How did you end up on a Ural?

Early 60's ural for maybe 6/7 years ?

It's for life and not just for christmas

Wow...awesome thread even if too short so far! The Ural Gear-up has just become my dream bike (don't own one...yet). I have always had an interest in older military motorcycles (never owned one) and I even checked out the Urals in the early 90's but the reliability factor and parts availability was dismal in the US at that time. I now notice that there is a Ural dealer in a town very close to me though they only have the Patrol in stock at the moment. I'll be checking them out very soon. Please keep the stories and photos coming and thanks for sharing.

Anyone have ride reports of long haul dual sport adventures on them? That's what I'd love to do with this machine. I love the thought of an all terrain machine that doesn't temp me to get airborne every 10 seconds. Can it be ridden all day long comfortably (realizing that is a relative term). How about for a tall rider (6' 5")?

Hi Splisken,
Matt and his wife are the ones you want to read about. Three nights of reading their stories about life on the road with their Gear Up got me off my butt to buy one. It looks like their site is down for some work. here is some of it though:
http://bugsonmyface.com/tag/ural/

http://www.thetimelessride.com/
http://smilesandmiles.com/
a few other than Bugs on my Face.
enjoy....

Also if ya have never seen the Amazing Mr Cob...
http://youtu.be/iz1sTwI536k

I hadn't ridden since an R50/5 back in the '70s.

On their 2009 trip to Alaska, Sharon and Elmer (Abenteuerfahrer) stopped to visit us. Sharon and my wife were best friends growing up, but hadn't seen each other in many years. Soon as I saw their beautiful, bright yellow rig, it brought back fond riding memories.

After they left, I followed their Alaska thread (http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?p=10028114#post10028114).
At some point in there, Elmer got kinda stuck in sand and mentioned that a Ural would have been useful about then.

I'd never heard of a Ural, so visited the website. I think I got hooked at that instant. After about a half year obsessing, we visited UralNW (conveniently < 1 hr away), rode around a bit on their lot, and made the final plunge.
This has probably been the most happy-making purchase I've ever made
So, without further ado, introducing Sara the Hack


P1010522 (Medium) by skagitstan, on Flickr

I first saw a Ural or Dnepr side hack in the early 2000s and thought it looked pretty cool but I wasn't much interested at the time. In 2009 I got a Buell Ulysses in hopes of doing some mild adventure riding. I have found the Uly a bit to tall for my likeing and no one makes an agressive enough tire.

About a year ago, I started researching the Urals. Learned a lot, but never got close to pulling the trigger. This year, a bad crank bearing on the Uly put a damper on my plans to aquire a Ural. The Uly has since been fixed and runs strong... But I still found myself drawn to a Ural.

I rode a Ural for the first time yesterday (in a parking lot)... I am now offically hooked!! I would have bought a brand new one had the dealer had the unit I was looking for.

So... Not on a Ural yet, but hope to be soon! I have my eye on a particular 2007 Gear Up. If that falls through, I am still hoping to find another 2007 & up Gear Up or possible other model.


Keep the stories coming! Good reading!!!

T'was a dark and windy night.....nah just kidding! Had a patient tell me about the Ural, or as he said in some Slovak type accent OOHAUL, took me a while to find Ural on the net (from the info I was given) but when I did I sort of thought some day maybe. A few months latter I was cruising the net and found a showroom new 2007 that was in 2009, with but a few scratches, sort of a funny story, found out latter that it fell from the ceiling during a trade show,. Long story short, drove a few thousand km in the midst of winter to pick up this rig from a defunct dealer who was getting rid of remaining stock. To show the kind of fool this owner is the thing never ran, when I got it, RJ, he simply shoved a bag of carb parts in my hand and said it should be easy to get it going. (He had spent a couple of days trying, apparently) Funny thing is I did get it running and run it did.

By the time spring sprang we had clocked about 2,000 km, its now been two years and the speedo shows 45,000 km, have been from coast to coast, across Labrador, down to Mexico and up to Alaska.

