Yesterday Ella, Svetlana and I helped some buddies with a photo shoot for a new marketing campaign. I don’t have pictures or details yet, but hopefully will have more to share soon.

Who would’ve thought? By naming my Ural after a beautiful sorceress, now she’s magically become a model too.

If you’re in Eugene, keep your eyes peeled for some ads featuring a Forest Green sidecar motorcycle, complete with dog and rider. I can’t wait to see them.

UDF and Fresh Strawberries

Jodie is out of town visiting family this weekend, leaving me to my own devices. With a beautiful, warm sunny weekend at long last upon us, I’ve spent most of the day riding my Ural Patrol, Svetlana, around our South Eugene area. (No pics today, I’m afraid, as Jodie took the digicam with her.)

After a hot breakfast and lots of coffee, I rode Svetlana over to the Southtowne Shoppes for a bit of shopping. Jodie and I get most of our produce and eggs from the wonderful folks at Sweetwater Farm. On Saturdays during the summer months they also run a farmer’s market at Southtowne, and I motored down to pick up a flat of strawberries and some wee artichokes, for when Jodie gets back on Tuesday.

“I’ve heard about these!”

Following a nip into the butcher shop, Longs Meat Market, for some ground buffalo, good ol’ Ural Delay Factor, or UDF, set in. After chatting with a woman about her Smart Car (45 miles to the gallon, in town!), another woman came out and said, “Everyone inside is talking about your motorcycle!”

Soon after a man came out (her husband, I believe), and said something I had not yet heard: “I’ve heard of these! I looked them up online!” Now, people are often intrigued by Svetlana, but they generally have not heard of the Ural brand.

We spend a fair few minutes talking about the bike. Another guy came over and joined the conversation too, and we talked about two-wheel drive, fuel economy and how Jodie and Ella fit in the sidecar.

“Nice sidecar!”

After visiting some friends (and agreeing to take a visiting friend for a ride in the sidecar later), I was on my way back home to eat an entire flat of strawberries freeze some strawberries for the never far enough away days when fresh strawberry season is over.

On the way back home, a great moment. I was first in-line at a stoplight. A teenage boy, probably around 13, was crossing the street. He noticed the sidecar, and when he got to the other corner turned, smiled and said, “Nice sidecar!”

The whole way home, and the entire trip around town, people looked and waved and grinned. I don’t know that I will ever get tired of that. And today I got to have some great conversations with folks I’d never know otherwise. And Svetlana did what she does best – bring smiles to lots of people’s faces.

You bet you can.

Clay, a long-time Ural owner in Dover, England, writes:

As far as getting all your gear on a Ural I do a lot of travelling and I carry a 16ft round 8ft high canvas tent, a double inflatable mattress, double sleeping bag, a couple of sheep skin rugs, fresh food, some cold beers, a home made travel kitchen containing all I need and clothes, oh, and my gorgeous girlfriend Shirley. Depending how big your dog is it should be no problem for you.

Jodie and I plan to begin our Ural camping adventures this summer. Clay’s list is similar to what Jodie and I will be carrying. Granted, we don’t carry sheep skin rugs, but when you’re engaged to a knitter, odds are good that there’s the better part of a fleece snuck into the rucksack somewhere.

As far as this summer goes, we probably won’t be going to far afield, so our supply list will be a little tame. Some of the things we’d be taking (rough list off the top of my head) include…

• Milk crate full of camping supplies (silverware, stove, cookware, etc.)
• Food
• Water
• Coffee
• Double sleeping bag
• Tent
• Dog supplies (food, ground stake, water dish, etc.)
• Cooler
• Homebrew
• Wine
• Maybe sleeping pads and pillows
• Camp chairs
• Ural tool kit, spare tire
• Maybe a gas can
• Cute dog
• Hot fiancee

Thanks for the advice, Clay. Once we start camping with our Ural, we’ll be posting photos (on the trip and how we pack out the Patrol) and our camping gear list too.

It took some pondering, and it took some time, but at long last I have named my 2007 Ural Patrol.

The name for my Forest Green, 2007 Ural Patrol is…

Svetlana. For short, “Sveta” is fine too.

The name comes from a powerful, beautiful sorceress in the renowned Nightwatch series of novels by, appropriately enough, Russian author Sergei Lukyanenko (Sergey Lukianenko - Official site).

Maybe I ought to get “Svetlana” stenciled around the gas tank or something… hmmm…

So… meet Svetlana!

