Hello All,

New to this board and this is my first posting. I have been "infected" by the Ural Bug and am looking to pick up a Patrol or a Gear Up. I've been riding since the early 70's and have owned a number of European and Japanese bikes. Currently I have a couple BMW Air Heads(GS & a RS), a KLR, a Ninja and a CB350F sitting in my shop here in Oregon. My passion is long distance touring and the Ural looks like it would be a hoot on the back roads and trails that I like to travel.

There is a 07 Patrol on eBay (link below) that I've been looking at, but the write up and pictures don't add up. The seller says the bike has not been in an accident yet there is a "little" dent in the exhaust header and the forks have been replaced with a set from an older bike. If I were to purchase the bike, I'd replace the old forks with the correct ones and replace that exhaust header. Is there anything in the pictures or information that cause alarm bells to go off for you Ural pilots? Figured I'd go to the experts on this one.

I don't live far from Portland where the bike is and contacted the seller to go look at it, but he said he was out of town and could not show me the bike.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me on this one.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...#ht_1812wt_1167

Lee....

It would be good to have the disc brake back on the bike. But you would then lose the three wheel interchangeability (no big deal unless you like riding through broken glass).

Looks like he/she had trouble stopping for something...

Otherwise it looks suspiciously clean for a 2WD rig with 20,000 Kms on it....

Not being able to see the bike before buying it... hmmm... that's a lot of money for something unseen.

Have you tried your local dealers and other local potential sources?

I'd like to inspect the bike first, to be honest...

Dub

If there is no one able to show you the bike... I would start sniffing scam... If I was out of town and selling, someone would be able to show you the bike!

Sorry, I would stay away....

Pat in NH

Like Pat said, no look-e no buy-e. The rig has normal rust and grime consistent with 20k of mileage - and that's in kilometres, not miles as the seller mistakenly says - but that ding in the header pipe looks suspicious. I think it might have something to do with that front end being replaced, ie the original one was damaged in an accident and took out the header pipe with it. It may have been retitled due to theft, but I'm inclined to believe the damage was part of the theft. Also, that header pipe would have to be replaced right away, as the restriction in exhaust flow will hamper the performance and operation of the motor.

And speaking of the front end, that is a Dnepr telescopic fork setup he's put on there. I didn't know that was a bolt-on job... in fact, I'm almost positive the steering head bearings are different between the two brands. Definitely requires an up close inspection to make sure the steering head is properly assembled.

I do not like the choice in rubber on the pusher and sidecar. Street bike rubber is a waste of money, especially on a 2WD rig. Also, with that Dnepr front end the spare will not work in that position, but then again it's the same problem if it had the OEM disc on it anyway. At any rate, braking power won't be as good as with the disc setup but the Dnepr setup can be adjusted to give some respectable stopping distances. Just make sure you have a quality aftermarket front brake cable on there if you do buy it.

Also, the 2wd drive shaft is out of phase. That is an easy fix though. I agree, if you can't see the bike in person, forget about it. It also has the earmarks of being in a wreck. IMHO, keep looking, you'll find better....

I think it's a straight swap.
In fact, I think the Dnepr and old Ural telescopics are identical except Ural used a cheesier brake plate to go with the export rims...

There are some negatives in this bike. Dnepr front end and all. At $4300 it's not a bad deal. Your not going to find a garage kept low milage Patrol for that price. I would definatly want to ride it before I put my money down. Last I heard replacing the front end with a proper Ural front end with leading link is over $1100. Keep that in mind when comparing prices. You can give the Dnepre front end a value of 0 and if you find an original equipment Patrol less than $1200 more than this it's a better deal. There could be other damage that caused them to replace the front end. If this rig rides well as is I might go 4500 as an abusable machine. If the price breaks 5G I'd drop it .If it goes over 5500 the seller got lucky and some one got taken.

There's dents on the hack's brush guard, too.
Wonder why they didn't put the factory exhaust back on (or was there a factory crossover pipe in 2007)???

My '07 GearUp has the exhaust crossover stock from the factory.

But the '07 Patrol comes with the LL front end... I'm sure I read/heard it somewhere that the steering head bearings were a different setup as compared to the telescopic, but I have been proven wrong before. Many times.

My '05 has the crossover.

Has a salvage title, messed up header pipe, and Dnepr front end, yet seller is claiming that it has never been in an accident?

I call bull sh!t, if he is lying about something so obvious, he is sure to be lying about everything else. Maybe $3k as a project bike. on a fishy deal like this, insist on making the sale at the DOL, and don't pay until You have a clear title in your name in hand.

A salvage title reduces value of a properly rebuilt vehicle by 20% to 40%, and makes it about worthless as a trade in.

Hmmm. You could be right if it's a recent change.
Over the last 7 years the Rooskies have already fudged up everything else that was decent about the bikes.

All the way up until the Barvarian Classic model, the Ural and Dnepr telescopics should've been the same. I can't imagine why they'd change the bearing setup now. The same size steering head bearing has been used on everything all the way back to the BMW R-71. The only difference was ball bearings vs. tapered roller bearings.

That's cool right there!

I think Ural first tried that on M-72M's back in the late 1950's.

Now that I think about it, I remember someone be-yotching about trying to get the oil filter in because of the crossover pipe.

Its not the Dnepr forks you should worry about, its the Dnepr rim!

I dunno... I guess $4300 is not bad IF it drives well. As for the trashed front end, maybe somebody who has never driven a sidecar outfit before tried to drive off in it and crashed it at speed. Hollywood glamourizes criminals, but in reality most theives are very stupid people. Maybe it rolled off a trailer or something, or somebody tried to roll it away from a parking spot down a hill and it got away from them. You live near Portland, the bike is in Portland, so if I were you, I would go and drive it and then decide, otherwise you could make a low-ball offer for it as a parts bike. If they won´t let you drive it, then I would tell them ¨Bring me the bike and I will give you $500 cash on the spot for it.¨ I would definitely buy a new ignition switch for it in any case.

Thank you all for taking the time to respond. I passed on bidding on it. I also learned a few things about the next make of bike I will own.

Cheers,

Lee...

Carfax says it's a wreck
Also his statement of "only one negative thing -it has reconstructed title due to theft!!! " is BS you don't get a reconstruction title form a theft you get a clean title once it is relesed from any insurance case ect and it is sold.

Wow those pipes looked as if somebody ran the ole girl real hard, i know they discolor but they look as if they got real hot.