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Increasing Ural Gas Mileage
Filed Under (Bikeography) by Anthony StClair on 25-11-2008
From breaking in your Ural to making sure your have good tire pressure, how can you improve your Ural’s gas mileage?
I have consistantly come up with about 25 miles to the gallon. Confused My 2007 gear up I bought at the end of April has just over 6200 km on it. How are you guys getting 30 mpg? Granted thats only about 20 miles per tank before refueliing but thats a trip to work. I do a mix of highway and city driving and when I am on the interstate I cruise at about 55 to 60 mph. I have color tuned and synced the carbs. I change the oil and have 20w-50 as the manual says. Everything runs smooth though the ride is a little rougher with the new tire but it has almost 2000 km on it. Tire pressure is always checked and kept at 32 front, 40 pusher and 30 on the sidecar. I weigh in at about 225 before armored up. Any hints and tips would be appreciated
Tips include:
- Slow down (overall 40-45mph seems to be a good speed, but of course what you run varies with what road you’re driving on)
- Keep your tires at good pressure (manual recommends 32 psi front, 30 psi hack, 40 psi rear, but many foilheads run 32 psi in the hack wheel)
- Avoiding ethanol-blended gas
Follow the whole discussion: Soviet Steeds - How do you guys and gals get 30 mpg?
You have to recognize that the Gear Up is really not set up for highway riding. I have a Deco with 750 engine upgrade that consistently gets 40 mpg or a little better (60 kpg on a good day). Of course, the Deco has 18″ wheels and the higher gearing on the rear hub.
60kpg? Not too shabby at all. Good points - I’m fairly certain that Sveta’s mileage has been improving of late; she’s now over the 1500km mark, and seems to be breaking in enough now to start getting better mileage. Didn’t occur to me that the 18″ wheels might be a factor in mileage.
Some dealers will tell you to go to a higher tire pressure. I get 30 mpg all the time road trip and 28 mix in town.
Bob
For fuel economy I’m going this route of regearing my bike by utilizing a set of crown and pinion gears from the wolf. Standard sidecar gearing is 4.62 to 1, standard Wolf gearing is 3.89 to 1. This upgrade allows the engine to operate & cruise at lower rpm.
Whoa, can’t wait to hear more about this! When are you doing the changeover? Definitely want to hear how performance changes.