And by the way, pick up the books too. Great reads. A friend introduced them to me and Jodie, and they are now some of our favorites. There are 3 books out now, with a fourth, Last Watch, coming out in July 2008:

• The Night Watch
• The Day Watch
• Twilight Watch
• Last Watch

Nightwatch and Daywatch are also available as two very well-done, original, creative and action-packed films. In fact, the movies have been dubbed “the first Russian blockbusters”.

• Gas Price Per Gallon: $4.419
• Gallons: 3.485
• Fuel Total: $15.40
• Tripmeter at fuel-up: 148.7 km/92.4 miles (approx)
• kpg/mpg (approx.) 43kpg/27mpg
• Odometer at fuel-up: 1017km/632 miles
• Date & Time: Saturday, June 7, 2008, 5:09 p.m.
• Gas Station: Jerry Brown CFN, 2690 Prairie Road, Eugene, Oregon, Eugene, Oregon
• Fuel: V-Power (92 octane with 10% ethanol)

Notes on mileage: Still in the high-20s. Will see what happens with mileage as bike continues to break in. Also need to do some highway riding, to see what consistently changes with mileage when doing 45mph-60mph instead of just around-town riding.

I like this gas station. Not only is it a quick ride, but one of the attendants is also pretty stoked to see the Ural.

Oil Check & Wrenching in 30 Minutes

A couple of days ago, my 2007 Ural Patrol crossed the 1,000km mark. This has more of a psychological significance than anything, but to this newbie motorcycle owner it did feel significant. My motorcycle’s mileage – erm, kilometerage? – was now in four figures.

The 1,000km was significant for two more reasons. One was maintenance. The other was a name.

While there is no manufacturer-specified maintenance at 1,000 kilometers, back when I hit the 900km line I told myself that at 1,000km I would give the Patrol a quick checkover. On this Saturday afternoon, in about 30 minutes, I did just that. I checked the oil level as well as ensured that all the bolts and screws were tight. (The only thing I didn’t check was tire pressure, as I’d topped it up recently.) Read the rest of this entry »

Got some riding to do and some projects ’round the house to work on. Got a few things to do with the bike too, such as turning wrenches (just crossed the 1,000 km mark last night!) and deciding on a name for my Patrol.

So I’m going to take a couple of days off from the blog. Posts will resume by Monday, June 9, at the latest.

Motorcycle Crash Kills Springfield Couple

Saw this in the news today. When you ride anything not a car — and I ride both a bicycle and a motorcycle — a story like this is always a reminder of how fragile life is, and how quickly things can change… or end.

Coastal motorcycle crash that killed couple still under investigation; no citations issued yet: The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore.

“A May 17 traffic accident near Florence that killed a husband and wife from Springfield remains under investigation, Oregon State Police said Friday. No citations have been issued or arrests made in the collision on Highway 101 north of Florence that killed Robert Ellis Shimp and his wife, Nancy Ann, Sgt. Ron Martin said Friday. The state police crash reconstruction team is continuing to work on the case.”

What happened? The Shrimps were riding their motorcycle (no details on what make and model) and about to exit Highway 101 outside of Florence, Oregon. Then a driver in a Ford Taurus rear-ended them.

Now they’re gone.

These things happens; it’s one of the risks we accept when we ride. But it’s never easy to see that headline, to read that story, and know that a rider died while riding.

Our thoughts go out to all affected. And we remember them, whenever we get on our bikes again.

Note at the start: not mine. So, so not mine.

But man does this suck. Road salt and paint? No fun. Buddy, I feel for you: one major complaint, shit paint job !!!!! - ADVrider

“New Patrol as of April ‘07 after one year using as my primary transportation and 14,500 klms. I’m not afraid to use it in the mud. I run knobbies from Oct. to April. We use salt on the roads here in Ohio. This is probably the main reason for the rust, but I don’t think salt made the paint fall off. Is the paint falling off your rig? The tub and the tank are holding up fine but all three finders will have to be blasted and painted this summer”

The hard part is, what does he do about it?

I gotta say, I’m glad we live in a land of mild winter. Eugene doesn’t even keep road salts and what-not on hand, because we just don’t get much snow. We got some snow this winter (just before I got the Patrol, I’m sorry to say), and it was the most snow I’ve seen here ever.

The folks on ADV do have some suggestions and insights. Overall it sounds like the problem is less the paint, and more just how highly corrosive the road salts are.

From one Patrol owner to another, good luck, bro — I hope that paint gets sorted out, and you find a way to keep next winter from eating into it so badly.

Follow the whole discussion: one major complaint, shit paint job !!!!! - ADVrider