New Patrol Owner: NooB rider(s) Questions/Advice

Hi Croz-
Find all things Ural at www.imz-ural.com. Click the community tab and go to the web board for discussion of all things Ural plus a lot of things that aren't! Great group there. Great group here too!

Be sure to remember you got that hack ridin with you ,stay toward the centerline. Its easy to forget when you've been ridin two wheels. Good luck.

stick to the highway. slowly, and NO passengers until you and your wife are very familiar with the rig's handling.
Have fun!!

With the low break in speeds required for the URAL (and the low cruising speed even later), the highway isn't the best place for a new patrol/new driver to be. Too much intimidation from other users and the urge to keep up with them (when you can't) can be dangerous and also have bad effects on the machine. Take it slow till you get the feel of what the rig will do and not do. You're in a learning curve.
100# is plenty of ballast.
Got a helmet law? If so, I would recommend a helmet.
No helmet law and you want to be aware of what's going on outside of your line of vision? Wear something else so you can hear.

My way,

Lonnie

We picked up the S.O.'s '06 Ural Patrol today from the local dealer. I was given the task of riding it home via 40 miles of urban Phoenix streets and boy is it a hoot to ride. However it did take a little unlearning to do. Reverse physics from a 2wheeler, uneven torque distribution to the drive wheel, not to mention my first experience with a rocker gear shift controller. However it is great!!! Loved getting to take the dog for a ride.

Even gave my mom (who is in from out of town) a quick ride and showed her just a split second of Flying the Car.

The S.O. spent the remainder of the evening using me as her ballast weight as she practiced in an empty parking lot near our place till after dark.

After getting used to it she is already starting to look like a pro. Still plan on going to the Sidecar Safety Class in May up in Oregon though but plan to do a lot of weekend practicing here too 🙂

man. you are crazy!lifting the SC wheel with your M.I.L. in it with such little experience..that sould be one of the last things you do, and only when it happens in an emergency.It is VERY hard on the SC, frame, mounts...dont do it to show off! If the SC comes up the easily, you need more ballast .you mentioned 100 pounds of ballast. leave it in the sidecar permanently, even with a passenger aboard.The most dangerous times with a SC rig are coming for you and your wife, as your confidence builds up and you increase speed and manouvers.take care, and ride safe!

LOL...Be careful my friend. Read hal's book and do as you said ..practice practice practice. These things, as you found out, are diferent but a ton of fun. Be sure not to get over confident and take your time learning. The link to Ha;'s books at this site are in my signature below..free for the down load. And yes...take Vernon's class you will be glad you did.
Have fun !! And welcome to th emadness.

Congratulations on the new rig! Looks like you are having fun!
Looking forward to seeing you in May.

A word of warning:
The earlier 2 wheel drive models were known to shed gears when the sidecar landed under power from flying the chair. They probably still can.

Lonnie

Originally written by CrozB on 3/23/2006 9:42 PM
Any accessories that are a "must have"?

That's highly subjective, but the sky is the limit when it comes to personalising these rigs. Mine is the Tourist, the only difference from yours other than the colour is that I have 1WD. Which hasn't made any difference over this past winter, I've been regularly scooting about in 15cm of snow with no mishaps. Here's a link to my Ural page, it'll show you the mods I have done to mine as well as direct you to the web log I have been keeping on it since last year:

http://www.gummiente.ca/Bikes/Ural/index.htm

Congratulations on your new Patrol. As you know by now, it's a first class Hoot.

HOWEVER... take this from a licker of wounds; download Hal Kendall's books and absorb them. Then, find an empty parking lot, start slowly, then practice, practice, practice. The learning curve is short but steep. This is true especially if you just spent many years on two wheels. Do not forget that unlearning at 5 mph is a lot safer than unlearning at 45. Trust me on this.

Fill up the tank before you hit 200 km and you will do well.

Enjoy.

J. Macdonald

Thanks for the Advice. The wife has officially taken over the URAL. We spent the entire evening and in to the night yesterday in a parking lot just having her learning how to turn and shift (GAWD that thing is a bear to shift). Fortunately she has only ever ridden 3-wheel and 4 wheel ATV's so she doesn't seem to be having a hard time with the counter balancing. I agree MacDonald, 5mph is fine for learning. Today we took a trip out to an area called Seven Springs. Great road where she could stay out of traffic and take those corners at her own pace. I ran traffic watch while our black lab added a little weight to the car. Took twisties so slow I had to steer my 2 wheeler sometimes rather than lean. 😉 http://www.crozb.com/Outdoors/03-25-06

I haven't read anything by Hal Kendall but I did just finish reading Driving a Sidecar Outfit by David Hough. The dealer was nice enough to give us a free copy while we were still just shopping. The wife is about 2/3rd through it. I will pass on the link for Hal to her. Thanks Claude. I actually took the impression from the book I read that it is wise (albeit "eventually") to learn to fly the car. OK so maybe using "my" mother as a ballast was not the best choice 😉 Didn't realize it very hard on the frame.

Dave,
there is some controversey about driving techniques. Hal seems to be of the opinion that Hough's book is filled with misinformation, that flying the sidecar is a foolhardy stunt and some other stuff I won't get into right now. Hal has been around a long time and his books were at one time the only thing available to learn from. I used them myself and found them quite helpful. I think David's book is just as good, if not better and that Hal's criticisms of it are specious and unwarranted. You will find heated advocates for both points of view.

Urals stand up to flying the sidecar, although it is hard on spokes, bearings and frames. The Ural frame is stout enough I have never seen a frame problem with one which could be traced back to flying the sidecar or hard cornering.
The wheels, spokes and bearings on Urals are rather inferior stuff. If you do fly the sidecar or corner hard or offroad the Ural, keep a close eye on these components. Unless you have a defective one, they are unlikely to fail with occasional abuse, but regular hard use will take it's toll.

Flying the sidecar is something we teach in class, and I think it is a good skill to master. Not because it has any practical application on the street-it does not, and probably should be reserved for a more controlled environment(certainly a novice should not be flying the sidecar on public roads and a strong case can be made that a veteran hack pilot should not do so either. Most of us are guilty of occasionaly indulging in this practice). It is a good thing to become proficient in because it gives you familiarity and confidence with your machines stability and your ability to control it in a hard right hand turn.

Hal Kendal and David Hough seem to have a personality conflict which has spilled into the public forum. They both believe strongly in their respective points of view. Their differences have gotten blown out of proportion. Internet advice is seldom worth what you pay for it-take all this with a grain of salt. Read all you can find, keep practicing, take it slow and easy and have fun.
See you in May!
VW

this is my 3rd year of sidecaring, and have never had the SC wheel off the ground...yet.13,000 miles