Here is the skinny on Ural ownership. If you are an individual who takes no responsibility for anything, or you are scared of getting your hands dirty, regardless of your certification, or you want to keep up with your two-wheeled buddies, or you are easily influenced by others.....THEN DON'T BUY A FUCKIN URAL!!! Please don't. I am sick and tired of the whiney idiots. Do your research and make your decision....and spare the rest of us. Christ Almighty. Sent from my Mobile
Howdy All, I can't help it, I still think this is the BEST Ural promotional thread that has ever existed, Ilya should be giving bokad a kickback for all the Ural's this thread has sold. Its also a very good read to learn about all the highly trained motorcycle professionals and those who are afraid of getting a bit of dirt under their nails to realize that perhaps a Ural is NOT suited to them, that they would doing themselves and the brand a real big favor to look elsewhere to fulfill their expectations of the perfect machine. Still the folks at Ural continue to pursue their dream of building a better and better machine that fills the needs of folks who want and enjoy something that still has an edge to it, something real, not a cookie-cutter, computer designed, plastic thing with no mechanical soul. So please continue to post to this thread, the longer it goes the more Ural's it sells and the more laughs it gives to us who truly ride the HELL out of these damned things and enjoy every minute of it.
On occasion, yes. This ain't one of them. I admit I had similar questions in 2007....but that was 6 YEARS ago. There is more online knowledge and information since then...bar none. In fact I run a Ural forum now. If you cannot glean enough info about the brand now, then you don't deserve one....spend $30Gs and put a hack on something else. There are a few sidecar dealers on ADV rider, Dauntless is one, if memory serves, that does not like Ural's and will dissuade you from the brand. Honestly, stay away from the brand if you are persuaded by stupid comments. My Ural took me a across NA in 2011, and I wouldn't have done it on any other bike. Sent from my Mobile
Just wanted to chime in and say that, while I work as a vehicle test engineer, driving cars and riding motorbikes to their limits damn near daily, I love my Ural. Life would definitely suck more without it. I ride it to work, leaving a Duc and a perfectly good car in the garage. And my colleagues are constantly curious, in a good way, about the machine.
What Mr Cob said. We also have a GS with Ural car. It is stored in Texas for a few months! "Going were no other sidecars can". Stay well. Ara and Spirit www.TheOasisOfMySoul.com
I did it on a Goldwing in 09. Your should try that one, that was a blast. People are under the impression that it is 3000 miles coast to coast. Liars! I did it, it was 4500 to Somerville, California and round trip it is 10,500 miles.
Hello Stank and Kip, The point of my post, which you clearly missed, was to reply to the following statement by Jamraqui: "I'd just be replacing a host of parts every 3k-20k miles or so with the same parts that would fail in another 3k-20k or so... ad infitinum." I don't ride my Ural a lot and don't claim that it is high mileage, but I certainly dispute, based on my own experience and other owners whom I know, that Urals have chronic major parts failures every 3,000 to 20,000 kms (or miles). These type of exaggerations are the fundamental flaw in the premise of this thread and although may well be some individual's experience, are not indicative of all. So a big rasberry to your cheap shots about my lack of mileage, I ride it only for fun. But I have one and it works so my opinion is valid to the conversation.
+1 I have just over 20,000km and no major parts breakage. Anything that has gone wrong on the bike has been operator induced. For example; Broken marker/tail lights from hitting obstacles or tipping the rig on it's side off-road. Broken rear mud flap. Branch decided to travel with tire into wheel well. Broken dipstick handle...I didn't replace stretched out dipstick crush washer so it wouldn't stay tight. Was tightening with a wrench when it should have just been finger tightened. Oops. And that's it. I ride off-road frequently and have taken the rig through things that most Ural owners wouldn't even contemplate attempting. While I'm far from high mileage, it hasn't been babied.
I had a rough time in the beginning with my 2010 Patrol but I loved it so much and really wanted to make it work for me. Broken rocker arm 3 days after I got it, failed crank at 18,000km's, FD failure short time later, all covered under warranty, lost about 2 months total riding time but now that we got the bugs worked out it has been super. Just passed 34,000km's in 2.5 years of ownership and I use it daily to get to work & run errands around town. It was a roll of the dice so to speak and it bit me a little but not enough to scare me away.........yet.
