Learning to think in metric

While the Ural’s speedometer measures in both miles and kilometers, the trip meter and odometer read only in kilometers. That takes some mental adjustment, and thinking in kilometers instead of miles is something I’m still adapting to.

The magic formula to convert km to miles, and miles to km

To convert kilometers into miles (km to m):

1 kilometers = 0.621 miles (or just 0.6 miles, depending on how accurate you want to be)

To convert miles into kilometers (m to km):

1 miles = 1.6 kilometers

Here are some basic conversions that can make this a little easier:

Kilometers to Miles

• 5 km = 3 m
• 10 km = 6 m
• 50 km = 31 m
• 100 km = 62 m
• *** 150 km = 93 m (a good mileage rule of thumb to gas up) ***
• 250 km = 155 m
• 500 km = 311 m
• 1000 km = 621 m

Miles to Kilometers

• 5 m = 8 km
• 10 m = 16 km
• 50 m = 81 km
• 100 m = 161 km
• 250 m = 402 km
• 500 m = 805 km
• 1000 m = 1609 km

I’m hoping to get to the point where I can figure this in my head, but numbers are not my strongsuit. Luckily, my cell phone has a conversion function, and that comes in handy on the road as I always carry my cell phone.

What do you do to help you remember and calculate miles and kilometers?

With about 1,000km on my Ural Patrol, it’s about time I got around to naming it. Or “her”. Whatever.

Naming the Ural — This has been on my mind a while. From “the Frog of War” to the “Chernobyl Chariot,” interesting Ural names abound. But what is the name of my Ural Patrol? What is the right name for my Ural Patrol?

For me, I believe the answer will be found in Russian literature. But not Dostoyevsky or Chekhov. I believe the inspiration for my Ural’s name will come from contemporary author Sergey Lukyanenko.

More to come.

What did you name your Ural? How did you come up with the name?

Want to know how to change a flat tire when you’re on the road with your Ural? Russ and Fester on the Ural Wiki do a quick, photo-rich breakdown of changing a flat tire while on the road. The rear tire got a wee nail in it, so they had to swap it out for the spare tire. This process took them about 10 minutes.

One interesting note that I hadn’t thought of before: If your spare tire hasn’t been used (or at least used as much as the spare), the rear brake may need to be adjusted as the drums may be different sizes.

What you’ll need – good gear and tools to already have in your trunk anyway:

• Spare tire (or patch kit and new tube)
• Tire gauge and pump (in case you forgot to check that spare tire’s air pressure before leaving)
• Pliers
• Cotter pin
• Piece of 2×4 (helps with getting the Ural on its centerstand)
• Wrench

See it for yourself: changing a flat tire while on the road

Thursday evening is clear and cooling off, and I’m relaxing with a coffee outside of The Beanery. Just got done chatting with Tim and Lodda (sic; I know I’ve mangled the spelling, and I hope she leaves a comment correcting me). They were walking by and saw my Patrol, and spent quite a while looking it over. I came down to chat with them.

“Where’s it from?”

“Salem.”

“But it’s Russian?”

“That’s right — there’s a dealer in Salem.”

“There’s a lot of custom parts on it, right?”

“Nope, actually, that’s all stock.”

“Really?”

We had a great chat about my Patrol, its origins, and IMZ-Ural. Turns out Lodda is from Moscow, and has lived in Oregon since she was about 10. Last thing she expected, though, was to see a Russian motorcycle sitting in the parking lot of a Eugene coffee shop.

Good to talk to the two of you, Tim and Lodda. Hope to see you around.

How often should you rotate tires on a Ural? Should you rotate them at all? Three tires on a Ural Patrol are interchangeable (since the front tire has disc brakes instead of drum brakes, it cannot be swapped with the other tires):

• Sidecar tire
• Spare tire
• Rear tire

The rear tire of a Ural will wear out faster than the others. But you don’t need to do a bunch of rotation to keep wear even. On the IMZ-Ural Discussion Boards, Bill Glaser of myural.com has a solid recommendation — leave the sidecar tire alone, and occasionally swap the spare and rear tires:

I just swap the spare and pusher so that they “fit” the shoes and put a new tire on the “spare”. I leave all the other wheels in place and just change the tires as needed. There is no benefit to rotating any of the wheels to different positions. Whether you leave them or rotate, your wear mileage will be the same. It is less work to just rotate the spare and pusher. You will get 3 times the pusher mileage on the front and the sidecar tire will probably dry rot before it goes bald unless you are hauling a huge amount of weight in the hack.

How often you swap your tires is up to you, how you ride, and what tires you have. Check your Ural’s manual for the manufacturer’s recommendations on checking tire tread and wear, and that should give you a good guideline. (At the least, that’s what I’m planning on doing to gauge when I’ll swap my rear and spare tires.)

When swapping tires, it’ll help to do some braking exercises to re-fit the brakes around the different drum. Again from Bill:

Any time you switch a wheel from one position to another (drum brake) you will lose braking efficiency for a time until the shoes wear into the drum. Generally, it is best to leave the wheel in the same position unless you don’t mind spongy brakes.

