Ah, time off. Ride Three and I are on vacation for the next 2-ish weeks, returning Sept. 10. In the meantime, here are some old posts you might be interested in…

• Ural Patrol Update: It’s here, or, when you take delivery of your Ural
• SF Gate.com Reviews the 2007 Ural Gear-Up
• Ural Sidecar Motorcycle Message Boards
• New Ural CEO Rick Clark profiled in Tacoma News Tribune
• Ural Improvements 2006, 2007, 2008
• Thinking of getting a Ural? You’re probably nuts… but you’ll have fun
• Bottled Patrol Porter Just Needs a Ural
• From Siberia to Eugene: Getting a Ural motorcycle from Russia to Oregon
• How to understand your Ural VIN

Enjoy! See you in a couple of weeks.

Like I mentioned yesterday, it’d been ages since I’d ridden. So this morning I rode Svetlana to work. It’s funny how things felt a little unfamiliar. I had to think about the controls, from pulling out the enricheners to get the Ural going, to remembering how much to shift my weight on turns and curves.

It was all worth it though. By the time I rode home this afternoon, I felt back in control, felt the smoothness coming back to my technique. Setting up turns smoothed out. Acceleration and shifting got easier, more fluid.

The one funny part: when trying to start Sveta up, she wouldn’t turn over at first. I tried a couple of times, but had no luck. At first I wondered if I was out of gas. Then I thought, “Well, it’s pretty warm today, maybe I don’t need the enricheners?” I’d pushed them, hit the starter — and she fired right up.

Nice.

It’s good to be back in the saddle.

Feels strange, too. I haven’t ridden in about a week. Mostly circumstance, with a touch of weather, but by and large I’ve either been doing things at home, or it’s been better for Jodie and I to have used the car. But I can feel the twitch in me. It’s good to have a break sometimes… but it’s also time to ride.

I think I’ll be taking the Ural to work tomorrow.

New Email Address Too

Have you tried to send me an email within the past 2 weeks? Wondering why you haven’t heard back from me? The answer: My email provider has been having some issues the past couple of weeks.

If you’ve emailed me since August 5, please drop me another line. And please accept my apologies for the email-dropping nonsense. My provider’s lost a fair few emails — at this point, I don’t know how many.

Tandem to that, I also have a new email address for Ride Three. You can email me anytime at anthony at ridethree dot com

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Note to self: Skin and hot J-pipes shouldn’t mix.

Didn’t want to leave the house this past weekend, with Eugene in its annual 100-degree, 4-day heatwave. Did want to fire up the Ural though, and did so on Saturday night. After letting it idle for a couple of minutes, I noticed that it looked like my right mudguard was slipping down a little close to the right engine head.

I hopped off the bike, knelt down to see if I could jiggle the mudguard up — and got myself a nice wee burn on my forearm, where I brushed against the already hot J-pipe.

Ouch.

When I get ready to ride, especially if it’s been a few days, I always give the Ural a quick lookover. Usually I’ll check the tire pressure, and sometimes the oil (but not every time). Given this post below, I’ll keep somewhat of an eye on the fuel lines. That said, this is the first time I’ve read about something like that happening, so I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.

“I finally traced the leak to the small fuel line running to the carb. Apparently the hose clamp had loosened and allowed the line to come partially detached letting fuel flow everywhere. So when doing your rig check-ups, everyone might want to add the hose clamps of the fuel system to their list as apparently these can become loose from vibrations also”

Follow the whole discussion: Soviet Steeds - Scary moment and something to add to your checklist….

Now that I finally have my Ural, I get a huge kick when someone else receives their new Ural. In addition to this chap getting his new Patrol, he also has a sweet list of mods, which I’m noting down as good food for thought for when Jodie and I start doing some more customizing:

“Bike was delivered on Friday. Gold leaf graphics and spotlight were installed prior to delivery. It immediately went into my garage for waxing and installation of goodies”

Follow the whole discussion: Soviet Steeds - Finally…photo’s of new ‘08 Patrol

Speaking of the “goodies,” here are some of the ones I just might have to add to Svetlana:

• chrome med kit box
• carpet kit
• side skirt
• deerskin cover over rubber tubing on windscreen ‘grab rail’ stainless steel
• awaiting vinyl covers for buggy topside foam edges

The famous Ural hack monkey of Eugene

This… is just cool.

A little while back, Ella, Svetlana and I were in a photo shoot. With photography by Eugene’s Jon Christopher Meyers, our own homegrown, homebrewers-turned pros Chris and Jeff Althouse were getting pictures for a big rebranding campaign. Changing their brewery’s name from Willamette Brewery to Oakshire Brewing, they just unveiled the new brand — and the new marketing campaign to go with it.

Keep an eye out for ads and posters like the one above; you’ll see people playing frisbee golf, riding bikes, rafting, and, of course, riding sidecar motorcycles. People who enjoy life. Who enjoy the Northwest. And who, of course, enjoy a good beer.

Raise your glass

It was great to help out these folks. The Althouses (well, nowadays more their head brewer, Todd) brew excellent beer, ranging from a Hefeweizen to an IPA to an espresso stout that contains one shot of espresso per pint. They’re a homegrown company, with a big focus on quality and on sourcing everything for the beer and the business as close to home as they can. You can find Oakshire beers on tap from Eugene to Portland — and if you don’t see it on tap at your favorite watering hole, be sure to ask if they can get a keg in.

We had a great time helping out Jon and the Althouses. And now, Ella and the Ural seem to be becoming, if not famous, then certainly notorious around Eugene. That’s my hack monkey — always stealing the show!

Don, a newbie 2008 Gear-Up rider in California, recently left a comment that got me thinking about all the great resources out there about Urals and other sidecar motorcycles:

Hey, folks! I cannot praise the folks at Soviet Steeds forum enough! I have bothered them from everything from side car balance to getting the dang locked gas cap off! John and the gang there are the best. If you haven’t allready not done so please join the forum. You won’t be sorry! I am a newbie and their advice is right on. They will kid you though from time to time, but hey, I am a rookie so what do I expect! Anyway, great advice.

When you get a Ural, or any sidecar motorcycle for that matter, you don’t just get a motorcycle – you get a golden invitation into some of the handiest online resources available for Ural owners and sidecar motorcycle riders. Here are the top 4 Ural and sidecar motorcycle message boards you want to check out and be part of:

• Soviet Steeds Motorcycle Collective
• IMZ Ural Message Board
• Hacks - ADVrider
• Russian Iron Motorcycle Club

These message boards are one of the best resources available for any Ural motorcycle rider, be you a sidecar newbie or a hack veteran. I’ll warn you though – from how-to maintenance issues to finding accessories, debating oil or checking out some cool sidecar vids, you run the high risk of spending a great deal of time on these boards. Just make sure it doesn’t cut too much into your riding time!

So whether you have a sidecar rig or you’re thinking of getting a Ural, get on the boards above. My personal favorite is Soviet Steeds, followed by the IMZ-Ural board. In any of them, you’ll find great discussion and helpful folks. By the way, you’ll find me on all of them but Russian Iron (I’ve only time for 3), under the handle “Antsaint”.

For more helpful Ural and sidecar websites, see Ural Resources.

Since new IMZ-Ural CEO Rick Clark took the helm in late 2007, things have been pretty quiet in “Little Irbit”, as the Seattle-area Ural headquarters is known. What is happening inside Ural? What operational changes are underway? How are they weathering economic challenges, both in the U.S. and in Russia? There’s been some idle speculation here and there, but no real news

Maybe there are big changes afoot. Or maybe there aren’t. Maybe it’s all just “no news is good news”… for now.