/2 in Austin?

Hey everyone. I've seen, what I think is anyway, an awesome /2 with
matching sidehack quite a few times up around IBM on Burnet. It's
black with white pin-striping. Actually, aren't all /2s black with
white striping? Anywho, that is one *sweet* bike (soft spot for
airheads)! Can I have a ride?

 

There is a ural dealer off of manchaca blvd in machaca
which is just about 10 south of austin
go to the Lamar and Manchaca intersection in austin
and get on manchaca and head south you will find it down there
so that may be what you saw


IceMan

 

I'm not sure that guy is still selling them. It was a guy who sold lawn
mowers and such and handled Urals. However, when I was by there a
couple of weeks ago I didn't see any bikes. He may just have been out.
It's still worth a look. BTW, he's on the west side of the road.

Cliff Wilkes

 

that is strangely appropriate.
Urals have some interesting designs,(alot ripped from BMW when the
ruskies literally took the tooling and dies from the BMW plants back to
mother russia after ww2), some pretty smart considering most of russia
is still dirt roads and requires easily replaceable parts in the middle
of nowhere. 3 years ago, someone rode one in the iron butt rally and in
one of the several failures it had, he replaced the bent valve pushrod
with a screwthread cut to length from a hardware store and continued on
in the rally. they're terribly underpowered but the sheet metal is as
thick as on a '56 Chevy. suitable for bouncing across the mud on the
steppes going to the dacha for the weekend.

--
jm

'73 R75/5 Toaster (not for sale)
'99 R1100RT (in use)
'00 FLHRCI (sold!)
Iron Butt Assoc, WATR 3X, EIEIO, AEIOU etc blah blah

 

Hey Cp,

Nah, if it were 80 year old technology it would be like the original
BMW R32 (1923-1925), of which a good friend of mine owns one of the four
in North America. Your Ural evolved from 40s vintage models from when the BMW
motorcycle production was moved from Munich to Eisenach during the war.
When east Germany was ceded to the Russians, they used the existing
parts supplies to start up the Ural motorcycle manufacturing. All
things considered, your machine has similar technology to my 1961 R60/2,
except that you have an electric starter and electronic ignition.

Just like the classic Beemers they derived from. Of course, today's
Beemers are a different story....too complex IMO, though the ABS is a
really neat feature. One thing I found to be a chuckle is the way some
models check the oil...no dipstick, a sight window down low...but you
have to have the bike level and there is no center stand so checking the
oil can be somewhat problematic.....so much for superior Teutonic
engineering....

 

my /5 has a dipstick and a centerstand, plus sidestand
my R1100RT has a sight glass and a centerstand, plus sidestand.

which model does not have a center stand but has a sight glass?

--
jm

'73 R75/5 Toaster (not for sale)
'99 R1100RT (in use)
'00 FLHRCI (sold!)
Iron Butt Assoc, WATR 3X, EIEIO, AEIOU etc blah blah

 

'96 Vulcan classic 800

 

Wow, a real, live URAL owner . Didn't think there were any URALs in
Texas. Do you think your URAL was money well-spent? The side-hacked
Patrol model is 10k, which seems a bit steep (not that I have any
money to buy one now, but we can always dream about the next bike,
right?). The money spent on a Patrol/Gear-Up could easily buy a fully
restored /2. Although, they're obviously different beasties, they have
similar appeal. How's the parts availability on your URAL? Are the
parts pricey?