Silly American capitalist tools, your motorcycles are soft and weak!!

[twowings]

URAL Quality Testing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUZOzT4F0DI&feature=youtu.be

[RANDM]

Some pretty gnarly stuff there, thought they'd drowned 'em
in that first scene - where the hell are their air intakes?

  Maurie.

[lti_57]

Thats is some crazy video.
I am impressed. Like Maurie said  where is the intake.

[arveno]

ah ah , does it come with those two pretty ladies at the end of the video ?
I could use some Russian lesson ...

Jokes aside,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMZ-Ural

[Darren Williams]

Note to self...

Don't buy a Ural factory demo bike, under any circumstances!

[Lannis]

ah ah , does it come with those two pretty ladies at the end of the video ?
I could use some Russian lesson ...

Jokes aside,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMZ-Ural

Watch out for those Russian women, better men than us have been taken for a ride when they had hopes for something else ....

The air intakes are right up under the seat on those, although you'll often see "adventure" Urals with a "snorkel" up over the handlebars.   I suppose the air filter kept the engine from locking up with straight water, although I'm not sure what was mixing with the fuel to make it go!

A man could break an ankle in a heartbeat on those rock fields.   Something like a "Combat Touring" boot or an equally tough one would be in order ....

Lannis

[sib]

Note to self...

Don't buy a Ural factory demo bike, under any circumstances!

I got the impression that all Urals go through these tests before they leave the factory.  As the narrator stated, the red one didn't pass a test, so there won't be any red ones for sale this year.

[Shorty]

The after-test party.

[Lannis]

The problem is, most Americans don't buy a motorcycle/sidecar to do that kind of riding - they want something reliable out on the road.

If you go down around Pineville, WV, where the "Hatfield/McCoy" ATV trail is and ATVs are legal on the streets, you'll find plenty of ATVs and dirt bikes but no Urals.

A new Ural put through that kind of riding regularly would be a beat up rusty wreck inside a year ...

Lannis

[rodekyll]

I think the better explanation is that the ural is russian, and WV -- well -- isn't.   

Interesting in the first photo, above, that with all the speed indicated by the blur (and the traction roostertail from the front tire), the girls' hair isn't getting blown around.

[LowRyter]

I remember Carl Allison's Ural. What a POS.  He got screwed by the warranty to boot. 

So a bike with (feeble) sporting pretensions is undercut by its (poor) reliability.

[Lannis]

I think the better explanation is that the ural is russian, and WV -- well -- isn't.   

Interesting in the first photo, above, that with all the speed indicated by the blur (and the traction roostertail from the front tire), the girls' hair isn't getting blown around.

Well, maybe Russia isn't WV, but from some of the "jackass videos" you see from both places ("Hey, hold my beer/vodka and watch THIS!"), there are similarities ...

And those girls?   They just used the same stuff on their hair as Marlon Brando used all over while HE was riding at 60 MPH and NOTHING was moving ...



Lannis

[trippah]

As a non" partisan" observer, I have to say the Molotov Sidecar crew is really hot.

Either that or its a special delivery from an x girlfriend.

[Shorty]

As a non" partisan" observer, I have to say the Molotov Sidecar crew is really hot.

Either that or its a special delivery from an x girlfriend.

Agree   

[Perazzimx14]

The problem is, most Americans don't buy a motorcycle/sidecar to do that kind of riding - they want something reliable out on the road.
Lannis

Damn Americans wanting reliable bikes . 

[Mikecocos]

My V7 stone would have failed each test needed $15,000 of replacement parts and spent nine months in a garage.

[twowings]

The problem is, most Americans don't buy a motorcycle/sidecar to do that kind of riding - they want something reliable out on the road.
Lannis

My goodness, you actually know most Americans?? 

Your Christmas card order must be huge...

[twowings]

I remember Carl Allison's Ural. What a POS.  He got screwed by the warranty to boot. 

So a bike with (feeble) sporting pretensions is undercut by its (poor) reliability.

Let's recap:

1. A URAL is motorcycle.
2. I knew someone who had problems this his URAL.

Therefore:

All URALS are feeble and unreliable?

