Why you should NOT buy a Ural motorcycle

[JustKip]

Originally Posted by madeouttaglass

That makes it an even better situation. A cheap flight up and a beautiful ride back down the coast. Bring a monkey because the car will be on the right side for epic views of the ocean.

That's the whole problem. I have cash for the used one, but not 5-7 days to fly up and have an awesome ride down the coast till march or april. And that's not the best time for riding the OR and n CA coast!

But, to make it even more tempting, Merrill lives an hour from my folks and 2 brothers.

[WVhillbilly]

Originally Posted by gspell68

The latest generation of Ural 12v alternators is probably the same as the one from your Suzuki Samurai. It's a Nippon Denso and together with its adapter, it costs about $600.
A lot of people still run the 35Amp grenade with no problem. Others have had the weak shafts break and the cog fall into the gear tower within a few thousand miles.
The first generation alternator was a low output one, but relatively hassle free.

That is stupid money for a part that is so simple.
And 35 amps is good enough, until you add a couple lights or some heated gear.

And I'm among those who don't have a Ural yet, but I have learned a lot about them in this thread.

[eastbloc]

Originally Posted by WVhillbilly

That is stupid money for a part that is so simple.
And 35 amps is good enough, until you add a couple lights or some heated gear.

And I'm among those who don't have a Ural yet, but I have learned a lot about them in this thread.

The first-gen alt was 14 amp. The troubles with the hand-grenade have pushed the price of this once nearly throwaway item to over a hundred bucks.

My new-to-me Wolf has the hand-grenade. I don't plan to mess with it as long as it is functioning. A used engine and a new Denso cost about the same.

[WVhillbilly]

Originally Posted by eastbloc

A used engine and a new Denso cost about the same.

That's horrible

[SilkMoneyLove]

Hmmm, switch old light bulbs to LED ones and draw less?
Cheaper than replacing the generator/alternator.

[eastbloc]

Originally Posted by SilkMoneyLove

Hmmm, switch old light bulbs to LED ones and draw less?
Cheaper than replacing the generator/alternator.

The point of replacing the 35tA is not to get more power, but to stop it from grenading your engine.

For what it's worth, I ran heated gloves and vest on my 14 amp-powered Tourist every winter without a problem.

[madeouttaglass]

Originally Posted by JustKip

That's the whole problem. I have cash for the used one, but not 5-7 days to fly up and have an awesome ride down the coast till march or april. And that's not the best time for riding the OR and n CA coast!

But, to make it even more tempting, Merrill lives an hour from my folks and 2 brothers.

We did most of the west coast in early April this year. The weather was perfect. I also bought mine before Christmas and waited until it wasn't too cold to ride back home. (NY, see below) If it were me I'd be having some family members pick it up and store it until then.

[windmill]

Originally Posted by WVhillbilly

That is stupid money for a part that is so simple.

Not as simple as you think, the alternator must be disassembled, and the housing machined to fit the adapter. If they were mass produced that would be on the steep side, but they are a specialty limited production item.

OE BMW alternators cost as much or more, there are more affordable aftermarket options, but I doubt the aftermarket will ever offer them for Urals due to such limited demand.

[biggziff]

Originally Posted by PLANofMAN

I don't know about the others, but now that biggziff owns an Ural, he's mellowed some. Probably due to the Ural's amazing restorative properties (smile restoring anyways). If I keep getting all this overtime at my jobs, I'll own one sooner, rather than later. and that's something I will drink to.

Mellow? Me?

It's hard to be mean when you're on a machine that sounds like a thrasher and goes like a 8N!

I do love it though.

[PLANofMAN]

Originally Posted by JustKip

Unlike gspell68, I thought you were pretty cranky after your first post.
But since you say you are serious about getting one, are we talking new or used?
This one just a couple of hours north of you only has 5,000 klicks on it. Merrill is fanatic about taking care of his stuff... http://sovietsteeds.com/forums/viewt...hp?f=4&t=24669
$7k is a fair price for an almost new bike. I've been thinking new myself, but if somebody don't snap this up it's going to be hard for me to resist the temptation, even though it's a thousand miles for me.

I was leaning towards new, but I have noticed that rig and I do like the color scheme and the 3,000 miles on the o.d. Unfortunately, I don't have access to that kind of money at the moment...just paid my property taxes. If by some miracle, it's still available when tax return time rolls around, I'll look into financing the difference.

"I thought you were pretty cranky after your first post."

I'll admit I wasn't exactly the soul of kindness, but I was getting peeved, not because I was being ignored, that I could have handled. But because people were basically telling me that my question wasn't worth answering and/or was irrelevant. Yeah, I overreacted (a little bit) but I've mellowed a bit myself. Life's too short to waste much time on being annoyed at people who are, in all likelihood, living thousands of miles from you, but would give you the shirt off their backs if you showed up at their doorstep needing help.

[JustKip]

Originally Posted by PLANofMAN

Life's too short to waste much time on being annoyed at people who are, in all likelihood, living thousands of miles from you, but would give you the shirt off their backs if you showed up at their doorstep needing help.

That's true in general. And I've never seen it more true than with the sidecar community

There's even a great deal of compassion for Bokad

[BeemerChef]

Originally Posted by JustKip

That's true in general. And I've never seen it more true than with the sidecar community

There's even a great deal of compassion for Bokad

Totally.
Ara and Spirit

[gspell68]

Originally Posted by eastbloc

The first-gen alt was 14 amp. The troubles with the hand-grenade have pushed the price of this once nearly throwaway item to over a hundred bucks.

My new-to-me Wolf has the hand-grenade. I don't plan to mess with it as long as it is functioning. A used engine and a new Denso cost about the same.

On the old 650's, it wasn't that big of a deal if the alternator took out the gear tower: all the repair parts cost about $40-$60, it was just the PITA of working on it.
Five years ago, I bought my slightly used 650cc engine for half the price of a Denso alternator!

[gspell68]

That is stupid money for a part that is so simple.

It's not as simple as you think. It's not necessarily the alternator itself that's so costly. There's an adapter with a cush coupler that cost about $225 if you can find a used one! It's the whole gear driven alternator concept that sux.

[eastbloc]

Originally Posted by gspell68

On the old 650's, it wasn't that big of a deal if the alternator took out the gear tower: all the repair parts cost about $40-$60, it was just the PITA of working on it.
Five years ago, I bought my slightly used 650cc engine for half the price of a Denso alternator!

Ditto. I used to buy used 650cc engines from Gene for $300 shipped.