Ural motorcycles are the only model of heavy motorcycles that are produced in Russia at a plant in the city of Irbit. Most models come complete with a wheelchair that has a drive. There are several models without stroller wheel drive. The drive itself is switchable.
Currently, the Ural company sells only 3 percent of motorcycles in Russia , and the rest are supplied to foreign countries. The main sales markets are the USA, Canada, Australia, as well as European countries. Modern Ural motorcycles date back to German pre-war developments, which results in an outdated design. Despite this, the motorcycle plant in Irbit positions its motorcycles as simple, highly reliable motorcycles with a masculine character.
Since 2011, Ural motorcycles have used many foreign parts, which has a negative impact on the price for Russian consumers. This explains the drop in demand in the homeland. Among the Ural models there are models with a sidecar, without it, as well as exclusive and sports motorcycles.
Advantages
Ural motorcycles began to be produced before the war, and during its years their number increased significantly. This is explained quite simply. The Ural has high cross-country ability, copes well with off-road conditions, is not picky about the quality of fuel and oil, and is also quite easy to repair. That is why during the war the production of motorcycles was increased and, at its core, the Ural became a mobile military unit. A crew of three with a machine gun mounted on a sidecar could easily change the outcome of the battle.
Currently, technically the model remains military, but they are not often used from this point of view. All this affected the future development of the motorcycle and to this day they are reliable machines that are perfect for off-road use. Based on reviews from Ural owners, we can safely say that this is a very powerful motorcycle with high gasoline consumption . This is undoubtedly a minus, but with the right approach and modernization, fuel consumption can be reduced by almost half. The Ural easily reaches 90 or more kilometers per hour, but at such speeds it becomes quite unstable. Therefore, it is not recommended to organize races on them.
The term “heavy” was taken literally by Soviet designers, and when copying German prototypes, the frame was significantly heavier, the cylinders were quite widely spaced to the sides, which made the model very large and uncomfortable when cornering. There are quite a few jokes about the reliability of Ural engines, and they did not appear out of the blue.
The Ural is a truly reliable motorcycle and, if cared for, can last for decades. For Russian bikers who cannot afford expensive foreign choppers, old Ural models bought on the cheap can be a real godsend. With the help of simple manipulations, a factory frame can turn into a rather unique biker motorcycle.
The main thing is to approach this wisely. Ural motorcycles, among other things, are famous for their ease of repair . Easy access to the main components has a positive effect on the fact that the equipment is easy to repair in the field on your own, and for a long time this was also valued among motorcyclists. Recently, it has become quite difficult to find original parts on the Russian market due to the fact that many components are bought abroad, and in the vast majority of cases the equipment itself is sold the same way.
The popularity of Russian Urals in foreign countries is quite understandable. For foreign buyers, this is a very inexpensive motorcycle option and is especially in demand among poor bikers. The Ural is undoubtedly inferior in speed characteristics to foreign competitors, and also loses in design, but few models can compare with the Ural in cross-country ability.
Motorcycle URAL - owner reviews
Helgi Apfelwein
https://irecommend.ru/content/isklyuchitelno-dlya-predannykh-fanatikov
Designed exclusively for fanatics
Advantages:
warmth and storm of emotions, even today!
Flaws:
- unreliable
- increased fuel consumption
I've been with motorcycles since I was 13 years old. I started with small and weak mopeds. Gradually he switched to more powerful and expensive Japanese motorcycles. But this is now.
In those distant times, all the boys raved about the motorcycle theme. I had to get rid of my father's or grandfather's trash.
After graduating from college, I bought myself a Ural motorcycle. It was a joy beyond description.
Everyone has their own attitude towards the Urals. I have it in two ways. The motorcycle made a certain contribution to my development.
Firstly, this is a really powerful and heavy motorcycle. It can be used for its intended purpose, for utilitarian needs. It has serious cross-country ability and is undemanding to maintenance.
But many people unhook the stroller and drive this heavy apparatus at full speed, forgetting about caution.
Now, after many years, I am no longer so enthusiastic about this device. Most of his positive qualities are the fan factor. A motorcycle supported only by emotions. This is because in those days nothing else could be bought. And now no one buys Urals for rides, because any cheap Chinese motorcycle will be ten times better and more economical and reliable.