Isn't faulty logic?  Don't you need another valid premise?

[Shorty]

I remember Carl Allison's Ural. What a POS.  He got screwed by the warranty to boot. 

So a bike with (feeble) sporting pretensions is undercut by its (poor) reliability.

I went through the process of Ural ownership. You are correct. See if this sounds familiar. "Well, there is no dealer network, so to speak. Don't let that stop you though, they are really simple machines to work on. There is a terrific online community to keep you rolling.The machine has SO much character, it is worth the few flaws that it has. It has Brembo brakes."  The Ural fanboys are just as gut hooked as any other motorheads, 'cept they become mechanics MUCH faster than Guzzi owners. I keep wishing some reputable company would buy the rights to Ural, then produce the machines using up to date drivetrain and QA. Til then, I'll keep on grafting their sidecars onto other bikes.

[Lannis]

Let's recap:

1. A URAL is motorcycle.
2. I knew someone who had problems this his URAL.

Therefore:

All URALS are feeble and unreliable?

Isn't faulty logic?  Don't you need another valid premise?

There IS a thing called "statistical sampling".

Last summer I saw more than 2000 motorcycles.   

Of those motorcycles, about 5 of them were Urals.   

It makes sense to assume (statistically) that the next 1000 motorcycles I would have seen were NOT one single clump of Urals, but would be approximately the same ratio as the 2000 that I saw.   Probably not 0 and probably not 50, but something around 5.

Therefore I'd think it would be safe and accurate to say that MOST Americans buy other than Ural motorcycles.

In addition, having been to not 1 but TWO Ural motorcycle rallies, in order to learn about Urals first-hand from people who actually own them and ride them to rallies, and having heard almost everyone AT THOSE RALLIES (not every Ural owner in the USA but a reasonable sample of them) laughingly talking smack about their own bikes, responding to my questions about 'touring on a Ural' with sardonic laughter, and hearing the stories of rebuilding their new bikes ....

.... well, I don't need to survey every American in the country to draw a reasonable conclusion about Urals .... 

You don't either, but it's fun to discuss, I suppose ... !

Lannis

[Arizona Wayne]

I saw a Ural gathering(like a Guzzi gathering), except most the Urals got there being pulled on trailers.    Reminded me of a Harley rally where most are trailered too.   Not many trailer queens at a Guzzi rally. 

[Tom]

Thanks for reposting the vid.  Worth watching again.

[Sasquatch Jim]

 Well according to the video, Ural beats the crap out of every Ural before they deliver it to a customer.

[Penderic]

 

R -rrrr Rural Ural!

Strong like bull.


But gentle enough for the ladies!

[nick949]

Great video - not to be taken too seriously - they jest

I find the preoccupation with Ural reliability amusing.  It's a highly over-rated property.  There's no adventure without  little uncertainty IMHO.
Isn't that's why we ride Moto Guzzis?

Nick

[John A]

Is the basic Ural copied from Zundap or BMW?  Probly subtle difference, esoteric for sure.

[azguzzirep]

Is the basic Ural copied from Zundap or BMW?  Probly subtle difference, esoteric for sure.

The Russians took  LOTS of stuff back with them in 1945 & '46.
Among them were completely factories, sans the building.

[sib]

The Russians took  LOTS of stuff back with them in 1945 & '46.
Among them were completely factories, sans the building.

I'm sure they did take lots of stuff back with them in 1945 & '46, just like we did (e.g., Wernher von Braun).  However, in the case of the Ural, the Russians actually licensed the design from BMW in 1940, which Nazi Germany provided to the Soviet Union after the countries signed a nonaggression pact in 1939.  The pact didn't last, but the BMW copies did.

[John A]

Do the Chinese make a version of the Ural? Years ago I heard they did but have not seen any mention of it since

[Lannis]

Do the Chinese make a version of the Ural? Years ago I heard they did but have not seen any mention of it since

They did; the Chang Jiang CJ750.   Now that trade relations with China are sort of normalized, I don't think they're mass-produced any more.   There were a really old sidevalve design.

Lannis