Post by philg on Feb 15, 2024 15:36:03 GMT 10
Our six month old GU looks great, but it's only when you have an oops that you you find that the paint finish could be better in places. Ever since we rode down to Port Macquarie and bolts fell off, especially on the side car mudguard it takes another incident to discover more behind the scenes.
Last weekend we rode a load of dirt roads lots of corrugations, sloppy muds and rocks. Very little came loose but there was a little incident while riding back out the same way we came into the Karuah River Rally site. We only went into kick tyres and for some to get a badge, two Urals one with a passenger. The passenger in his first sidecar ride, a very short 37k from the motel in Dungog, got the longest pillion award, ok he was a passenger but no one cared. We stayed perhaps 20 minutes wanting to get back for our dinner reservation and a few beers at the Tin Shed Brewery in Dungog.
We were probably ten minutes away going up a hill when we were presented by a huge tree across the track, it wasn't there obviously when we rode in. Fortunately Mick saw it first and me second, he slammed on his brakes and slid to a halt quite a distance from the tree, I was still looking at the fallen tree when I realised he was stopped. As Maxwell Smart would say "I missed him by that much" swerving my mudguard hit his muffler, he had no damage! So as per the photo you can see the shape of the 2 into 1 muffler quite clearly. Buddah's Painting here has done work for me in the past, not from accidents mind you, he now has it and it's off to his vintage car repair mate made to fix the dent then paint.
But I digress, taking the mudguard off there was paint missing where it had rubbed and on the frame mounts paint was flaking off. Of course nothing is powder coated and probably no undercoat either, today's Ural is not the cheap and cheerful offering it once was, should we expect more? I have ordered a box of rubber washers off Amazon and will put them against the painted surface. Nylocs, lock washers and Loctite in a couple of weeks and I will be back on the road, lucky I have a few more options to ride.
PS The tree wasn't about to be cleared that day, it was too large for a weekend cowboy and a chainsaw, the other road out was closed due to earlier rain damage, but that didn't stop us it would have been a very uncomfortable night out in the rain otherwise!
Last weekend we rode a load of dirt roads lots of corrugations, sloppy muds and rocks. Very little came loose but there was a little incident while riding back out the same way we came into the Karuah River Rally site. We only went into kick tyres and for some to get a badge, two Urals one with a passenger. The passenger in his first sidecar ride, a very short 37k from the motel in Dungog, got the longest pillion award, ok he was a passenger but no one cared. We stayed perhaps 20 minutes wanting to get back for our dinner reservation and a few beers at the Tin Shed Brewery in Dungog.
We were probably ten minutes away going up a hill when we were presented by a huge tree across the track, it wasn't there obviously when we rode in. Fortunately Mick saw it first and me second, he slammed on his brakes and slid to a halt quite a distance from the tree, I was still looking at the fallen tree when I realised he was stopped. As Maxwell Smart would say "I missed him by that much" swerving my mudguard hit his muffler, he had no damage! So as per the photo you can see the shape of the 2 into 1 muffler quite clearly. Buddah's Painting here has done work for me in the past, not from accidents mind you, he now has it and it's off to his vintage car repair mate made to fix the dent then paint.
But I digress, taking the mudguard off there was paint missing where it had rubbed and on the frame mounts paint was flaking off. Of course nothing is powder coated and probably no undercoat either, today's Ural is not the cheap and cheerful offering it once was, should we expect more? I have ordered a box of rubber washers off Amazon and will put them against the painted surface. Nylocs, lock washers and Loctite in a couple of weeks and I will be back on the road, lucky I have a few more options to ride.
PS The tree wasn't about to be cleared that day, it was too large for a weekend cowboy and a chainsaw, the other road out was closed due to earlier rain damage, but that didn't stop us it would have been a very uncomfortable night out in the rain otherwise!