Unfortunately, myths about the indestructibility of the Urals are born by those who did not repair it. My Ural required constant repairs. And all my friends also have the same situation. The oil was constantly leaking, the seals did not hold. The nuts were unscrewed. The cables were breaking. But of course it remained on the move, because half of the repairs could be done in the fields using wire and duct tape.
But the Urals made us real mechanics. We could disassemble and assemble it almost with our eyes closed. Modern motorcycles do not break down and therefore they do not provide such childish delight from learning all the “hardships of maintenance”.
Nowadays a lot of Urals are sold abroad, but these are not the same motorcycles, half of them are made from imported parts, so they are very reliable and very expensive. It is wrong to compare them to the same ones as before. Our Urals were heavy, uncontrollable and fuel-guzzling like tractors.
The Ural was not bad for driving around the village; in a pinch, you could always tow it home. But those brave souls who went on a trip on it took with them bags and boxes of spare parts and fasteners.
I went on a short trip twice in my Urals and something constantly broke down. But for the sake of fairness, I’ll say it was easy to repair and the spare parts are cheap and are sold to every general store.
Now I ride a Japanese touring motorcycle. Unfortunately, I don’t have as much time for repairs and maintenance of equipment as in those years. But the Japanese break down very rarely. I can’t imagine that it would occur to me now to go somewhere on a trip to the Urals. Perhaps to the neighboring area.
I gave my Ural to my neighbor in the garage, he might make some kind of project out of it. For projects and renovations, the Urals are simply ideal.
And if you want to ride and not learn how to repair, buy a small-capacity Japanese motorcycle and travel across the whole country without problems, nothing will happen to the motorcycle.
I Ural should be stored in the garage and wiped with a cloth, remembering past years!
Alex
https://citykey.net/review/ustarevshiy
Advantages:
- powerful
Flaws:
- his time has passed
In my childhood, when cars cost a lot of money and only the “elite” of society could buy them. But my family was not one of those people; we used a Soviet-made Ural motorcycle. It was equipped with a cradle, which allowed it to transport up to 4 people. In general, the motorcycle was very good, powerful, and started up with a bang at any time of the year. Although there were breakdowns, what could we do without them? After all, if you actively use it, something will fail. Therefore, they simply did not pay attention to the breakdowns. Due to its high power and weight, this motorcycle consumes a decent amount of gasoline. Therefore, it is considered not entirely economical among motorcycles.
We drove it mainly to the apiary, which was located very far away, 80-200 km, exactly at that interval, because the apiary was located in different places. The road is most often not paved but a country road, but what’s strange is that after the rain I don’t remember even once that we skidded or got stuck somewhere. Apparently this simply did not happen. Although it is very outdated, I mean the brand, now such motorcycles are not held in high esteem, but still I have very warm memories of it. Even now I’m thinking about buying an old Ural and repairing it and tuning it, but it’s a rare manufacturer’s company. After all, not everyone can boast that they race in the Urals, but I can. Therefore, I give this motorcycle a solid four.