An Ural is one of those things thats not good, great or even (at times) acceptable most times but overall its just perfect, nearly all the time.

iv'e lusted after a sidecar rig for the 30 years since i sold the r69s i rode for ten years and never found a chair for. fast for ward to 2006. my bride says "well if you want a rig, why dont you get one?" (I do have the perfect wife) so i started cruising ebay for a rig, and found a dneper. the voices all said no but i decided to pull the trigger any way. the day before i was to make the 8 hour drive for it a friend said he had a buddy who had 2 brand new never titled or ridd een 10 year old urals he might sell. i called a budy and we drug 2 very dirty rigs out of a trailer in a warehouse paid the man less than one dnepr and hauled the derilicts home.20,000 klimoters later it has proven as reliable as an anvil. it aint for sail and ain't gonna be any time soon.............................i am hooked as is my bride. it is my avitar

I was 3 years old when my pop put me on his Indian and rode the fence line of the farm...so I was hooked on bikes...and have owned bikes for the rest if my life....but as technology has progressed...so has the inability to actually do any needed work on my own on bikes,,,with all of the fuel injection, the tubeless tires, etc.....So when the time came for me to get another set of wheels and to celebrate my 60th year of life on the sphere...I decided I wanted a bike that would stay upright, that I could work on, that would start every time and that could take me anywhere I wanted to go, regardless of the road conditions or the terrain. Voila! Enter the new and updated Ural Patrol...Sasha is my truck, my jeep, my escape and my only source of transport and I love it! Won't be owning anything else until I assume room temperature...whenever that time occurs. Used an older Beemer with a hack to go from pole to pole back in the 70's and took a trip from iceland to new zealand on a similar bike...I was hooked! ...so on goes the road...on a Ural...a trusty steed, and something that can be fixed by my own hand and repaired at any tent along the trail....

This is a photo from 1972, when I was seven-and-a-half months old. That's my big brother at the controls. I started driving the rig five years later. All my buddies rode in the homemade hack. When I couldn't find one of them to bomb around the trails with me, a cement block was my companion.

Then I had a string of dirt bikes and three-wheeled ATVs. Eventually, I graduated to road bikes and ended up with a Honda ST1100. I love(d) that bike. Fast, sleek, smooth. I made time. I ate up the road. I went way too fast. It's in storage right now, with just under 100,000 miles on it.

About five years ago I saw a Ural Gear-Up at the Fryeburg Fair. Bill, from VT Cycles in Poland, Maine had them on display, along with some Indian made tractors. I was intrigued and went back to his display about seven times over the next two days. Something from my past was calling.

My wife and I went to Bill's the following week and took turns test riding it. I think we were gone for about an hour. Bill's a really good guy and didn't call the cops. Well, we thought it was a hoot, but a lot of money for something with a, small we say, less than stellar reputation for reliability. Remember, all my bikes, up till this point, were Japanese and very reliable. I like to ride, I don't really like to tinker.

But the thought of owning one stuck with me. A couple of years later, my band was getting ready to release a third album. I thought it would be a cool idea to have us on a Ural on the cover, since the name of the album was "Get the Show on the Road."



Once again, Bill at VT Cycles came through for us, lending us his personal bike for the afternoon. Aside form getting a fun picture for the cover, we had a ball on the bike, but I couldn't quite bring myself to give up the leaning and twisting of a two-wheeler.

But, fast forward to this fall. I spotted a good deal on a slightly used, 2010 Patrol T in West Virginia and something in me snapped. I convinced the wife it would be fun to have an adventure and go out to WV and get the bike. To my astonishment, she said OK. In fact, she told me she knew I'd eventually get one the day we test rode Bill's five years ago.

Now I have it. I love it. The tinkering is almost fun — now that I don't have an hour's worth of plastic fairing and covers to remove to get at what's ailing it. I've kept the ST100, just in case three wheels turns out to be too weird and devoid of gracefully carved turns for me. Well, let me tell you, theres NOTHING graceful about the Ural. But, what it lacks in grace it makes up for in character appeal. It's not a joy to drive, but it's a hell of a lot of fun.

