Thinking of purchasing a fine running '96 Ural Sportsman. (3600.00)It is a 2 wheel drive, are there any concerns? Any idiosyncrisies to ask about? Thanks. John

You did not say what it will cost. I had a 650cc engine in my first Ural. As for me. I would not have another. 2001 and earlier have a 5 piece pressed crank. And they do come apart more often than they should.
The 2002 and newer 750cc engine has 3 pressed pieces and I have not heard of any coming apart. Also the older engines had lots of problems with Russian alternators and starters. The alternators often tear out engine gears with it. But some people have no problems at all. I lost my crank in my driveway. A friend lot his on the freeway and still drove it 9 miles. New 2007 engines installed cost about $4300 give or take $100. But you get 1 year unlimited milage. And a dealer must install it to get the warranty. Hope this helps.

A properly broken in 650 can give years of faithful service. You may not have as much UMPHH on the top end as a 750, but you will still have a good bike as long as you realize that it is not meant to get out on the superslab and go like the dickens all day long.

Spare parts for the full time 2wd are getting hard to come by, but if it blows up on you, I believe you can change everything out for a selectable 2wd system. You may want to look up the phone numbers for Holopaw Gene, Flicka at Wagner's or Terry Crawford and talk to them about it if it worries you.

If the bike is in good running condition, and you think you are getting a good price for it, I'd say buy it and use some of the money you would have spent for a new(er) bike for a possible upgrade to a 750 in the future.

From all the research I have done on these things the 2 years in the 90's when shopping for a Ural is 1994 and 1996 to stay away from unless all the bugs have been worked out. IMHO $3600. is a bit steep for a 96 unless it comes from a dealer with a warrenty. But, you know, who am I to say?
Good Luck

Hey Jayhawker, is this the one in Blue Springs, MO?
I think Ural NW recently had one for sale as well all gone through by dealer for around $4k.

I had a 97 sportsman, the Sportsman is the best handling Russian rig on the road with its alltime 2wd and differental. I had many problems with the altenators though (both the 14amp and the 35amp) but some people never had. the good thing is that the new denso will upgrade into it. The 650 was upgraded in my opinion because it couldnt handle the US Hiways. If you never take it on the hiway (above 55) it might last a long time. The good thing is they're alot of 650 parts around or you can upgrade it to a 750. The problem is they stopped using the the Sportsman differential in 99 I think, so parts for that might be hard to find. That too can be changed to a Patrol final drive (lock in 2wd). The point is, like all older Urals there have been some problems but if your willing to work on it, they can be a good buy.

The Sportsman is a great bike. the FD is a unique limited slip FD that works very very well. they are had to find if anything goes wrong. I have one with 19K miles and I have never done anything other than change fluids in it. The 650 is a good motor. depending on how many km's are on the bike it might be well sorted out. Urals are diffrent in that it is good to get one with alot of miles (km's) on them that means they have been mechanically sorted out. I Had the hitachi alt sieze up on the 650 and it cost me my gear tower I fixed the engine but got a 750 with trans and put it in there. to be honest I think Ihave one of the best bikes Ural has ever made.
If you are comfortable withthe bikes history and its condition I would buy it and enjoy it.

Thanks for the helpful replies!

I considered a used Sportsman while at the dealer but bought a new Patrol instead after the dealer warned me that flying the chair on a Sportsman can have catastrophic results.

Flying the chair....Why? ...Why? The designers of motorcycles, worldwide never designed bikes to fly the chair, and most of all driven sidecar wheel models, If you insist to fly the chair, and you have a dual wheel drive, do so at your own risk, if you have the flying wheel going 30 mph faster than the bike rear wheel, what can you expect? To make a bullet proof hack drive would make it heavy as a Mack truck. I saw a fellow trash a hack drive on a new ural with less then 200 miles on it, showing off for the crowd on pavement, when it broke, he was bragging how he would get it fixed under warrenty. IMHO, that a bit like stealing........How you treat these machines, will directly reflect, as to how well they will treat you...this may sound like a rant, but it's intended to be common sence ....Ken

It says right on the tank and the side car frame that f;ying the chair on a sportsman can lead to a rear diff failure. On that note who remembers the vid of the guy flooring the bike and then dropping the chair repeatedly ?

They're made of glass! Check at about the six minute mark. http://youtube.com/watch?v=XFo3o5DubOA&feature=related

Flying the chair intentionally is one thing, but flying it inadvertantly is another. My chair wheel has been off the ground a few times, and had I been piloting a Sportsman, I could have had a catastrophic mechanical problem.

I flew the the chair on my Dnepr MT-16 a few times, that was when I was still learning to ride it. I haven't flown the chair in years. It isn't difficult to avoid, with the differential, the sidecar wheel starts to spin and skip when it starts to unload, I just back off of the throttle and it settles down.

Dave