See the whole discussion: IMZ-Ural Discussion Boards - Tire Wear

The Ural crossed the 900km mark the other day (about 560 miles). Here are some reflections as the bike nears the 1,000km mark:

• It’s funny how we assign so much significance to numbers. 560 miles wouldn’t cross my mind as a milestone, but coming up on 1,000km is a different story. It’s not a maintenance interval or anything special — except that it’s crossing into 4-digit territory. It feels like I’m earning my spurs (though still have a ways to go).
• At 1,000km, I will give the Patrol a healthy checkover. Tighten bolts, check oil, peek at the rats’ nest of wiring for loose connections, that sort of thing.
• I don’t think I will ever get tired of how this World War II-looking rig, with a big tub on the side, just mysteriously makes people smile. I love it. May have to explore via this site the strange alchemy where an asymmetrical hunk of dead weight transforms the average passerby’s opinion of a motorcycle from “something ominous,” into “something friendly.”
• Having a Ural helps to connect people. The emails and comments from people on this site have been awesome. Alan — I’m writing you back shortly (email often takes me a bit, but “Go Eugene Foilheads!”). Seth — great to chat with you at Beanery the other night. Andy, Dena, and so many others, thanks for the great conversations. I’m looking forward to more, and to future rides.
• Getting my Ural Patrol is one of the best things I’ve ever done.

Here’s to coming up on 1,000km.

All this week the weather has, at last, been looking up. Warmer temperatures, bluer skies — and time to ride. When it comes to commuting, I ride a bicycle to and from the office. But on both Monday and Friday, I decided to take in the Ural instead.

Riding the Ural felt awesome. In addition to some of the usual roads, I also was on one of our main freeways, known as Beltline. It’s a 55mph stretch, and the bike handled beautifully. My steering dampener is set just right, so steering is neither too loose or too tight, and even at speed the bike’s grips are calm, nearly tame, even, under my hands.

Must get heated grips

Despite getting up around 70 degrees on Friday, the morning began nearly freezing. I rode with my insulated gloves on, but my hands were still pretty stiff by the time my 15-minute commute was over. “Heated grips,” I thought. “Must get heated grips.”

The airflow over my helmet also created a cold spot right on the back of my neck. It felt as if someone were pressing on my neck with a heavy block of ice. My nerves twinged; it was the sort of pressure that feels borderline headache. As soon as I was at the office and off the bike, the feeling was gone. Note to self: On colder mornings, wear a scarf to cover that area.

My other bike

Friday brought a few comments and kudos from people who saw the bike. My colleagues are used to seeing me come in, all year, on my bicycle. Even in January, covered in layers and waterproof clothing, I ride my bicycle to work. “Today I brought my other bike,” I would tell them.

Monday brought more UDF, or Ural Delay Factor. Our office building is part of a complex of buildings, and all day people in the parking lot walked by the bike and stared. One older gentleman walked by two times, each time stopping and looking at the Ural from every possible angle. Another woman took pictures of it with her cameraphone. Many other people smiled and pointed. It’s kind of cool that a wee motorcycle can bring just a quick jot of happiness to someone’s day.

Taking the Ural to work is fun, and especially during the summer there’ll be days where I do. Mostly I’ll continue to ride my bicycle, however. It saves us on gas, and the bike ride — believe it or not — is actually shorter and takes less time than driving. Still, there will be days where I feel that twinge, and where I just need to ride the Ural.

To the teenage boy at The Beanery tonight (Thurs., May 8): Kid, you made my night.

I was in the Ural’s saddle, about to start the bike and get it warmed up. A teenage boy walked over to the car to the right of me, opening it up to set his guitar inside.

He closed the door, and spent a few seconds just looking over my forest green Ural Patrol. Then he looked at me and said, “That’s the coolest motorcycle I’ve ever seen.”

Thanks, kid.

Or, what would you like to know?

I’m kicking around adding a wee page on here that is just about my 2007 Ural Patrol. There’d be info from the nuts-and-bolts specs, to the bike’s quirks and what mechanical issues come up, that sort of thing. Essentially, I’m envisioning a running list of particulars of owning (and working on) this 2007 Ural Patrol. I’d like the info to be of interest and use to anyone else who has a Patrol, or is considering a Ural in general or a Patrol in particular.

What would you like to know about one person’s motorcycle, and what it’s like having a Ural Patrol? Please leave your suggestions in the comments.

This past weekend was just too nice to do anything computer-related, so I’m working on the image uploading problem this evening.

Here’s the deal though. Except for images, I’ve got some posts ready to go on a quick ride last week, and my 500km service. Whatever happens with the image thing, I’m posting these now. I’ll add the photos to them when the image uploading issue is sorted out.

The posts are dated for the day when this stuff actually happened (for, um, posterity):

• April 10, 2008 - Rider’s-Eye View: 500km Service on a Ural Patrol » Ride Three - Ural Sidecar Motorcycles
• April 30, 2008 - Eugene Ural Ride: Sunset at Skinner Butte » Ride Three - Ural Sidecar Motorcycles

Raise a glass to luck, and hope I’m soon able to post images again!

Update: OK, I think I’ve got it sorted. Images have been added to the Skinner Butte post, and will be added to the 500km service post soon. Thanks for your patience!