Two Americans, Sam Smith and Zach Bauman, in may 2017 made unique March from Seattle to Los Angeles in the Russian Ural motorcycle release in 2016. Below I quote excerpts of their memories of motocross.
Ural is a copy of BMW motorcycle 30 years, which broke the twenty-first century. The same steel frame, to which time has added fuel injection and led lights. As the old BMW R71 here cardan rear wheel drive and switchable in addition, pestiferously drive to the sidecar wheel. That’s the car that makes you every second of the movement on it be proud that you survived.
Ural — the testimony of simplicity. Our trip was steep and extreme idea to test the endurance, so we chose the Urals. Started from Seattle base of the us distributor of the Urals, and moved to Los Angeles, home of Cycle World. For the route we chose coastal highway 101, which continuously runs from Washington state to Los Angeles because it is the most direct way, and also because it is more complicated and more interesting than a faceless interstate highway.
We loaded the bike five 10-gallon cans of gasoline, dangling behind the rear axle, plus spare tire and a backpack full of food and water. A special pump was siphoning petrol from Jerry cans into the main tank. Each canister has provided us with approximately 160 km. When the cans were empty, we gave them the car maintenance Cycle World, they went ahead and re-joined them.
Riding a Ural is a serious job. The transmission is like the stupid version of the original early BMW, every switching is difficult. Uneven weight distribution stroller, two braked wheels on the left and only one right, one driven wheel and a fork with a crazy course, all this means that the bike doesn’t want to go in a straight line. And he also doesn’t want to turn. Maintaining a straight course takes a force of approximately 30 kg on each hand. The cargo in the stroller only worsens the situation. Ural is probably the only modern motorcycle, whose natural speed limit is optimistic.
My hands felt broken like mashed potatoes. Sitting in a wheelchair, I heard the sound of the engine as on the left, and through the intercom using the microphone of the helmet Zaha. Not that it’s tired, it’s just unusual. Large and wide seat of the stroller was comfortable as a sofa. And the exhaust from the muffler was merciful quiet.
The us importer of Ural has kindly provided the team with support of my mechanic, George. Rear flat tire and had to check the bearing. George shamelessly lifted Ural at an angle of 45 degrees, and began to diligently knock on wheel nut, being this someone’s mother.
Every muscle in my body was very painful, hold a Ural on the road. But it’s our fault — no one in their right mind swims in a kayak across the Atlantic. We specifically made it harder for ourselves.
We live in a quiet and convenient time, when the modern mechanisms just operate and do everything for us. Ural came to us from another era. As each violin is different, so every Ural is not similar to the fellow, despite the obvious similarities. The Urals are, or good or simply excellent.
I never went on another Ural, but I am convinced that ours was the best. It was impossible not to fall in love with this stupid Russian thing, it’s like when the sun sinks into the Pacific ocean. Disadvantages of the Urals just equal to the force of his personality, and this bike has the same wide heart, like the water in the ocean.
All travel time from Seattle to Los Angeles: 32 hours, 19 minutes
Just passed: 2185 km
Time: 29 hours 1 minute
Stop time: 3 hours, 18 minutes
Average speed: 75.3 km/h
