Why you should NOT buy a Ural motorcycle

[cottonwood]

Bought a Ural last year and it has been a blast for me, my boys who love the sidecar and my wife to learn how to ride a motorcycle and shift gears. Recently bought a new Harley and it has not made it out of the dealer for more than 2 days ever without breaking down. I do not ride the Ural gently and have ventured way off road with my kid along without worry.

[windmill]

Originally Posted by gspell68

It's the whole gear driven alternator concept that sux.

74,000+ km, no replacement of gears or engines in that time, just a $3 gasket recently.
Simple, reliable, functional, and more than enough wattage for my needs without worry, It may not be inexpensive, but definitely a good value.

[gspell68]

Originally Posted by windmill

74,000+ km, no replacement of gears or engines in that time, just a $3 gasket recently.
Simple, reliable, functional, and more than enough wattage for my needs without worry, It may not be inexpensive, but definitely a good value.

You must be deaf or use a full-face helmet, because you forgot loud, too...

[RobDek]

Another new Ural owner. I must be crazy!!!

[BeemerChef]

Originally Posted by gspell68

You must be deaf or use a full-face helmet, because you forgot loud, too...

I don't find it loud at all. I do wear 32DB ear plugs [Hearos] and a Shoei Hornet DS helmet. I actually remove the ear plugs off road to hear the engine!

Ara and Spirit

[RidingDonkeys]

I don't consider the Ural loud at all. I guess it is relative. I grew up working on old Triumphs, all of which were much louder than the Ural.

My '07 Bonnie with stock pipes is even louder than my '11 Gear Up.

Different in sound for sure, but the Ural is definitely quieter.

[montrealon3]

Black Stalin (2009 Patrol-T). In satin black and maroon pin stripe. 74,000km later it's a love hate thing. I got the bike end of season 09. Here is the list of parts and trouble Black Stalin has put me through. A small amount of the work was done by the dealer till he went out of business here in our neck of the woods (Montreal). Then it was up to me dealing with Ural Canada shipping parts or me driving to them. Over 1000km round trip.
: drive shaft seal. Weeping oil out between universal joint and final drive yoke.
: complete alternator and coupler system.
: alternator coupler system
: 2 rubber donut couplers till finally the 3rd was the new improved version. Still going. Good job Ural.
: rubber carb flange between carb and intake. Split.
: 2 starters
: all 4 wheels. Hub core play. Hubs not designed for SKF bearings.
: all wheel bearings. Changed along with the wheel change.
: 2WD shaft and drive assembly on sidecar.
: battery
: gas tank. Leaking along seem.
: found hole in sidecar frame tubing. Water getting in. Small. Filled with silicon. Poor welding.
: valve adjustment nut came off. Running only one cylinder. Tow to dealer. Bike was new at time. No chances.
: sidecar windshield vinyl replaced. Stretches around eyelets.
: major transmission failure. Main bearing and bearing housing. Design flaw. New transmission.
: at same time they (Ural Canada) said engine and final drive defective. Changed for new. It took 3 months.
: carbs not balanced when received bike.
: new engine defective. Compression too low. When hot no power on take off and won't maintain idle and misfires.
Received bike back after warranty was over. Stored over winter. Come spring found these problems mentioned above after all drive systems where changes.
Ural Canada and Ural USA. left me hanging. Thanks.
Sending bike to a very experienced mechanic in my area to fix at my cost.
It's a love hate thing.
My next purchase will be a Honda xr650l.

[madeouttaglass]

Originally Posted by RobDek

Another new Ural owner. I must be crazy!!!

Welcome!

