Going Anywhere - Slowly - In a Ural

© Ken Bingenheimer

"If you don't like talking to complete strangers you don't need to be on a Ural." That's how Domingo (Dom) Chang sums up the public reaction when he goes out on his Ural motorcycle-sidecar rig. It's called the UDF, or "Ural Delay Factor," he explains.

"People ask 'What is that?' and you spend the next 15 minutes answering questions. Some people carry sheets they've printed answering the standard questions."

The Ural, specifically a 1996 Sportsman model, is a Russian-made motorcycle based on the World War II-vintage BMW motorcycle. The Russians acquired the design from the Germans after the war and have produced the bike, virtually unchanged, ever since.

This is not German-quality engineering however, Chang is quick to point out.

"The principles are the same but it's much simpler in design. It's very coarse; the tolerances are quite high. The welding is rough and things don't quite mate with each other."

On the other hand, loose tolerances mean that Urals will continue running under bad conditions for a long time, and will take punishment. It also means they are maintenance-heavy.

So what motivates someone to trade a perfectly good, modern BMW motorcycle for a crudely built knock-off with a propensity to break down? In Chang's case there were three reasons: family, snow, and the ability to go anywhere. Let's back up.

Dom Chang is a serious motorcyclist. He only started riding in May of 2006 and has already logged nearly 75,000 miles on two wheels. His motorcycles are his primary means of transportation and he rides nearly every day. Taking the kids with you on a motorcycle can be a problem, however, especially for something such as a quick trip to the hardware store. The sidecar makes this a lot easier.

As for snow, riding on snow-packed and icy streets is pretty much out of the question on a standard motorcycle. The additional wheel that carries the sidecar makes all the difference in stability – falling over is not something that's going to happen.

And then there's the issue of where you can go. Chang is an explorer. He doesn't just ride his motorcycles on paved roads, he loves getting off the blacktop and taking dubious dirt roads to see where they go. The problem was, "Some trails are too scary. I had to turn back. With the Ural I can go anywhere (without too much fear of dying)," he says.

An example of such routes is Empire Pass, an old, completely abandoned wagon road that used to be the direct route between Empire and Georgetown, CO. Direct, in this case, means straight up over a steep rock wall and straight down the other side.

"Empire Pass had defeated me twice before," says Chang. "The first time I dropped the Beemer, and the second time I didn't drop it but I chickened out. I took the Ural to Empire pass my first time in the mountains with it and at times it was doing a 60-degree lean, but it held just fine. At one point I went the wrong way and ended up on some goat trails. A guy came along on a 125cc dirt bike and said I should turn around, ahead was like a roller coaster with boulders. But all in all, the Ural did fine. She'll go anywhere as long as I've got ground clearance.

"I do know my limits," Chang adds, "usually dictated by fear."

There is one other reason why Chang bought the Ural.

"Someday that rig's going to go to the Arctic Circle. It will see Alaska one day. I'm looking forward to really long distance trips."

In the meantime, he's having a blast with the rig, "as long as getting there fast wasn't the objective." With a 750cc engine and a total weight around 800 pounds, this is not a fast machine. But it will get you to work in the snow.