TheOliver
https://otzovik.com/review_172779.html
Advantages:
- Cross-country ability like a tank
- availability of spare parts
- phenomenal maintainability
Flaws:
- Unpredictability in breakdowns
- low speed
- outdated design
I have been dealing with the Urals for a long time and only recently stopped dealing with them. But more on that later. As a wheelchair user, I have no complaints about it; rarely do wheelchair drivers use it too harshly. I was dealing with a single custom car, which I drove quite a lot. First of all, a few words about the design. But it remained at the level of the 40s and remained there. Modern Urals are simply “touched up” without improving them technically at all. For example, it is very difficult to remove the crankshaft from the crankcase, but this is a military motorcycle! In war conditions, delay was like death. So five-speed gearboxes were left behind in evolution. In order to make a normal single from the “standard” it is necessary, first of all, to replace the rubber bushings of the rear pendulum with bearings or caprolon bushings. The lack of such a replacement cost me a broken leg. It is necessary to replace the wheels with smaller diameter ones. Installation of traverses with rigid fixation of stays, front disc brake. It is advisable to install a more powerful generator, at least the same Japanese Denso. For long and trouble-free operation, it is necessary to replace almost EVERYTHING with automotive or imported ones - oil seals, bearings, forged pistons, etc. To reduce fuel consumption, it is necessary to install imported carburetors. From my personal experience, I will say that the motorcycle is very capricious and absolutely anything can fly out, completely unpredictably. This, of course, is compensated by the low cost of spare parts and their availability in almost any locality in Russia. But the end of my trips in the Urals was set by one incident when I was driving with my girlfriend along the highway at a speed of about 100-110 (and for me this is the ideal cruising speed), and I heard a loud crash and a sharp drop in power. I looked down and what do you think I saw? A completely severed cylinder hanging from the exhaust elbow and carburetor cable. I can’t imagine how it didn’t jam at the same time. When I stopped, I was even more surprised. The cylinder was not torn out along with the studs, but simply torn away from these same studs. The piston and pin clearly remained somewhere on the track, because we never found them. But that's not all. The upper connecting rod hole acquired an oval shape, as well as the connecting rod itself bent by 30 degrees. The metal oil channels in the crankcase were also bent. Since then, I decided to give up 650 cc Urals forever and installed an engine from the Dnepr, incomparably more powerful, smoother, and less capricious.
Tarasoffvas
https://otzovik.com/review_4061052.html
Advantages:
- Quite a cheap motorcycle.
Flaws:
- Gearbox and engine speed.
"Ural" was one of the first motorcycles. Actually, I learned to ride on it.
In principle, for a first motorcycle and for a sufficient period of use, this is what you need.
One of the advantages of this motorcycle: the presence of reverse gear.
There are no breakdowns every other day, as happens with other motorcycles. Of course, a lot, almost everything depends on the care of the motorcycle and how you ride.
On the Ural base, motorcycle enthusiasts very often make modifications, or even trikes in general. Because the design of the motorcycle allows.
There are, of course, a number of disadvantages: many people complain about the gearbox, saying it breaks quickly. Also, the motorcycle is quite revvy, which is not very good when driving on the ground, after rain, because the rear wheel digs into the ground.
General impression:
The impressions are not clear.
Lan, don't growl
https://fishki.net/auto/2087042-pochemu-motocikly-ural-tak-populjarny-v-amerike.html
Today it is easier to find Ural motorcycles somewhere in Florida than near Kaluga. The explanation is simple: the Irbit motorcycle plant, which with difficulty, but still survived the difficult 90s, continues to operate, but now exports nine-tenths of its products. Mostly overseas.
There is demand. And this is taking into account the fact that in America a “Ural”, or rather a Ural, with a sidecar can be purchased for about $15,000. For reference: in the USA they ask for the same amount for a brand new Harley-Davidson of the classic Softail family in the basic version.
The reason is simple - retro fashion. “Yes, Harley is no longer the same,” orthodox American bikers mutter through their mustaches and increasingly look at the Russian Military Motorcycle, as our “Urals” are called overseas. This interest is cleverly fueled by marketers who constantly repeat that he is truly Russian and undoubtedly military. Straight from the battlefields of World War II, virtually unchanged, straight to your garage. As proof, commercials are shown - there are many of them on the Internet - with bravura marches and historical newsreels, where soldiers, bristling with machine guns, ride in orderly columns on motorcycles with sidecars...
Antique
https://otzyvy-otritsatelnye.ru/otzyvy/tovary-i-uslugi/avtomobili/39808-otzyvy-o-motocikle-ural.html
Ural is my dream
Indeed, I dreamed about this legendary motorcycle from the moment I rode it as a boy, I really liked the speed and drive of racing on this iron horse. But when I found out how many little things and subtleties there were in its repair, and by the way they broke down no less often than cars, I realized that this was not for me. I don’t like to tinker with technology and that’s all, I prefer the process of driving. Of course, cars are different, but my heart probably lies more with them.
But overall, I want to say that we can be proud that we had and still have such a wonderful manufacturer of motorcycles, and even though now they are not so in demand. I will still respect the designers and those people who, one might say, made our dream come true. What I have always respected them for is that they seem to have found out the ideal formula for creating a motorcycle and brought it to life. Everything seems to be in its place, and the handling is good, the engine and brakes are all in such a beautiful body style.
