One of the things about owning a vintage-looking sidecar bike like a Ural is that, well, a lot of people stop to ask you about it. Ural owners often refer to this as the “Ural Delay Factor”, or UDF for short. I’ve experienced this even in the parking lot, and when we went to put air in the tires yesterday, we got the attention of a guy who even took our picture, and the gas station attendant was so amused that he gave us free air! I’ve sometimes heard of folks getting free meals at diners, etc, from appreciative staff or other patrons, and while I was skeptical before, I can definitely see it now.
Back to the UDF: As a way to shorten UDF moments when you really don’t have time to chat, many folks have mentioned making some kind of pamphlet or card to hand to interested people. This sounded like a great idea to me, and I always enjoy doing layout stuff, so I whipped some up the other day. I plan on doing some other versions later, but for now, these will work. I’ll be going to Kinkos today to print them out. Click on the image to see the full size version.
This is a great idea! As the owner of Svetlana Krasavitsa (2007 Tourist) I know exactly what you mean. I came of the grocery store once (carrying 10 bags of groceries to fit in the hack mind you) and found a family of four gathered around, taking turns letting the kids sit on the seat. I was irritated but tried to be a good ambassador and let them know that next time please ask permission.
They left, I loaded up, and when I started her up, she screamed into overdrive, revving like I’d pulled the throttle all the way down. Turns out one of the damned kids had kicked the throttle cable and knocked it out of whack. Fortunately all I had to do was reseat the cable, but boy, it scared the bejeezis out of me….
Ural on!
~stan
Yeah, I’ve thought about making a little sign to hang on her that says “Look, but don’t touch.” or something of the sort, with one of the cards clipped to it.