Soviet Steeds

OK, all. Here they are! Bike was delivered on Friday. Gold leaf graphics and spotlight were installed prior to delivery. It immediately went into my garage for w@*ing and installation of goodies:

- rear bumper
- chrome med kit box
- carpet kit
- side skirt
- rear tire cover
- seat belt for the kiddies
- shovel (painted black and varnished)
- fairing/screen not installed yet
- jetted
- cats removed
- plastic coating/protection of cheapo vinyl winshield grommets and rivets
- deerskin cover over rubber tubing on windscreen 'grab rail' stainless steel
- Adventure skidplate
- silicone insulation on thru-bolts
- awaiting Dura Liner and 3M protective film
- awaiting a bit more ' Shea Bros.' graphics
- awaiting fuel can
- awaiting vinyl covers for buggy topside foam edges
- contemplating tractor seats

Wow! What a beautiful rig. I love graphics and the interior looks great. I'm anxious to see what the vinyl covers for the edges will look like. Can you post some pictures of the finished project?

Do you have a source you use for the goodies or are these just '08 Ural accessories I've not seen? I'm kinda interested in adding the seat belts at some point.

(A personal note: I see you are from Farmington. I am an expatriated neighbor of yours now residing in Minnesota. I was born and raised in Bristol, CT but I married a lovely Midwestern gal after college and had to put my roots down here instead.)

We just bought the vinyl fabric and super-glued it on. Jan loves it--very easy on the elbows.

Those are some great yet simple and common-sense mods - gonna have to note this on Ride Three for some food-for-thought as we look at tricking out Sveta.

The hack lends itself to a lot of practical, creative ideas. Of course, most of them are in stark philosophical contrast to the 'dirty' look!!

I see two distinct 'schools of thought' developing within the Ural community!

Wax?

kevo wrote:Wax?

Wax is something that some people put on the paint jobs of various vehicle they own to keep them shiny and cut down on corrosion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_wax

I will admit to using it heavily in the past on my HDs and sparingly when I first bought my Ural. You would never know to look at it now, though.

BEAUTIFUL!!! Welcome!!! P.S. If I may make a suggestion... Get yourself a dog collar to use as a tether for your sidecar windshield apron. If you leave it like in the pics with the apron pulling, the eyelets will eventually get weak and possibly rip. I got one at a pet mart. Works great......

What did you use for the edge padding?

hot water pipe insulation foam...attach it with 2-sided automotive trim tape.

MartyL wrote:BEAUTIFUL!!! Welcome!!! P.S. If I may make a suggestion... Get yourself a dog collar to use as a tether for your sidecar windshield apron. If you leave it like in the pics with the apron pulling, the eyelets will eventually get weak and possibly rip. I got one at a pet mart. Works great......

If you reverse the grab bar, as I have done, which is very easy to do for even a klutz as myself, then the problem is essentially solved without much else necessary. I have a friend who has a Ural that someone added some long J-shaped bolts to, at the mounting bolt area for the hack windshield. It was a simple mod and looks pretty good. It adds support at the windshield and doesn't distract from the thing. Best thing is that there was no drilling required to bolt them into place. Here are some pics of the mod. I may do it myself, but just be aware that I am simply holding the j-bolt in place in these photos. His j-bolts were painted the color of the hack. These pictured are zinc plated 1/4"X6" ones that I have on hand for pics. They can be turned either direction when installed, but don't look as if they require drilling, and simply go in at the upper bracket mounting hole. (It may require a different size than what I used for the picutres, but these should give you the idea of how they work). They gave good support and were not in the way, either. Not sure if I'll follow through and bolt them up or not, but I wanted to show some pics so anyone could understand how they were done.

So far, I have never had any real problem with anyone actually using the grab bar to exit the hack. I expected it from all the posts I had seen in the past, but I have never had anyone do it so far. Lucky me! Even when the grab bar was not reversed, I never had problems with passengers grabbing onto it and putting stress on the skirt or windshield frame.

(Update: I installed one of these j-bolts today. The more I look at it, the less I like it. It works, just as my friend's does, but I just don't like the looks on my Troyka. I'll pull it off tomorrow most likely. For someone else, it may be ok, but I just don't like it on the Troyka.)

Good deal... congrats. Seeing your 2 kids in the tub reminds me of when my boys were smaller riding in sidecar and thier heads would smack together (thank goodness for helmets) going down the road because of all the bumps.

Great 'dog collar/j-bar suggestion. As a sailor, I see potential in using a marine-style, stainless steel tensioner (for life lines) on either side....a similar solution to securing cockpit dodgers. This is a useful mod for me because of my small kiddos who pull/touch EVERYTHING. I'll also look into reversing the bar which would also add to the perception of spaciousness.

FYI - one thing I did to the OE vinyl windshield 'dodger' to improve it, is to paint the grommets and rivets with black liquid vinyl (the type you might dip tool handles in). Hopefully, it will retard scratching the paint in those areas.

nitro wrote:I'll also look into reversing the bar which would also add to the perception of spaciousness.

If you reverse the bar, look at the screws that hold the actual bar securely at the side pillars. Mine were long and I keep telling myself that I need to go to TSC and get some shorter ones, made of either stainless steel or even allen head bolts to replace them. Somehow I forget aboout them, plus I am pretty darn lazy to boot, but I'll do that in the future. The long screws look out of place on the bar ends.

once you take the windshield off and realize the improved fuel economy you'll probably leave it off - not to mention the better handling on windy days and no buffeting