Urals aren't really all that bad, but you should be very mechanical to own one. Here's a story about my first not real long ride on a Ural and sidecar. http://pokiespages.com/ural.htm
I've only got 8k kms in 7 months of ownership on my Ural. No problems so far, knock on wood. My wife, the monkey, loves it. <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/TsCG_fczEKlZn4PvgG3NttMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-N9f1g5dzs38/UcJB-xxROwI/AAAAAAAAIlQ/TV0boxoja4g/s800/IMG_1997.JPG" height="600" width="800" /></a> At Deal's Gap for fuel then we headed to Cade's Cove via the Dragon and the Foothills Parkway. Bicycles are for riding the loop at Cade's Cove. We exited Cade's Cove by way of <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/nnzajRcIGfO8V_UpbJT-utMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-X8Ex6wzTDH0/UcJCe2RLSiI/AAAAAAAAImM/cp4gIT4U5nE/s800/IMG_2012.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a> <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ZayLAhVbHPvU6LbjGfntmNMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-vIPFun37-QM/UcJCgtU8JxI/AAAAAAAAImU/NRTxFAOtXsA/s800/IMG_2016.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a> One of eleven low water crossing on Parsons Branch Road. Very rough with lot of pot holes and steep climbs. Glad I had two wheel drive in a few spots. What a rig for a great ride in the Smokey Mountain National Park.
We sold our GL1800 after we spent a month crossing the country on the Ural. Our one way was 10,000 KMs. You must have taken a shortcut. The rig is currently at 19,000 KMs without a single issue.
I love my Ural, I have a lot of other bikes and ride them as well but I can't get over the satisfaction I get when riding it. I took the leap knowing what I was getting into. The factory stands by their warranty second to none. It is safe to say that if you have a problem while under warranty Ural will take care of it. They are improving in all areas. Again, I read as much as I could before I bought one. They clearly do not have the reliability of my Japanese or British motorcycles but no other company offers anything like it. That may be what drew me to a Ural, old tech, low power and true go anywhere capabilities with a passenger and a weeks worth of gear. 2wd for riding in the snow is great and keeps me from cabin fever in the winter. I have had no major problems but if I did I know it would be taken care of. To me it's worth the trade off of an uncertainty that it might be in the shop for repairs. I am not a Ural fanatic, I am fortunate to have a stable of "favorite motorcycles" but I knew going into ownership that they are nowhere near as bad as a select few make them out to be. My Yamal is a great quirky slow mountain goat of a motorcycle and if I have to swap cranks under warranty every 2 to 3k so be it.......it's that much fun. Much respect to prospective buyers that opt out due to Internet rumors and that are unsure of the Ural commitment, their money their choice.
One thing that drives me nuts about Ural ownership is the propensity for carb fouling that I blame on ethanol fuels. Given the size of my stable and the frequency with which I can ride a bike that can't sit for a few months without needing a carb cleaning is a real PITA. This is the case with or without fuel stabilizers. My Urals have never had this problem when I was younger, single, and used them every day, but nowadays it seems every time I go to ride I've gotta pull the damn carbs off and give them a chemical bath. And it's something special about Urals, my ZZR is carbureted and has never had this issue except when the PO left it in a garage for two years.
Howdy eastbloc, As I ride my Ural's all the time I don't have a carb fouling problem with them, however the carbs on my R1, the BSA, the TW200, the injectors on the Hog and the Beemer would be in awful shape if it weren't for a product called "SeaFoam". In my experience it is the best product to prevent fuel oxidation and carb gumming up I have found. When I know I won't be riding a bike for a while I fill it with fresh gas after dumping in the tank about four times the suggested amount of SeaFoam, run the bike for a few miles making SURE the SeaFoam has made its way into all parts of the fuel system, then park the bike. I have never had a carb or injector gum-up sometimes with a bike sitting for 6 months or more before its ridden. If you haven't used SeaFoam, give it a try, ya got nothing to lose.
In support of the above statement by Mr. Cob regarding Seafoam I have to say that it is by far one of the best carb treatment products I have used. I've tried them all and Seafoam really works best and regular doses will keep the carbs working on anything that has one. Now back to your regular programming.