[foambuilder]

I ran across this video of Ural motorcycles. If you went through the Victory Plant at AVR you will be amazed that some folks still build motorcycles like these Russians.
Language is a mix of Russian with overdub of Polish (? I think). There is the Irbit Motorcycle Museum, Ural factory, trips with Urals, the bottle of vodka in the repair shop, some cute young women later in the video, and lots of scenes from rural Russia. You will see Russians filling up tanks with water from a public pump, some fantastic 3-wheelers, a (OSHA-safe?) wind motorcycle, and concrete block apartment buildings (called Stalin Bldgs), and more. I have seen the same water-fill-up by a lovely young lady with a $400 Android cellphone. What is missing in the technology? Whatever came after the water pump to the cell phone, I guess...
This video is long - 50 minutes or so, and gives an old world view of motorcycle use.
I hope you enjoy it.

 

[foambuilder]

The Russians don't have any respect?
Neat emblem.

 

[slyone72]

its actually a Urel, my buddy has one, not so great im thinking, he has the side car and it tops out at 55 at best but shakes to all hell at that speed, im all set if youask me. there is a company out there, which i forget whoi it is, but they build old US army bikes with todays technology, i would rather have one of those.

 

[foambuilder]

its actually a Urel, my buddy has one, not so great im thinking, he has the side car and it tops out at 55 at best but shakes to all hell at that speed, im all set if youask me. there is a company out there, which i forget whoi it is, but they build old US army bikes with todays technology, i would rather have one of those.

Wrong spelling. Look at the "Ural-HD" emblem. Look at the name of the mountains in Russian. U-R-A-L.
OK, it is not a great machine. Actually, no Ural is. It is meant to be something bullet-proof, literally. It is a copy of a BMW engine, and Russian military thinking. It is not great motorcycle, but will do whatever is asked of it, will carry almost anything, and if it breaks in Siber, anyone with a big hammer, wrench, and some sort of welder can fix it. The "fixability" is an endearing trait, IMHO. An IZH may be a little better, and there is a Chinese copy of the Ural (which itself is a copy), so the Chinese version is even worse. The intended "technology" is to keep it simple, anyone can fix it somehow. Believe me, I have seen some cobbled "repairs", but they still work. If you have a Ural, expect to work on it sometime...
I would not hesitate to get on one to cross Siber - which is larger than the good-ol' U-S-of-A. Siber is 2/3 of Russia so it's a big place.
I only posted this as something entertaining if you ever thought of going to eastern europe or maybe Mongolia and thereabouts.
YMMV