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Ural Motorcycle with a sidecar! WOW but YIKES

melensdad

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I think I fell in love with a big fat pig last night :cool:


I'm an Olympic style saber fencing coach and sometimes ride my NC750x to the fencing club in the evening. I got one-upped last night when a couple of my students rolled up to the club last night in this 2010 Ural. Its a father-daughter pair of students. The daughter is 15, she has been practicing on a dirt bike and plans to get her drivers license and motorcycle endorsement as soon as she is legally able. The dad, who has become my friend over the past few months, mentioned the Ural in a conversation a week or two ago. He also has a new JANUS.

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Wow! That is beautiful:)

I agree!

This is a 1 wheel drive version of the Ural. But they also make a 2 wheel drive where the sidecar wheel is driven by a driveshaft that extends under the sidecar and attaches to the motorcycle via a gearbox. The 2 wheel drive version apparently has a maximum speed of about 55mph. He said the 1 wheel drive version will top out about 70mph.

These are hard core old school cool. All metal. Couldn't find plastic on this thing anywhere. Beautifully formed metal, chrome, polished paint and real pinstripes!

Ural are a Soviet era knock-off of a BMW. I believe the design goes back to roughly 1943 BMW design, but they started production roughly 1947 and pretty much has not been improved too much. They did upgrade from cast iron to aluminum heads and added things like an electric starter, and electronic ignition, but I don't think those 'innovations' occurred until sometime after the 2000 model year. It still has a kick starter, which I was told is a very difficult task to try to accomplish, but the electric start makes it reasonable to start. Its also got a reverse gear so pulling out of a parking spot is easy.

I think the 2017 (or '18?) models may have had some modernization of the systems but the look remains the same.
 
Recently saw and article highlighting this guy:

Electric Concept — Ural Motorcycles

Electric ural...

I love the gas cap with the plug underneath...

I think I read the long term plan was two wheel drive with a second motor (and possibly additional batteries?) on the side car...
 
You can find “all things Ural” on the Soviet Steeds Forum. I’ve lusted after a sidecar rig for years..
 
Last year I was riding a section of the lewis & Clark trail (Hwy 12) from Lewiston Idaho over to Lolo Montana and stopped in Orofino for lunch. I rode around the little town looking for a little mom & pop diner/cafe to eat and spotted a couple of bike out front. When i pulled up i noticed one of them was a newer Ural. After lunch i noticed a very nice gal was standing next to it, so of course i walked over and started up a conversation. I found out it was hers and she was from the Walla Walla/Tri-Cities Wa area. We talked about her Ural of course and she mentioned it had EFI! Other than working on it a lot, she said it was neat/fun to ride, although not very fast. I recently saw a t-shirt that said "Ural Motorcycles, making mechanics out of ordinary people for over 50 years"! Ahahahhahaha. They sure seem to be popular though, i have seen a few of them on my travels, just not ever been my cup o'Jo! :{P
 
There are character bikes and there are character bikes. I can’t imagine owning a 1952 East German copy of a prewar BMW in this century. BTW, the tool kit includes three brass hammers. One for frame and running gear fittings, one for auxiliary items like foot pegs and lighting, and a tiny one for the carbs. No kidding.
 
When I was first shopping bikes I looked at the Ural, since I take a kid with me quite often. The top speed (and the price point) had me looking at other bikes right away. I see way too much freeway to be okay with 70mph with the rev limiter pegged. Other than that I think it would still be really cool to have one. I'd love to use the 2wd version for camping trips.
 
I saw two Urals/sidecars in Tok, Alaska on the the way to Dust to Dawson. One went by me while I was stopped taking photos on the Top of the World Highway. I guess they made it through the 130 miles of gravel to Dawson City, as I never saw them stopped along side the road.

People drive all kinds of things on that gravel highway, from quarter million dollar motor homes to restored model T Fords.
 
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