Thank for all the feed back! Very good info...
I went and looked at the Ural today. First expression, The bike look smaller than I thought (I guess I'm use to looking at Ultra and Road Glide). And the bike is not as polish which I can understand, it suppose to be retro. But I did like simplicity of old fashion build. I didn't like the 08 Gear Up (camo paint schemes), but I like the 08 Patrol (white), it looks very classic and has 2WD. They said I can get it OTD under $12000.
I'm going to wait couple of months and see I can get a better deal or get a good 08 use one. The only concern for me is high way driving.
The Ural is not a super slab rig and $9000 will buy other brands used that are in good condition and can handle the interstate easily. Peruse the classified ads here for an idea of what's out there. I paid $9000 for my 2002 Yamaha V-Star 1100 with Hannigan Classic car mounted. Much of my riding is super slab and the extra power is welcome.
I looked at the Ural first then considered my needs and bought something different and more in line with what worked for me. You can't spend your life on the back roads anymore. Sooner or later you'll find yourself on the highway and you'd better be able to keep up.
If you like the Ural type rigs and want to be able to cruise at highway speeds, then I think the way to go would be to get a commie rig with a BMW engine. I am waiting for a CJ sidecar coming from China to attatch to my R100S, I know it will keep up with freeway traffic with ease.
With hindsight I don't know whether getting the bike before the sidecar was altogether a wise decision. I have ended up importing a sidecar on it's own, and I still have to fit it. I think it would have made more sense to just import a CJ with a sidecar and a BMW engine that's ready to go.
I am a previous Ural owner.... owned a 1998 Ural Decco. The Ural is a nice rig for driving under 50mph. They are low rev engines and you really can not run them for any length of time over 55mph. For $9k you can get a mule that has todays technology, and not 1939 tech. The Ural I had handled great, but I did have some major problems with it because I ran it too hard, trying to keep up with my buddies on there Jap rigs. I have a little under $11k in my present rig, a 2006 S83 Suzuki and Texas Ranger sidecar...... I bought the bike new and had the car shipped to me from Bob in Texas. As former owner of a Ural, I think the Urals are over priced based on there technology as compared to todays bikes.
Jerry
