Ural Gear Up: One year of ownership

What is a Ural and why would anyone want one?

Ural is the only current factory-produced sidecar available in the United States. It used to be a Russian-made motorcycle that is a copy of a WWII-era BMW that has been in production for 80 years with minimal changes. The recent geopolitical conditions in Eastern Europe have forced much of the labor and final assembly to Kazakhstan. While the manufacturing takes place in the former USSR, most are sold in the US and Ural headquarters is in Redmond, Washington. Both available models use the same 749cc air-cooled boxer engine. The main difference between the two is that the Gear Up is has selectable 2wd and comes with more standard accessories than the cT model. They have a reputation for being the least reliable motorcycle you can buy new, can be too slow to get out of their own way and are not what anyone would consider a bargain.

I purchased mine for a few reasons.

Monkeys (Passengers)

The thought of getting a sidecar had been bouncing around in my mind for several years. I didn’t take the option seriously until recently. My mother passed in 2020 and my father has decided to move from the East Coast to California to be closer to me. He was out here for two weeks in June of 2021 to look at houses. We took a break one day and drove out to Death Valley. While we were getting gas in Panamint Springs, I had a vision of us going on motorcycle adventures together. He hasn't had a motorcycle endorsement since the 70s so a hack was the next logical solution.

I had a 2017 Kawasaki z900 at the time and pitched it to Mrs. Bald Rider that she would be able to come along on adventures with me if we unloaded the Z and got a hack. She was onboard.

Slowing Down

A bike that weighs over 1000lbs with a rider and only has 40ish horsepower and torque forces you to get off of interstates. Since (Southern Californa) interstate speeds aren’t possible, getting anywhere quickly isn’t an option. The idea is that I would make the journey the purpose and not the destination because there was no other way.

Target Market?

The current owner and CEO, Ilya Khait, said the target market is a group a little “off-center.” Anyone who knows me would say that is a pretty fair assessment. I thought I’d fit right in with the nonexistent local Ural community. I’ve only seen two other Urals on the road in my entire life.

It took 6 hours to get home from the dealer in Ventura taking side streets in >90°F weather wearing a giant onesie. There was 100lbs of cat litter in the sidecar as ballast to keep me from flipping over on my first ride. I only almost crashed twice.

8/14/21

The day had come. We named her Natasha. Getting her home was an adventure in itself.

We had tried to rent a trailer but could not find one wide enough that was available. Plan B was riding it home. My wife drove me 130 miles to pick up the bike. Once the onesie, cat litter bag ballasts and other items were unloaded, she left me to figure it out. The dealer gave me some basic instructions, took me for a quick ride and then handed over the keys. After a quick spin around the building solo, I was on the road.

First almost-crash was leaving the parking lot and pulling out onto public streets for the first time. Second almost-crash was pulling into a gas station and not quite making the turn. I stopped about 2 inches short of running the sidecar into a fire hydrant. I made it home, though. It was over 6 hours of surface streets weaving across Ventura, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties in >90°F weather. Mrs. Bald Rider took a picture of me exhausted but triumphant.

Mrs. Bald Rider was reluctant to join me in the sidecar until I had some more practice under my belt. Eventually, I felt comfortable enough maneuvering this weird contraption to invite her along. We mostly went to breakfast on the weekends in those early days.

Dad moved to California. His first adventure was a ride around the neighborhood to break in his new helmet. Beard gang.

We had a failed attempt at riding out to Joshua tree when the temperature at our house was 36°F. Our bodies were frozen after 45 minutes and had to abandon that endeavor. A sidecar windscreen, warmer clothes and cooperative weather eventually allowed us to make to Joshua Tree a few weeks later.

Dad moved in with us in California while we waited to close on his new house. First order of business was to go to CycleGear and pick up a helmet for him. I eased him into the experience by taking him on a trip around the neighborhood. I’ve since taken him on 2+ hour roundtrips to various places in the area and he really enjoys it.

For my 40th birthday, Mrs. Bald Rider and myself decided to go on a 1200 mile week-long trip. The first three days were spent getting to and exploring Death Valley followed by a few more days in Las Vegas. Most of the problems we had on the trip had nothing to do with the bike. Windstorms and dust storms were our biggest hurdles.

The problems that we did have with the bike were essentially due to my own decision-making.

Parking at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas is free for motorcycles and there’s even room to change a tire.

The engine stumbled and stalled 20 minutes after getting gas at a sketchy station but some octane booster in the tank made everything normal again. We were loaded heavy and that made climbing steep grades a challenge. Sometimes, we could only manage 35mph. Finally, I changed out the pusher tire in a Las Vegas parking garage. It wasn’t quite worn enough to need changing but temperatures in the Mojave Desert on the way home would be approaching 100°F with no shade. I decided to take the initiative to change it before we headed home instead of attempting a desert pitstop. I’ll have to remember to carry a dead blow hammer in my toolkit to get the axle back in next time.

We made it home on time and mostly on budget. The day of our trip was all the way from Las Vegas to our home and took over 9 hours. Our rest stops were few and short as we tried to make it home before dark. We were broken. It wasn’t the bike’s fault. It did what it was meant to do.

This is the bike after we spent a week and 1200 miles on the road and just a month before we acquired a Honda Goldwing.

The Ural hasn’t been ridden much since our trip in March. We’ve been incredibly busy with non-fun activities like work and homeowner chores. I took dad out for Father’s Day and went into town a few times. Mrs. Bald Rider decided she wasn’t going to ride on the Ural to destinations more than 2 hours away and I don’t blame her. We’d need to trailer it if we wanted to take it for adventures in foreign (non-local) lands. If we wanted to ride farther away without a trailer, we’d need something like a Goldwing. So we bought one of those, too.

There are about 2400 miles on Natasha now. That’s not too bad for one year of ownership. I’m happy with the bike and everyone who sees it when i ride around is happy, as well. There seem to be four camps in the motorcycle community regarding Urals: love it, hate it, on the fence and never heard of it. Most folks in all four camps have never seen one in real life. I suggest you find someone to take you for a ride in one before passing judgement. But hey, I’m just another jerk on the internet.