May 27 was it for the Scrambler…sold to a fine young gentleman who drove over from Eugene with his girlfriend to buy it from me after work. For the first time ever, I sold a bike thanks to one of the web forums I joined. This time I have ADVrider.com to thank…so thanks a bunch ADVRider.com!
On to the next bike, then. My wife has been after me for a while to get another Ural, and after many, many, many (did I mention many) hours slogging through Craigslist ads, I found one in The Dalles that I’m hoping to go retrieve this weekend. It’s a 2004 Ural Troyka. Unlike my Gear Up from 2009, this bike has a regular telescopic fork, so we’ll see how this thing behaves on the road. I’ve heard they’re harder to steer, but if I remember correctly, once I was up to speed, most of the steering inputs were small and subtle.
Here’s a photo:
With a little luck, the next post will be photos of the bike sitting in my shop.
I did find a second sidecar bike in Portland that was/is very tempting. Unfortunately, it’s about $1300 more than the Ural–that’s asking vs. negotiated price, so I might be able to get it closer to $800 more, but for a bike that’s also five years older, that’s hard to swallow. Of course, I’d have no concerns about breakdowns with this one since it’s based on a Kawaski Drifter 800–a bike I’ve long admired. Here’s a pic:
Beautiful bike, no?
It hasn’t been easy…weighing the pluses and minuses of getting another sidecar bike versus what I set out to get–the reason I decided to sell the Scrambler in the first place–a big adventure bike. The really cruddy thing is that I could get a big VStrom or Triumph Tiger 955 for about the same or less money as the Ural. And both would be way less work. And they’d be just for me. And I’d have a real road bike. And I could go fast. Now the KLR650 will be my fast bike. Ugh. Then I think about how fun it’d be to put the girls are my wife in the sidecar–and they’re all keen on getting in–and I’m back to wanting the Ural again. I guess worst case scenario is that I just sell it later. Actually, that’s not worst case…it’s more like…normal case scenario.
OK…while I’m sharing, there was one other cool sidecar rig in Portland: a 2000 W650 with sidecar attached. The tub isn’t nearly as nice as the Ural or Drifter’s tubs, but the bike is cool. Odd that there are two relatively modern Japanese bikes with tubs attached in Portland right now. Here are a couple more pics:
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