Crazy winter motorcyclist.... what's a Ural?

[kaisen]

First, it was Seven degrees Fahrenheit in Minneapolis today (that's pretty cold)

Second, it snowed a couple inches today and made everything very slippery. There were accidents all over the place, and traffic was generally horrible

Still, this lady was riding her motorcycle like it was no big deal.....





As I came up on her, I thought the engine looked like a horizontal twin from a BMW. But it said "URAL" on the gas tank.

What's that?

[KevinTodd]

Russian Bikes--haven't changed much in many years. I always see these things whenever I go to a rally.

[ckissick]

I guess to a Russian, a 7-degree day in MN is no big deal.

[Flieger]

I hear it was what the Russians made after they started their occupation of Germany. BMW had some factories in Eisenach, wich was East Germany. Hence the EMW.

[Flieger]

And the Ural Mountains I believe are the traditional demarkation of where Europe ends and Asia begins.

[Zeke]

Must have a big heater in the side car.

[5String43]

Yep, it's as Flieger sez.

[Racerbvd]

Yep, come 2 wheel drive as well..

Ural Sidecar Motorcycle Military Demo - YouTube

[combatic]

This history of the IMZ-Ural is actually really interesting....and you could buy them from Costco not too long ago.

The IMZ-Ural was "modeled after a late-1930s BMW sidecar bike called the R71, which Nazi Germany provided to the Soviet Union after the countries signed a nonaggression pact in 1939."

Ural | Russian Sidecar Motorcycles

[flatbutt]

and they are not quality units by any measure.

[Jeff Higgins]

Meh... she's on three wheels, and not all that far from home, I bet. Child's play.

Here is how we do it out here. I posted these photos just before Christmas on another thread. That's me on my Road King, heading up and on top of Hurricane Ridge on a 300 mile loop of our Olympic Peninsula. My buddy (taking the photos) was on his FJR. High temp of the day never made it out of the 20's, with morning and evening temps (we rode the ferry across Puget Sound both ways in the dark) one hell of a lot colder than that.





And yes, the "Urinal" is a truly world class POS. My neighbor and I took one out for a test ride one afternoon, taking turns driving and riding in the side hack. We didn't even make it out of the parking lot before it fouled the first spark plug. The salesman put a new one in, and gave us a box of four to carry along. We used them all before we made it back to the dealership.

Granted, we were gone a bit longer than any of us (especially the salesman) expected we would be. Even though it had all the power of a riding lawn mower, we were having a ball. Probably because we wound up bar hopping on it, and getting pretty well lit in the process.

When we arrived back at the dealer (with my neighbor riding), the damn thing was back down to one cylinder again. The salesman was out front showing off another bike to a customer, so Vic decided to give him a bit of a show, and lifted the sidecar (with me in it, of course) a couple of feet off the ground. I slammed down right as we were stopping in front of the guy. He was pissed. Things didn't get much better when he noticed it was on one cylinder again, and that both of us were fairly drunk. He asked us to leave, but never did ask us what we thought of the bike.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Russian built BMW knock-off. Cool bikes in a utilitarian sense. You can get one for practically nothing. Not fast, not particularly well built. But they do have an odd charm. Then again I've always wanted a Lada Niva for some strange reason.

[JavaBrewer]

More Crazy Winter Motorcycliing


Riding On The Edge - Watch More Funny Videos

[Embraer]

one of my old pilot buddies and his ural...

[Joeaksa]

That photo could have been a god friend of mine. He rides year round on his Ural, snow, rain it does not matter.

These are knockoff's of the WW2 BMW bikes and no they are not German quality but they are not a POS either. There are numerous accounts of guys picking one up new at the factory in Russia and riding them across Russia until they hit water, either East or West, then they keep going after getting off of the boat.

They have been improved and while are not a powerhouse, are still a very good motorcycle compared to what they were years ago.

One of the biggest dealers in the country is 25 miles away from me. Ural Motorcycle Accessories for Honda Motorcycle Apparel Used Yamaha Suzuki New Kawasaki Parts

[LakeCleElum]

US importer in in Preston, WA, close to me....If you really want to buy one, have him show you a video of the "Factory"......Stone-age manufacturing will come to mind. Don't tell him you know Jeff (good story Jeff).

[Noah930]

I've got a friend with a low-mile Ural for sale here in LA, if anyone's interested.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by Noah930

I've got a friend with a low-mile Ural for sale here in LA, if anyone's interested.

I do not need another "anything" but you might have him email me. Always liked sidehacks!

[rfuerst911sc]

I think some of the letters fell off the tank, looks more like a " urinal "

[Joeaksa]

You guys can joke all you want but lets see your azz keeping up with these guys on side-hacks.

Iselsberg 2012 - 3rads jimdo page!