Of course, the Ural can no longer be equal to modern powerful beasts from Honda and others. But it will be remembered for many years by those people who rode it at least once and felt the freedom that someone feels every day on it.
Wickering
Advantages:
- convenient to transport cargo
- good maneuverability
Flaws:
- Breaks too often.
Details:
About 10 years ago I bought a Ural motorcycle. When I bought it, I didn’t even think how much fuss there would be with this motorcycle. I already bought it secondhand for only 5 thousand. The first summer seemed to go well, at the very least. But the next summer began. First the capacitor burned out, then a week later the tank broke. Another year later the mufflers had to be changed. I’m generally silent about the speedometer, they immediately flew off (I never found why they didn’t work, it seemed like all the wires were in good order). And then, to complete the happiness, the frame also broke. I will also say that the gearbox is not stable and reliable. Roughly speaking, I invested 30-40 thousand on this motorcycle over 5 years. This is only for repairs. And it consumes gasoline... 25-30 liters. There was a cradle, it was convenient to transport all sorts of cargo. There was also a reverse gear, but unfortunately it didn’t work when I bought it. So draw your own conclusion whether you need such a motorcycle or not...
Flaws
The disadvantages of domestic Ural motorcycles include, first of all, their cost. For the Russian market, the price of a new motorcycle varies from 500 to 650 thousand rubles . Many Russian buyers do not understand how a motorcycle can cost more than a car. This price is the result of using foreign parts. An equally important negative quality of the Urals is its high gas consumption with low speed characteristics. The Ural is a very expensive motorcycle to refuel and this also does not make it popular.
High demand on the foreign market has led to the disappearance of original spare parts from Russia, and Chinese analogues cannot compare with them in quality. The low weight of the Urals negatively affects the stability of the vehicle at high speed. When driving over 90 kilometers per hour with or without an empty stroller, a bump can become an excellent springboard. Most Ural models take turns poorly at high speed, which is not acceptable for those who like high speeds.
The “brutality” of the motorcycle’s body causes admiration abroad, but meets with protest in the Russian open spaces. Outdated design in most cases leaves a negative impression of an excellent motorcycle.
Soviet style conversion
In 1955, the military order was transferred to the Kyiv Motorcycle Plant (which produced cars under the Dnepr brand). The Urals had no choice but to switch to civilian consumers. And it is in this market segment that Irbit motorcycles have achieved incredible success.
The first civilian model was the M-72M.
“It was a real workhorse.” In villages and small towns, this motorcycle literally performed the function of a horse: it was easy to bring a haystack or bags of potatoes for fishing. Take it anywhere! — says Alexander Bulanov.
At first, Irbit motorcycles did not have their own brand - only letter designations. The first car with a name was the M-61 model - it was called “Irbit”.
And only in 1961, when the M-62 model was released, Irbit motorcycles received the name “Ural”. At the same time, large-scale production of motorcycles began.
In the 60s of the last century, policemen drove Urals. And in this capacity - a police motorcycle - the “Ural” was often filmed in films. In the photo: an episode from the legendary Soviet film “Beware of the Car!” (1966)
— Our most popular model over the years was probably the M-63 motorcycle. It was produced for 8 years: from 1963 to 1971,” says former plant director Nikolai Volozhanin .
Nikolai Ivanovich will turn 80 this year. He is a living legend of the Irbit Motor Plant; he was its director twice. The first time was from 1979 to 1983, and the second time was at the end of the enterprise’s glory, from 1987 to 1995. He himself had three Urals, in which he participated in long-distance runs.
The most famous of them took place in 1968. Then a team of Irbitsk residents went to an international gathering of, as they would say today, bikers, which took place in Italy. According to the recollections of Nikolai Volozhanin, nine motorcycle plant workers left Irbit on eight locally produced motorcycles. It took 50 days to get to Italian Perugia, where the rally took place, and back; we drove 11 thousand kilometers - and with virtually no breakdowns. Probably, then “abroad” saw the Ural motorcycle for the first time. As Nikolai Ivanovich said, even in the company of eminent brothers, “Ural” looked good. The technical lag of the Irbit motorcycle began later...
Does not start. What to do?
It depends on what the symptoms are and whether they exist.
