Learning to ride with a sidecar
May. 28th, 2012 12:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elizillaToday I rode the Ural about 90 km. Yes, kilometers - the odometer is in kilometers.
I started it after taking it off the trailer, so I could get it into the garage. It was harder to start than it had been at the seller's house. Suspecting he warmed it up before I got there. This morning was more like what I'd expected a Ural to be. I had to tinker with the chokes a fair bit. Yes, plural chokes - there is a separate one for each carb. But chokes on or off, it didn't run so hot. I decided not to worry about it just then, though, because a) I had less than a half hour until the trailer was due back, and b) I was utterly exhausted. So I just nursed it into the garage, drove up to return the trailer, then came home and went back to bed.
After another four hours of sleep, and guzzling a bunch of water, I came back out and got it started without much trouble at all. Maybe I was just too groggy earlier.
So I had to go take it for a ride, right? I went around the block, here in the subdivision, several times. First counter-clockwise, so I could practice lefts, and then clockwise so I could practice the more difficult right turns. The hardest part actually turned out to be turning off the turn signals. I kept hitting the horn by mistake. It has a big plastic horn trumpet mounted to the left side of the car, and it makes an old-car sort of "oogah!" sound. Need to find out if that is stock, or one of the previous owner's aftermarket additions.
So after looping around the subdivision some more, I crossed the main road and took it into the next subdivision, and then onto the main roads in the school zone where I could go slow, and then out onto Washtenaw to get some lunch at the Pita Pita. After lunch I took it to the Speedway and filled the gas, and since it's hard to go left from the Speedway I went right, and through the bank into the Walmart shopping center lot, and back to the subdivision for some more looping around.
The sky gloomed up and it looked like it was going to rain. So I swooped back to the house and checked the weather. The radar didn't show any rain coming, so I went back out thinking I might venture up to the nursing home to see Larry. It was still ominous looking, so I took a roundabout path that offered plenty of opportunities to turn back. In my subdivision, children called to me that they wanted rides. Not yet, and not starting with children, sorry!
I even tried a dirt road, Traver. Wow, the bike flexes a lot, talk about a spaghetti frame. And the suspension doesn't soak up anything. The washboard sections were especially awful. I wonder if the 2wd versions of the Ural have better suspensions? The forums are full of people talking about which are the best dirt tires for it. But it just doesn't seem like this thing likes gravel that much. Maybe it's better in mud or sand.
By the time I finished the mile or so of gravel on Traver, the sky had cleared up, so I decided to venture onto a higher speed country road. I took Whitmore Lake Rd, because it's the route least likely to have an impatient car driving up my ass. I had no problems and got it up to 50mph.
Visited Larry and headed back towards home on Whitmore Lake Rd, but I avoided Traver this time. I took Pontiac Trail down towards town, and went through the medical center area, and back to my house for my camera, thinking I should take a picture for LJ. I grabbed my camera, then rode down into Gallup Park. I though surely someone would be around to take the picture, but it was getting dark fast and no one was close. I finally had to flag down a pair of lady joggers to do it. They looked really nervous and only took one photo.
I was putting the camera in the trunk when a small Chinese man came up and started asking about the bike. I though, "Where were you when I still had daylight???" But he was really really into it. His name was Cheng Mei. (Though I don't know if I am spelling it right.) I let him sit in the sidecar and finally gave him a ride through the parking lot. He wanted every detail about what it costs for something like this - I could see he was on fire to get one. I wonder if he will?
I had to carry a passenger sometime, right? Best to start with an adult.
On the way home, I discovered the bike has terrible illumination in the instrument cluster. A dim green glow that is almost unreadable. The headlight is about what you'd expect, kind like the ones on my 1980s Hondas - certainly not up to modern standards. The turn signals remind me of old bikes, too - they work, but the flasher in the instruments doesn't always come on, even though the signals are working fine.
It's not that hard to ride, actually, but it's more physically taxing. You basically have to muscle the bars to where you want them, and you have to exert yourself to hold them there; you can't relax. And you have to hang off or at least lean way sideways like you're riding a sportbike in the twisties, for many left turns and all right turns. You can't just sit in one spot like a sack of potatoes. And I will never complain about the harsh suspension on the NT again. The Ural is a bone shaker!
But I wasn't expecting it to be easy or soft. It is how it is and I am OK with that. And by the end of the day, I was no longer nervous of riding it on main roads. I'm getting comfortable fairly fast. It turns on a dime, if you go slow enough. You could easily tip it over if you tried to turn too fast like that.
Here's my one picture. Do folks think I should leave the snoopy decal on there, or take it off?
I started it after taking it off the trailer, so I could get it into the garage. It was harder to start than it had been at the seller's house. Suspecting he warmed it up before I got there. This morning was more like what I'd expected a Ural to be. I had to tinker with the chokes a fair bit. Yes, plural chokes - there is a separate one for each carb. But chokes on or off, it didn't run so hot. I decided not to worry about it just then, though, because a) I had less than a half hour until the trailer was due back, and b) I was utterly exhausted. So I just nursed it into the garage, drove up to return the trailer, then came home and went back to bed.
After another four hours of sleep, and guzzling a bunch of water, I came back out and got it started without much trouble at all. Maybe I was just too groggy earlier.
