable, but to attack everyone else who either currently owns or might want to own a Ural is over the top.

Sorry bud, but that is a personal attack and totally unwarranted.

The Cabal has met in judgement of you and decided you are a hypocrite.

Wow!
You don't get it. :huh
You do not have to do the work yourself.
I don't have a new Ural but if I had the opportunity to do my own warranty work I would jump right on it. And I would not give a S if they paid me or not.
As for service and repair work the only time I have anyone else work on any of my vehicles is if I do not have the tools like an alignment machine for the car or a valve job.
Chris