The ST will be sold in the spring.

I used to want to be speedy and silent, but now there's no sneaking around town. I attract attention wherever I go. Everyone wants a ride and smiles breakout in my wake. I feel like a public service just putting down the street.

That'll about sum up Uraling won't it....

Yep.

In 2009 I bought a new Bonny with the intention of adding a chair. After doing the sums I gave up on the idea. Then i saw a Ural in the Ulysses mag. Love at first sight and half the price of the Bonny set up. Flew to New South Wales and spent 2 days learning how to ride a hack and touring around the New England ranges. 6 months later flew back to pick up the rig and ride it 6,600km (4,125m) back to Western Australia. I took the long way via Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Coffin Bay. Best fun I've had in 41 yrs of riding. I've just bought a 32L (8 gal) BMW tank for an R80GS and will have a go at fitting it. I'll post some photos if successful.

I live overseas and will be back in the US this summer. My wife and I are talking about buying a Ural to travel with over the summer. I have never ridden anything with a sidecar though. Is it very different from riding on just two wheels?

Yes, its very different. Imagine towing a trailer in a car but instead of pulling it behind you, its off on the right side. Everything you want to do, the sidecar wants to resist.

There is no countersteering and right hand turns tend to throw the rig into the air. It's highly recommended you take a sidecar safety course before purchasing a hack.

I appreciate the response and will follow your advice on the safety course.

:)

If you look through the history of this forum, you'll see a few stories of people with little/no experience hurting themselves or damaging their rigs. The example that comes to mind is an experienced motorcycle magazine reported (Christian Neuhauser), who ended up killing himself while testdriving a ural because he didn't know how to handle right-hand turns.

There is definitely something to be said for having "muscle memory" take over in the worst-case-scenario rather than have your brain try to determine the best course of action. The more 2 wheel experience you have, the more difficulty you may have in learning it.


Plus, having some experience will allow you to enjoy/appreciate the experience much more. Sidecars are a lot of fun, they are just a different type ride.

I was with Witness, when he crashed and when he took possession of the Ural a few weeks later....If I had any doubts before, I sure don't now......he's a rider 2

Thanks for all of the storys. They only fuel our excitement about taking possession of our first Ural T in late March or early April.
Our story begins with my wife and I who each ride extensively when we can and our newest family member Brutus. Brutus is a large Chocolate Lab that loves riding with us on our Mule. He always jumps in the back before we get in and absolutely loves long off road rides. Since we are away from home on our bikes as work allows it was obvious that we needed to include Brutus in our riding adventures.
Lots of internet research led me to Terry Crawford at Crawford Sales 5 hours south of us here in Michigan. We set up an appointment with him before going to the International Motorcycle Show in Novi. Our appointment was so pleasant and informative. Terry arranged to have a Patrol T at his shop from a client that is working with him on some Ural mods for us to look at. We spent 2 hours with him talking Ural and were very impressed with the rig and Terry's knowledge and easy style. Our ride in the hack (in 60 degree weather on January 6th!!!) let us know that we were hooked!
Once back home we made the final decision and recontacted Terry. As of today our new ride is in transit from the warehouse to Terry's shop for his careful assembly and several mods we agreed on. Talk about being anxious to see our new toy. As I said your storys only fuel our excitement. I'm also sure that Judy and I will have to figure out a riding schedule so we can share riding equally. (Thanks Ma for teaching me how to share!)
I also appreciate the cautions on hack riding safety. We are exploring appropriate safety classes.
And of course I've already made 1 additional purchase, a Grateful Dead bandana for Brutus. I will post updates and photos as things move along.
Ed and Judy

Welcome Ed and Judy! My wife Julie and I should be flying to the west coast to pick up our latest Ural about the same time. Let's hope for a mild April. So far, so good.