Comments on: It’s been a busy few days for Smutyanka!

By: Kelsey

Kelsey — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:36:46 +0000

Yes, but I think you will find that folks who buy Urals buy them *because* of the challenge, rather than in spite of it. It’s a great way to learn motorcycle maintenance.

Urals aren’t terribly waterproof. I’ve seen folks on the forum talk about getting water in the air filter, the carbs, the transmission, etc from leaving it out in the rain. The seals aren’t the best to begin with, and if you have an older one like ours, the rubber seals are hardened and can let in quite a considerable amount of water.

For the headlights, we’re actually probably going to switch to an LED lamp. We have such an old Ural that it doesn’t have an alternator, it has a generator, so even if we gave it its own relay, it would still be dim due to the bike just not having that much power. So, the solution is to get a lamp that uses less power while also being brighter.

By: New Toys! – Travels with Smutyanka

New Toys! – Travels with Smutyanka — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:52:27 +0000

[...] engine isn’t the most watertight thing in the world, and folks on the forums really recommend keeping Urals out of the rain. Water can quite easily [...]

By: Jack Riepe

Jack Riepe — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:17:35 +0000

I am amazed at the amount of maintenance and work these Urals require. These machines are definitely labors of love. How could you possibly get water in the transmission from the rain? Motorcycles get rained on all the time! I would be seriously concerned about how this contamination is getting into the transmission lubricant. If rain is getting in, so is dirt and crud.

For dim headlights, I would immediately consider getting the lamp on its own relay (which bypasses the resistance of the switch on the handlebars and prolongs the life of that part), which brings a jolt of juice into the bulb. And if I was going to all this trouble, I would look into rewiring the lamp itself with 12 gauge wire, to an upgraded alternator (which I understand are on backorder).

I ride a 1995 BMW K75 that has received a CenTech fuse bock, relays on everything, and lighting that rivals Yankee Stadium at night. I also installed a voltmeter that gives me an accurate reading on battery activity and juice availability at any given time. I would think one of these would be essential on a machine which produces current so erratically.

These Urals look like a lot of fun, and I wish you luck with this one.

Fondest regards,
Jack • reep • Toad
Twisted Roads

By: Kelsey

Kelsey — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:54:48 +0000

We are, but the headlights on these are so dim anyway that unless you’re looking very closely, you can’t tell when they’re on. Well, during the day, anyway. The other owner recommended we drive the bike a bit to get the transmission re-lubricated with the new oil, and we felt that the value of that outweighed the disconnected headlight, since we were driving in the middle of the day.

Nah, the water was only in there for less than 24 hours. It was from the recent rain we had. There hadn’t been water in there before, and it was immediately obvious when there was. We’ll be buying a tarp tomorrow.

Actually, the clutch problem seemed to largely just be that we weren’t kicking the gears hard enough (you literally have to stomp them until you hit about the 8,000mi mark, apparently).

By: Tina Marie

Tina Marie — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:17:32 +0000

You’re not driving on the road with the headlight disconnected, are you? Because that’s not legal on a motorcycle.

If you’ve got that much water that’s been sitting in your transmission for a long time, there’s going to be corrosion problems in there. Expect to need to replace parts in the gearbox at some point. Did draining and replacing the fluid fix the problem you were having with the bike not going into neutral when you pulled the clutch?