[UralBerger]

Originally Posted by montrealon3

Black Stalin (2009 Patrol-T). In satin black and maroon pin stripe. 74,000km later it's a love hate thing. I got the bike end of season 09. Here is the list of parts and trouble Black Stalin has put me through. A small amount of the work was done by the dealer till he went out of business here in our neck of the woods (Montreal). Then it was up to me dealing with Ural Canada shipping parts or me driving to them. Over 1000km round trip.
: drive shaft seal. Weeping oil out between universal joint and final drive yoke.
: complete alternator and coupler system.
: alternator coupler system
: 2 rubber donut couplers till finally the 3rd was the new improved version. Still going. Good job Ural.
: rubber carb flange between carb and intake. Split.
: 2 starters
: all 4 wheels. Hub core play. Hubs not designed for SKF bearings.
: all wheel bearings. Changed along with the wheel change.
: 2WD shaft and drive assembly on sidecar.
: battery
: gas tank. Leaking along seem.
: found hole in sidecar frame tubing. Water getting in. Small. Filled with silicon. Poor welding.
: valve adjustment nut came off. Running only one cylinder. Tow to dealer. Bike was new at time. No chances.
: sidecar windshield vinyl replaced. Stretches around eyelets.
: major transmission failure. Main bearing and bearing housing. Design flaw. New transmission.
: at same time they (Ural Canada) said engine and final drive defective. Changed for new. It took 3 months.
: carbs not balanced when received bike.
: new engine defective. Compression too low. When hot no power on take off and won't maintain idle and misfires.
Received bike back after warranty was over. Stored over winter. Come spring found these problems mentioned above after all drive systems where changes.
Ural Canada and Ural USA. left me hanging. Thanks.
Sending bike to a very experienced mechanic in my area to fix at my cost.
It's a love hate thing.
My next purchase will be a Honda xr650l.

Yup, that sounds like Ural Canada for sure. The BS about the bearings in the hubs seems to be their new line. I have not had an issue with SKF bearings at all since 2007. The new engine should be covered for one year, Ural policy, but I guess that depends on when it was put in. Some of the issues you are experiencing with the new engine sound like improper setup, and depending on the mechanic at UC, almost guaranteed.. I am in Ottawa, so if you ever need assistance, I am not that far.

[FR700]

Originally Posted by BeemerChef

Ara and Spirit

Thank you for the ride


Have fun.



.

[Northern Rob]

Another reason not to buy a Ural. The steel is too thick. This is a hazard for cars. I got hit by an SUV today. I was stopped at a stop sign. Driver made a left turn into my street, but turned into my lane and hit the sidecar and the front tire. I'm sore but Ok. SUV has front fender damage. Ural has scratch on front sidecar armour paint. Front tire was hit too, but still rides true. Nothing on bike seems bent or otherwise damaged. I drove her home. That low tech thick steel is a real problem. Adventure bikes should be made out of plastic

[GeezerStank]

Originally Posted by Northern Rob

Another reason not to buy a Ural. The steel is too thick. This is a hazard for cars. I got hit by an SUV today. I was stopped at a stop sign. Driver made a left turn into my street, but turned into my lane and hit the sidecar and the front tire. I'm sore but Ok. SUV has front fender damage. Ural has scratch on front sidecar armour paint. Front tire was hit too, but still rides true. Nothing on bike seems bent or otherwise damaged. I drove her home. That low tech thick steel is a real problem. Adventure bikes should be made out of plastic

Ha! didn't even scratch your ADV sticker....

[BeemerChef]

That is a lot of damage for a Ural!

Keep in mind it also does not do so well in deep sand and rocks...



Ara and Spirit

[Barnone]

Originally Posted by BeemerChef

Keep in mind it also does not do so well in deep sand and rocks... t

Yep, JerryH researched it.

[Mr. Cob]

Howdy All,

Well...........I think a Ural ridden properly goes quite well in deep sand, this video was taken a few years back and is of my stock rig with the low hanging mufflers. As you can see later inthe video when I drive down and over the large rocks the darn stock mufflers stop the rig by getting hung-up on the rocks.


I have some video of the "Predator" down at Moab but I haven't posted it to youtube yet, I'll get to work on that and see if I have some of it in deep sand and going over rocks. The pipes on the Predator are much higher then the stock ones and don't get hung-up on stuff like the stock exhaust systems do.