Sunday afternoon at the grocery store. I’d just parked and dismounted, locked my helmet to Sveta’s luggage rack, and was about to walk towards the store when a man walked up to me.

“Mind if I take a picture of it?” he asked, grinning.

“Go right ahead,” I replied, nodding.

“Otherwise, no one’s gonna believe me when I say what was behind me!”

Cameraphone out, he snapped a few pics, smiling and shaking his head. Then we each went our way.

Out for the evening for, at last, a wee ride around town. It’s in the 30s in Eugene this evening, and while that’s nothing compared to temperatures in much of the country, it’s still a bit chilly. Nonetheless, when you’re geared up right, plus doing the body weight shifting required to ride a sidecar rig well, you do stay pretty warm.

Except for my neck.

I’ve got thick gloves, thick socks, overpants, a fleece, a fleece-lined leather jacket, and a full-face helmet. When it comes to cold, my only vulnerable area is under my chin — my throat down to the top of my jacket collar, and the back of my neck right at the bottom of my helmet.

It’d be one thing if these areas were just a little chilly, but in the chill and fast rush of wind, the cold makes them just bloody well hurt. Throb, even, as if under this pressure.

I just relayed my tale of woe to my knitter fiancee, and the word from her needles is she can knit up something to cover that area. Nice.

Beyond that though, a great night’s ride. Sveta started right up — she liked the cold, I’ve decided — and the ride, on a clear pretty night in Eugene, was wonderful.

It’s good to have a sidecar motorcycle.

Remember Victor Wanchena, the winter-riding Minnesotan? If you’re looking for a good read about motorcycles, check out his magazine, Minnesota Motorcycle Monthly. Here are the online archives, or you can subscribe or, if in Minnesota, find a print edition in locations around the state.

I’ve been glancing through some of Minnesota Motorcycle Monthly’s 2009 issue, and particularly enjoyed this bit from Victor Wanchena’s From the Hip:

We as motorcyclists tend to be traditionalists when it comes to power plants and new fangled technology. When electric ignition was introduced, it was decried as the work of the devil. The purists claimed they would stick to their points ignition because it was simple and repairable roadside. If it was good enough for their gran-pappy, it was good enough for them. 30 years later, and I have yet to be stranded roadside by a dead, electronic ignition. Then there was fuel injection. You would have thought the end of the world was at hand. Some riders swore that fuel injection on motorcycles was the final sign of a coming apocalypse. It should be noted that bike blessing services and fuel injection became more common at the same time. But we’re all still here and fuel injection has become very common on motorcycles. We fought rear suspension, electric start, ABS brakes; the list goes on. We love our traditions and cling to them. The electric motorcycle will take some getting used to.

Check it out online: Minnesota Motorcycle Monthly

I might’ve missed a chance for snow motorcycling, but Minnesota’s Victor Wanchena certainly doesn’t. He rides every day, saying it’s not much different – or much crazier – than riding a snowmobile:

Joe Soucheray: Snow, cold don’t stop Victor Wanchena and his Ural motorcycle - TwinCities.com

Perhaps you’ve seen him — or them. Victor Wanchena explains why he rides his salt-encrusted Ural on an arctic January day

Riding a Ural in snowy conditions has plenty of challenges – from salt eating your electrics so you have to kick-start, to black ice and cellphone yappers always a threat – but Wanchena’s still out there, day in and day out.

Thanks to Alan for sending this along!

Maybe I’d gotten lazy. Maybe I just hadn’t thought about it, since I hadn’t been riding as much. But recently, I was going to take Sveta out for a ride, when I just happened to look down and see the exhaust knuckles, between the exhaust pipes and the mufflers, completely unscrewed on both sides. It had probably been 400 or 500 km since I’d last given them a good solid tightening.

Oops.

Five minutes with a spanner wrench had the exhaust knuckles sorted out, but it was a good reminder — that’s something I need to check regularly, and from what I’ve heard, most Ural owners do. They don’t have to be checked every ride, but every, say, 200 km or so would be a good rule of thumb.

While I was at it, I checked the oil, topped up my tires and checked the tightness on my turn signals.

And I won’t forget to check the exhaust knuckles again.

Only 18 available in the U.S.

You might not be able to get a 2009 Limited Edition Ural Wjuga in the U.S., but if you hurry you can get one of the 18 Limited Edition 2009 Ural Saharas available in the U.S. Here’s the skinny from IMZ Ural and from Ural Northwest:

The limited Ural edition 2009 is born! 100% no chrome bike, everything is kept in a dirty yellow-grey-brown paint job. A person could say, “the bike is ugly” but the 2009 Ural Sahara is definitely not unfunctional. The Ural Sahara is fitted with unique attributes which are really useful when you want to drive in the deserts of this world”

MSRP: $13,949; deposits are usually required by Ural dealers.

2008 had the limited edition Arctic Gear-Up — and, according to Total Motorcycle News, 2009 has the, um, 2009 Ural Wjuga:

“Without doubt this Ural is not beautiful. Disheveled, sloppy, grey-greyish colored. A doubtful appearance. But exactly the right answer for uncomfortable circumstances in the life of a motorcycle driver like coldness, snow, winter, wind.”

Production is limited — and to add insult to injury, you’ll have to go to Europe, as Wjugas won’t be available in North America. It reminds me a little of the Arctic Gear-Up, though the camo fairing is a nice touch.

The piece explains that “wjuga” is a Russian word for “northeast storms in the steppe of south Russia”. That’s all well and good, but my money still says “wjuga” is the sound the horn makes.

The economy is having tough times, we all know. And we all know it’s not confined to the U.S., that other countries, other economies, have been reeling and feeling the pain too. What does all this mean to a wee company like IMZ-Ural, which has been trying to keep up with demand while raising capital?

There are various rumors about, such as the one below, picked up from a fellow Uralist. As for me, and I think, him too, Ural will ride this out. If they can handle the fall of communism, they can probably get through the current economic problems. That’s my hope.

“Even with all the rumors of dealers not receiving ordered bikes, Italian suppliers not being paid, profit skimming, lots of Irbit factory workers let go, and overall mismanagement. Hope it ain’t true, I see no talk of it on the interweb, but was told all this by a dealer of Urals in the U.S. … But I have been fooling with Ducatis for near 40 years, and have seen them go broke and bankrupt many times, and look at them now. With so much demand for Urals now, I can not imagine too much grief for owners for very long. Even though I have been trying to get a part for near a year now.”

I agree, but — what is happening with Ural? How is the company doing? If you know, please say so. If anyone from IMZ happens upon this blog, I’d also be happy to publish a statement from the company.

Shortly before the holidays, something happened in Eugene that hardly ever happens here — it snowed. Good and bloody hard too. And that wasn’t all — the snow stayed. For nearly a week. Suddenly it was like we were in, I dunno, Boston or New Hampshire or something.

And guess what? I didn’t get to ride in it. Not. Bloody. Once.

With the holidays near and us preparing to leave for a big trip to Colorado, plus Jodie transitioning to a new job, I didn’t ride. That week was working, packing, and helping her move stuff to her new violin teaching studio.

All that snow, begging for a Ural. And I didn’t get out in it once.

It was a missed opportunity, and while I’m okay — to a point — with having missed it, well, it’s still a missed opportunity and I’m sorry I missed it.

I’m almost wishing for more snow.

Almost.

Ride Three is on holiday break until January 2009. All the best to you and yours!