Ride Three

For Ural Sidecar Motorcycle Enthusiasts

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.)

Oil Check

First thing? Check the oil level. My Patrol has not developed an appetite for oil (so far, anyway). I’ve checked the oil level occasionally, both before and after the Ural’s 500 km service, and have never had to top it up.

Today was no exception. Dipstick read at the full mark. Oil level? Check.

Then I moved on to wrenching.

Nuts & Bolts

Urals have some reputation for getting loose bolts. My (uneducated, unsubstantiated) guess is that has to do with 2 things: 1) age of bike, and 2) how hard it’s ridden.

At not even 6 months, my Patrol is still pretty green (well, Forest Green actually, no pun intended). I also don’t ride the Patrol very hard; no off-roading or crazy terrain so far, and other than the occasional gravel road, my Patrol’s tires have tasted nothing but standard-issue blacktop.

Still, occasionally checking all the bolts on a Ural is a good idea.

So I broke out my handy Ural tool roll and went to work.

While I also could’ve gotten out the ratchet set, I decided to do this round of tightening with just my wrenches. The reason is pretty basic – I’ve never done this before. I wanted to go over my Ural from top to bottom, front wheel to taillight, heel-toe shifter to sidecar step. I wanted to look all over the Patrol, wanted to get down on the garage floor and scrunch up at weird angles to check how tight a nut and bolt was, to look at the bike from all angles. And I just wanted to use the wrenches — somehow it seemed I’d get a closer feel for the work.

And you know what? It was fun, calming — meditative, even.

Even better? Hardly any of my screws and bolts needed tightening. The most significant tightening was on the two exhaust knuckles, which connect the exhaust and J pipes (see image at right). These have a tendency to loosen, so they need to be checked regularly.

Tight screws and bolts? Check.

Summing up

I’m glad I took some time to go over the Patrol when it hit 1,000km. There was very little that needed to be done, but really even the wrenching wasn’t my main motivation.

My main motivation was to get to know the bike better. I wanted to be more familiar with where the different fasteners were, which ones might need more attention — even which size wrench would be needed for which screw or bolt. I feel much more confident about my motorcycle, and I feel like we know one another better.

Even though this was my first time really going over the bike, wrenches in hand, it did not take very long. Both the oil check and wrenching took about 30 minutes, and then I was ready to ride (and did).

With the maintenance done and a ride underway, I knew there was something else I needed to do, now that the Ural and I knew each other better, now that my Patrol had over 1,000km on her.

I needed to name her.