So I had to go take it for a ride, right? I went around the block, here in the subdivision, several times. First counter-clockwise, so I could practice lefts, and then clockwise so I could practice the more difficult right turns. The hardest part actually turned out to be turning off the turn signals. I kept hitting the horn by mistake. It has a big plastic horn trumpet mounted to the left side of the car, and it makes an old-car sort of "oogah!" sound. Need to find out if that is stock, or one of the previous owner's aftermarket additions.
So after looping around the subdivision some more, I crossed the main road and took it into the next subdivision, and then onto the main roads in the school zone where I could go slow, and then out onto Washtenaw to get some lunch at the Pita Pita. After lunch I took it to the Speedway and filled the gas, and since it's hard to go left from the Speedway I went right, and through the bank into the Walmart shopping center lot, and back to the subdivision for some more looping around.
The sky gloomed up and it looked like it was going to rain. So I swooped back to the house and checked the weather. The radar didn't show any rain coming, so I went back out thinking I might venture up to the nursing home to see Larry. It was still ominous looking, so I took a roundabout path that offered plenty of opportunities to turn back. In my subdivision, children called to me that they wanted rides. Not yet, and not starting with children, sorry!
I even tried a dirt road, Traver. Wow, the bike flexes a lot, talk about a spaghetti frame. And the suspension doesn't soak up anything. The washboard sections were especially awful. I wonder if the 2wd versions of the Ural have better suspensions? The forums are full of people talking about which are the best dirt tires for it. But it just doesn't seem like this thing likes gravel that much. Maybe it's better in mud or sand.
By the time I finished the mile or so of gravel on Traver, the sky had cleared up, so I decided to venture onto a higher speed country road. I took Whitmore Lake Rd, because it's the route least likely to have an impatient car driving up my ass. I had no problems and got it up to 50mph.
Visited Larry and headed back towards home on Whitmore Lake Rd, but I avoided Traver this time. I took Pontiac Trail down towards town, and went through the medical center area, and back to my house for my camera, thinking I should take a picture for LJ. I grabbed my camera, then rode down into Gallup Park. I though surely someone would be around to take the picture, but it was getting dark fast and no one was close. I finally had to flag down a pair of lady joggers to do it. They looked really nervous and only took one photo.
I was putting the camera in the trunk when a small Chinese man came up and started asking about the bike. I though, "Where were you when I still had daylight???" But he was really really into it. His name was Cheng Mei. (Though I don't know if I am spelling it right.) I let him sit in the sidecar and finally gave him a ride through the parking lot. He wanted every detail about what it costs for something like this - I could see he was on fire to get one. I wonder if he will?
I had to carry a passenger sometime, right? Best to start with an adult.
On the way home, I discovered the bike has terrible illumination in the instrument cluster. A dim green glow that is almost unreadable. The headlight is about what you'd expect, kind like the ones on my 1980s Hondas - certainly not up to modern standards. The turn signals remind me of old bikes, too - they work, but the flasher in the instruments doesn't always come on, even though the signals are working fine.
It's not that hard to ride, actually, but it's more physically taxing. You basically have to muscle the bars to where you want them, and you have to exert yourself to hold them there; you can't relax. And you have to hang off or at least lean way sideways like you're riding a sportbike in the twisties, for many left turns and all right turns. You can't just sit in one spot like a sack of potatoes. And I will never complain about the harsh suspension on the NT again. The Ural is a bone shaker!
But I wasn't expecting it to be easy or soft. It is how it is and I am OK with that. And by the end of the day, I was no longer nervous of riding it on main roads. I'm getting comfortable fairly fast. It turns on a dime, if you go slow enough. You could easily tip it over if you tried to turn too fast like that.
Here's my one picture. Do folks think I should leave the snoopy decal on there, or take it off?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-05-28 11:03 am (UTC)Am I folks? I think you should take off the Snoopy decal.
Could you sleep in the side-car?
And I think I'm new-bike-jealous. I'm already thinking of farkles that the Ural obviously needs, like a headlight relay wiring kit, and 120/100 H4 bulb. Needs, I tell you, needs!
no subject
Date: 2012-05-28 02:11 pm (UTC)You are welcome to play with it when you come out here. It's not hard to learn to ride, if you just take it slow.
I think sleeping in the sidecar would be like sleeping in a mummy sleeping bag. I always find that miserable. But if you are tired enough I suppose anything is possible.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-28 02:25 pm (UTC)I'll send you a shopping list of parts. :P
>But it's well applied and getting it off will likely be a huge pain.
Eh, I wouldn't worry about it that much, then. Wait until you have a better idea of what you want to do with the rig long-term.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-28 03:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-28 02:22 pm (UTC)I think the inside of the sidecar and trunk are just crying out for Rhino lining.
The alternator is supposedly fairly powerful, unlike the old bikes it reminds me of in other ways. Instead of designing their own upgrades, the Russians have been improving these by fitting parts sourced from other vehicles - so they simply fit a car alternator into it. But the wiring harness is kind of a rats nest. At least, this is what I'm learning on the forums. Anyway, my usual habit of designing my own entire secondary accessory wiring harness may stand me in good stead here - I can fit it with lights and power outlets and heated grips and a comm system. And a better headlight!
no subject
Date: 2012-05-28 02:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-28 10:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-30 03:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-31 10:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-31 10:25 pm (UTC)