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Ural motorcycles

So I'm a huge bike nut on top of a northern redneck type a self proclaimed BBQ pitmaster and a slight military historian but I plan to get a bike once I turn 18 and I got wondering about the new urals how good are they to get parts for and ease of fixin reliability ride quality ect ect and how do they compare to say a harley as a iron 883 was one of my top choices
 

mutt_kahuna

Member
259
8
18
Location
M151 country,Nevada
Aloha....for sheer 'what the heck is that'...then the Ural is a good choice...it does have some military roots....if you can afford one I'd get a WWII WLA Harley or Indian....I've got the relative of the Ural the Dnepr bike with hack...LOADS of fun to ride...if you're good at working on your own bike the ural or dnepr would be a good choice...the newer ural's have been upgraded quite a bit for reliabilty....here's a pic of my Denpr
 

Draftjim

New member
25
0
0
Location
Missouri
The man you want to talk to is Jim Petit at Raceway in washington state.
The forum you want is Soviet steeds.
I went, I saw, I smelled the old motorcycle shop aroma.
I road a flying chair.
Very useful machines.
Reliability issues before 2007.
3 disc brakes as of 2014 Probably a good thing.
Fuel injection as of 2014.Maybe a good thing depending on view point.
Type in ''Raceway Ural The Deal'' and read.
 

saddamsnightmare

Well-known member
3,618
80
48
Location
Abilene, Texas
February 6th, 2014.

Pretty much 1937 BMW technology with the reliability of a slightly crazed mule. If I had a choice between a Ural and a 40 year old Honda, I'd take the Honda, as parts are about as hard to get, expensive, and at least it ran like a watch when new... The Ural, they had better have done a lot of upgrades since the 1980's when the reliability was worse then an old Harley and parts were worse and much too hard to find when you needed them.:sad:
 

Draftjim

New member
25
0
0
Location
Missouri
Did any one notice the opening of the olympics had 20 Urals.
Yes the reliability issues of the Ural USED TO BE horrible.
And the Urals in the Olympics were purchased not given or loaned.
 

duncan

Member
550
1
18
Location
None
Parts are cheap and a piece of cake to get for the old urals (at least, in europe). And in true eastblock style, most of those cheap easy to get spare parts are either already broken or simply do not fit :D
 

USSR

Well-known member
1,129
316
83
Location
USSR
Did any one notice the opening of the olympics had 20 Urals.
Yes the reliability issues of the Ural USED TO BE horrible.
And the Urals in the Olympics were purchased not given or loaned.
We have a lot of spare parts)))
 

petmar

Member
37
1
8
Location
huntley,, illinois
had bikes from many different manufactures.. love all bikes. the ural with a 750, not 650 is very fun for local driving. not the best over 55 mph. (dont get a dnepr)

here is a pic of my current 07 patrol 2wdural shark.jpgrefection.jpg
 

Amer-team

Well-known member
1,707
32
48
Location
Centralia/WA
Look for red rocket on here. She has put about 50000 miles on her Ural in the last 3 or 4 years. she has also put a lot of maintenance and repair for a bike that is so new. it is a good look for someone doing a Russian impression.
 
71
0
6
Location
Bloomsburg/PA
I have a 2008 gear up. most fun one can have on 3 wheels! Reliability I had one issue with mine, somewhere around 16k at 1:00 am in the middle of a 2 hour road trip I dropped the left side cylinder. Made it the rest of the way home, called up the dealer who was in Scranton PA at the time and took it back up to them. Turns out i snapped a connecting rod due to the oil slinger coming apart. I was told it was an experimental design during that year. But the machine was under warranty and no questions asked I got a 2010 brand new engine with the upgraded roller rockers etc. My advice if you don't mind taking the slower route off the interstate and enjoying the ride at a slower pace then get one. They have their own personality and are a blast to own and run. It is for the most part based off of old technology but they have made vast improvements since 2005. I would recommend 2008 and newer. driving with a sidecar is completely different than a normal bike but once you get the hang of it its fun! as mentioned before raceway has many of the parts you need as well as tech help. Heindl also has a large inventory. sovietsteeds will be the place to go and log hours of reading time before you make your decision. best of luck!

Also another route could be the royal enfield bikesas they are also of a throw-back design
 

petmar

Member
37
1
8
Location
huntley,, illinois
I had a 2008 Royal Enfield Bullet. While cool, I wouldnt recommend it. The reliability and quality of metal reminds me of Ural 60's, dnepr mt 11's or early Ural 750's.
 

saddamsnightmare

Well-known member
3,618
80
48
Location
Abilene, Texas
October 26th, 2015.

Gents:

In doing some research on the Ural motorcycles here in the U.S., it seems that the Ural Patrol 750 and it's sisters get very poor user reviews here in the states for the 2015 models, probably the highest rating that I saw on any one of them was one red star out of five possible, pretty much the same as a 1970's AMF built Harley, which was ride one day and work on it two or three days before riding again.

I guess in Russia reliability doesn't count for much, which is why the wealthy are buying Harley's, Hondas and Mercedes Benz's..... I hope we don't ever get into a ground war with them, as we will spend a great deal of time pushing this junk off the roadways so that we can make use of them. You wonder what the U.S. motorcycle dealers were thinking when they started to import this stuff, probably much like the Russian built Ursa Major farm tractors that put Massey Ferguson under as a brand, the company wouldn't pay the dealers for the warranty work required to keep them running, and they were always breaking down....

The tractor issues really hurt, as I had until last year a 1958 Massey Ferguson 65 that ran really well, but finding dealers for the parts was getting very tough. I don't know if Massey Ferguson sold any tractors to the US military, but they were excellent machines. Even the Honda is light years beyond the Russian bikes for reliability in their price ranges...... and I can remember when anything Japanese was sneered at on the roads.


In any case, take the pin up dolls out of the above pictures, and you still have the yard ornament that they are sitting on.:?:

Oh, you have to give the Ukrainians big cheer, it seems that they turned Vladimir Ulyanovich Lenin's statue in Odessa into Darth Vader, a considerable improvement in that vey tired travesty called "State sponsored art", which infested every Russian city or town at one time or another...Go Darth![thumbzup] Putin's likely daddy and the source for the next Star Wars picture: "Return of the bald KGB Agent to find out if Darth really was his daddy!";) May the Farce be with you! Or maybe "Your Schwartz is as big as mine!"


http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/lenin-statue-in-ukraine-turned-into-darth-vader/?_r=0
 
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