Ride Three

For Ural Sidecar Motorcycle Enthusiasts

Whether in your own state or when you’re planning a road trip, you gotta know the laws affecting you and your rig. Do you have to wear a helmet? Can you carry a child? Do you have to bag up that radar detector? Heck, some states even have restrictions around helmet speakers and handlebar height.

Makes me glad to be a motorcyclist in Oregon — from what I can see, we don’t have too much in the way of restrictive laws (FYI, I’m not getting into a helmet law debate). The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) has a comprehensive state-by-state breakdown of road and off-road motorcycle laws. Here are some highlights for road motorcycling laws in Oregon, but remember, 1) I’m not a lawyer and ain’t playing one in the blogosphere, and 2) here’s the full AMA list of Oregon motorcycle laws:

• Helmets are required, but eye protection isn’t (I’ll still take both, thanks)
• Passenger seats and footrests required if carrying a passenger (crikey, they wanna be comfortable too? whine, whine, whine…)
• No passenger age restriction (get that newborn in the sidecar, honey, let’s go tear-arsing!)
• Two motorcycles can ride abreast in the same lane, but a motorcycle is not allowed to lane-split (or pass another vehicle using the same lane that vehicle is in)

AMA - Oregon Motorcycle Laws

When you don’t ride, you feel it.

The longer you don’t ride, the more you feel it.

It’s an itch, a twitch, a burn — and nothing will sooth it but saddle time.

Such has been this Ural owner the past few days. Over Memorial Day weekend, a holiday, I hardly got any saddle time. Got to do some hiking, some cooking and even a bit of DIY, but not much riding. I felt it though. Felt that tug in my gut, pulling me towards the Patrol in the garage.

On Sunday I got in at least a little riding, and that helped. It wasn’t enough, but it helped. The twitch was still there.

And it grows, oh how it grows. When I don’t ride, my thoughts drift more and more towards riding. I think about the feel of the air around me, the way the Ural responds. I think more and more of all the looks and waves, and the sheer simple joy of buzzing around town on slightly chattery valves and a big green asymmetrical bathtub to my right.

Tuesday night, a real ride. Jodie and I went to a party for a friend who was in town. We’re pretty sure a cop even double-backed around a block just so he could see the Ural again. We got to spend plenty of the evening talking about the Ural, what it was like, how much fun it was.

The next day, the twitch was gone.

Only for now though. More than 2 days of not riding, and I know it’ll be back.

But I know the cure — and it’s supposed to be a nice weekend.

Itch on, twitch. I’ve got saddle time on the way to cure thee.

Ah, kayaking — how rarely do we get to go kayaking. Never enough. Never. But with a Ural sidecar motorcycle, well, getting and hauling around a kayak might be just a tidge easier. This IMZ-Ural boards discussion goes into the hows and difficulties of hauling or towing a kayak or canoe with a sidecar rig — experience towing a kayak/canoe?

I am new to the sidecar game and am having a lot of fun with it. Would pulling a trailer like this take the fun out of it, or be extremely hazardous? I never considered pulling anything on a two wheeler, but I find that I keep the sidecar outfit in the middle of the lane more than a two wheeler. Does this make sense?

Follow the whole discussion: experience towing a kayak/canoe?

Ride Three launched in December 2007, and I haven’t done a whole whole lot to the template and layout since then. Did make a few minor changes this evening though, based on just time as well as some feedback, including…

• Nixed some cute yet pointless buttons in the sidebar
• Moved all the non-site-navigation links from the sidebar to their own, dedicated page – Ural Resources (located in the top navigation bar). This area is a running list of links and resources including…
  • About Ural Sidecar Motorcycles
  • Available Ural Models
  • Ural Discussion Boards, Rallies & Communities
  • Ural Repairs & Maintenance
  • Sidecar/Motorcycle Training
  • More Sidecar Resources

This is a living, growing section, so if you know a Ural or sidecar resource that should be listed in the Ural Resources area, please contact me.

Please keep suggestions for the site and for future posts coming. Thank you for being part of Ride Three!

I’ve heard and seen this time and time again. If you have other motorcycles, and then you get a sidecar rig, be prepared for your other bikes to do nothing but collect dust.

Granted, this hasn’t been an issue in our household – our “other bikes” are 2 bicycles, and they get a fair amount of use. But if I’d had another motorcycle before getting my Ural Patrol? Yeah, I think the other motorcycle would’ve been sold by now. Check out this ADVrider discussion, Ural is now my only ride:

“Alas the damned Ural has forced me to neglect my other bikes for the last 3 years”

Do you have any other bikes? Or did you sell ‘em all after getting your sidecar rig?

Memorial Day weekend was a relaxing time here. On the plus side, I hardly touched a computer. But on the down side, I hardly threw a leg over my Patrol. Got in a quick ride on Sunday though, which helped, but the Ural Itch needs some major scratching. And some posting about itch. More on the way; I hope you had a great weekend.

The list is long, and often Russian… or, at least, with Russian variations. As I ponder what to name my Ural Patrol, I’ve been paying attention to some of the other Ural names out there. Here are a few (note that these are the “official” names, and not the, ahem, endearing nicknames we have for Urals when it’s time to get out the wrenches):

• Kermitski
• Nacht Hexen
• War Pig
• Chernobyl Chariot
• Frog of War

What is your first motorcycle memory? What was the moment you knew you’d ride motorcycles? Were they the same moment? When you think back to it, how does that memory still grab you?

For me, it was 3 things. I remember being a wee boy, maybe 5 years old, and my dad riding me around on a big black motorcycle (if I remember correctly, Dad, wasn’t that a Honda Shadow?) That was my first memory, but to tell the truth, I can’t remember how well I liked it.

Fast forward a few years to 2003, I was in Thailand. Rented a, well, glorified hair dryer — a 150cc Honda Crystal or Dream, I forget which — and rode around all day. Went to ruins, went hiking, got humiliated when I couldn’t kickstart the bike but a 15-year-old Thai girl — in heels — could, but still, it was a great day, and I had so much fun.

It was about 2 years later that the itch, the true, from-the-inside-out itch hit me. Then in 2006 I first heard about the Ural, and I read, and researched, and lurked in message boards, and took sidecar training, with all this culminating, at last, in Feb. 2008 when I finally took delivery of my 2007 Ural Patrol.

What was it for you?

Gotta say, I haven’t added much to my Ural yet, save for some mud guards (for the knees) and, once Raceway gets them in stock, a lock for the trunk. I want to have the bike a while before I start going accessory-crazy, but still, there will come a point where Jodie and I will know what we want to add. And that’s where recommendations like these will come in quite handy: Soviet Steeds - Most useful Ural accessory?

“So what’s the most useful accessory you’ve installed ? Mine’s gotta be the extended reverse lever. Very handy, no more bending over while holding in the clutch”

Follow the whole discussion: Soviet Steeds - Most useful Ural accessory?

Far as I know, Ural’s come stock with a wee strip of something around the trunk lid, both to help keep the weather out, and to keep the lid and the trunk metal from clashing/marring paint, etc. Not exactly the heaviest-duty weather-stripping around, of course, but it is something. But is it enough? What can you get for your Ural trunk that’s better? Find out in this discussion: Soviet Steeds - Anyone use a rubber?

“Seal around the trunk lid ? Wink If so, what kind ? I want to keep the rain out and prevent the metal on metal contact. I was looking at a couple of automotive types for door and trunk but they are way too big to fit the Ural. Maybe I’d have better luck at an RV shop ?”

Follow the whole discussion: Soviet Steeds - Anyone use a rubber?