The Ramblings of a Uralogist- A cross country ADVenture on three wheels

Howdy there T&J:
Hey thanks for the thread updates. Very cool. Did you get a chance to check out some Bristlecones?? Hard to believe when you look at those things and relate there age to human history its mind blowing. Plus there so neat looking.:eek1

Hey Mark: Its funny about the Pumpkins. Scanning some pics here and came across a couple of those.

Safe Journeys
LZ
PS Hey if your Son needs some help at House or whatever just call.

That really sucks. Here in Northern CT we had that happen late October and all the trees are busted. They look awful now with the leaves starting to open. We lost power for a week and some for more than 11 days. Hope it stops soon. Hijack over.

Hi! It's cath here in snowy Rochester, NY. Guess the Hills got hit hard according to Becky. Just wanted to let u know we are watching your progress and enjoy the pictures. Much love!

I wish the power would go out! Maybe get me out of work tomorrow.

The dogs made a Dad look-alike while they wait for your return.

They said that's why they're called "snowman"......With faces like that, you could never get mad at them. Our Molly gets away with murder, too.

They wait impatiently......for their turn in the Ural side car.

Andddd...the snow at home still hasn't stopped. We lost the top of one of the pine trees behind the woodshed and branches around the property. I've kept the fruit trees shaken off. The dogs are happy as can be and enjoying their 'bland diet' of rice and chicken all week.

Next year I go on a trip in the warm weather, and you can stay in the April blizzard with naughty dogs. :)

I hope you guys are having a blast and enjoying some nice weather! Can't wait to see more photos. Take your time and enjoy the heck out of Utah- I'm so excited to hear your report from that part of the trip. Love you guys!

Great ride report so far, keep it up. I cant wait till i can finally get a Ural one day.

Great report. Better pics.

We are stopped in Durango to catch up on emails. Got to sleep in the desert in the tent in Utah last night. Met some more great people. Pictures and story to come later. All is great.

I'd ask this on SovietSteeds.com. My strong guess is that they would say no.

You can remove the sidecar from the 1wd models (tourist and retro).

Getting the car off is easy, getting it back on straight takes a while. Also, I've heard that only the retro handles well solo due to its normal forks. The earles forks on the tourist aren't meant for 2 wheel operation, not to mention your drive wheel will most likely be worn down to a flat profile making it squirrely in turns.

If you want to ride a 2 wheel ural, look into the sT model.

Thanks

Howdy Rusty Rocket,

The correct answer when it comes to the Ural is "yes" and "no", allow me to explain.

On any of the one wheel drive rigs that have the telescoping front forks, YES the sidecar can be removed and the bike ridden as a regular motorcycle.

On the one wheel drive rigs that have the leading link front forks you could remove the sidecar and ride the bike as a regular motorcycle but you really wouldn't be very happy doing so, the rake and trail are all WRONG for use as a stand alone motorcycle.

On the two wheel drive rigs, most if not all have the leading link front end so this would make them BAD candidates for regular bike use, add to this you would have to remove the sidecar drive shaft. In short ANY of the Ural's with leading link front forks "could" be ridden without the sidecar but you would have a very poor handling bike that could be down right dangerous.

Another thing to keep in mind, "IF" the rig had been used for a while the tires would be worn FLAT across their face, this would make cornering BAD as when the "bike" leaned into the corner you would be riding on the "square edge" of the tire. Sidecar equipped bikes DON'T lean, well they can lean until they flip over.

Some of the old BMW's had a leading link front folk that could be setup to run as a solo bike or as a sidecar rig, to the best of my knowledge Ural has never produced such a front fork assembly.

Great ride report. If I may ask, where did you get the US decal on your rear fender? Haven't been able to find one!!

PM inmate reactortrip, he sells them in the vendor forum. Great gy to deal with and the decals are top notch.

Ok, spent last night camping in the desert so I need to catch up before I go to bed tonight.

Before we finished at Bryce we met a newlywed couple that reminded me a bit of my buddy Dan and his darling, sweetheart of a wife Myra. They were about our age and had gotten married the week before. Their honeymoon trip was riding his very nice RoadKing to Bryce Lodge. As we pulled up she asked if she could have a ride in the sidecar. Julie happily said yes and we were off for a putt down the road. After that the four of us got to talking and they are actually thinking of adding a Ural. He had thought about it, a dirtbike, and a Jeep, and now had some feedback from the bride.

Julie and I spent that night at the Bryce View Lodge. Nice place, great price, but the cattlecall breakfast place across the street should be avoided. $35 for a $10 breakfast. My advice is to go down the road.

As usual, the temperatures were great and there was no rain. The ride around Utah was great with only 40 or so miles of gray stone that reminded us of the not so pretty LasVegas area.
The bike is still running 100%.
Here are the shots on the way to Moki Dugway:



































We even got to see some petroglyphs.







Up at Muley Point we met Ian and Sue from the UK. He drove their Mustang out there just to make us off road guys look bad.
Wonderful people that we really had fun talking to. He's a teacher of the American southwest and comes out on extended vacations to really learn about it. My kind of teacher! We ran into them later in town and they even offered to share their room. I had ideas of sleeping in the desert though. I wish them all the best and hope our paths cross again.









I thought my machette was a good match for his leather Crockodile Dundee hat.

Enjoying the read. Would you ever go back to a Wing?
JWnWyoming

Then it was on down the infamous Moki Dugway!



















Stopped by Mexican Hat.






And on to the Valley of the Gods. Almost camped in one of the primitive sites there, but I rode on a couple miles more to see the sights and sites at Gooseneck Park.
















Camp Desert Rat at Goosneck: