I took a trip up north to Castroville with Barrie (FJ) and Zach (SV650) about a month or so ago to check out the BMW dealership near there. I got a few pics, but it's been a while so I don't remember where all of them were taken. I did get one of the Ural with a sidecar which was the highlight of the trip for me cause I just thought the bike was too cool when I read the review of it in CW. Here are our bikes in front of the dealership... Here's a pic of the Ural. It was pretty cool. It looks like a time capsule or something. You can see dents around some of the rivets and one of the guys said you can just picture a drunk Russian piecing it together in the factory between shots of vodka. Here are some pics of the trip back home. Not sure where we were for most of them... Just somewhere in the central coast headed south... Here's one of Barrie heading around a curve. You won't miss him with all those bags and reflector tape! Here's a bridge somewhere heading towards Nacimiento Lake. If you look off in the distance you can see one of the guys heading up the hill. Here's a pic of the BMW I almost test rode. I believe it was called an F800ST but I won't swear to it. You can see Zach checking out the belt drive on the red one. e designed a belt drive system for his SV650 that he is going to start selling soon. He's been using it for several thousand miles and really prefers the belt to a chain. He's going into production soon, and his kits are gonna be around $500 I believe. If you guys know anyone who is interested in that, I can get his e-mail. So far, it's only for an SV650 although he said he had thought about doing it for the VFR but wasn't sure if there was enough room with the SSSA. And here's a pic of the BMW from the front. If I didn't ave a VFR, I might give on of these serious consideration. And that's it. There were a couple other pics, but nothing outstanding. I believe tis trip was a Monday ride that we did. We talked about doing te coast more, but it actually was pretty chilly that day. Inland was nice and toasty...
dunno. I don't know anyone that has one, but they sure look fun for cruisin on dirt roads and having a picnic or something like that. I'd have to get one of thos old leather helmets like pilots used to wear and goggles for riding it, though.
Sweet pics Reg, to answer the question Ural's are a BOS, not to offend, but they are really bad. They tried to get us to take them on as a brand at my store, we had Moto Guzzi, Truimph, even those rediculous Ultra Choppers in addition to Yamaha which was of course the Marquis brand. I rode one for about 5 miles and it was a terrifying piece of crap. Brakes hardly worked, it shimmied back and forth it was truly scary. Looks cool though, I wanted them until I rode it.
Imagine the side car is for the larger toolkit (box)? Don't see the point of wasting gloss paint on it... just spray the flat olive drab. I imagine geraniums would grow well in the sidecar in the side yard when it was not running.
HI, would like to know more about your feelings on the 800 BM, here in South Africa it is being marketed as a direct competitor for the VFR and its cheaper too. I dont like it and wouldnt consider buying one but I would like to see more comparisons and opinions when it comes to VFR competitors. Regards, Shawn.
Not to hijack the thread but I read some very good reviews of the F800ST which was released for US. Did not have time to check it out yet but will. If Honda would bring the Deuwille which they sell in Europe it would be a head-to-head competition.
Well, I didn't actually ride it, but I did sit on it and talk to the salesman a bit. It sits about like the VFR. I think I might like the belt drive, but I've never had one so I'm not positive. I may actually go up there again and just give it a test ride. I don't like how much tings cost for BMW and the dealer network is smaller, but those who have BMWs love them and usually put lots of miles on them, and it might be easier to work on than a VFR since it has 1/2 the cylinders to deal with... I dont know maint intervals and the like, though.
