18/04/2013 | By:
2011-ural-gear-up-sidecar-review-mcycle_com_camping-34Ural is reporting today an 11% sales growth for Q1 over the same period from the record year of 2012.

“It’s been a very long winter for the most part of the country, not surprisingly 75% of our sales during these months were models with on-demand 2WD, which is known for all-weather and snow capability,” says Madina Merzhoeva, Ural’s Vice President. “Sales were up every month of Q1, but March turned out to be a bit more challenging. We’ve set ourselves an aggressive 30% growth goal for 2013. It has been a slower start than expected, so we are turning up our marketing and sales efforts. We still intend to meet the goal.”

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21/02/2013 | By:
Top 10 Hipster MotorcyclesCaution: Swarming Hipsters.

From Silver Lake to Wicker Park, from Williamsburg to the Mission District, from Portlandia to Austin and on the industrial outskirts of every college town in between, these annoying hipsters are everywhere you turn. You stand by and sigh as they slouch and smirk in their skinny jeans and perfectly tousled hair, grilling the barista on whether or not their $4.50 coffee is Certified Fair Trade (meanwhile, they have no problem paying $5 for a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon).

You can’t escape their entitled whines: guys with scarves and designer sneakers grumble about the infrequency of their unemployment checks as they tap furiously on $2,000 MacBook Pros; girls with shaved temples and tattooed sleeves loudly mock their boss’ fashion sense in one breath and wail that no one takes them seriously in the next. Their haughty blogs clutter the internet, their bumptious mugs crop up on TV.

And now the gnats have infested our passion.

On pre-fab café racers they zip around, oblivious and/or indifferent. They race through parking lots, pass on the right, split lanes perilously and make rights on reds without envisioning a stop, all the while checking themselves out in rearview mirrors and storefront windows. Taunting their parents’ insurance deductibles is sport to these insufferable imps. It used to be that biker gangs gave motorcyclists a bad name. These days, it’s all we can do to keep from swatting at the maddening horde.

The hipsters’ rides of choice are an eclectic mix, as it’s almost impossible to be cool if you’re on the same bike as thousands of other riders. Our informal polling brought up dozens of bikes appreciated by hipsters, and we’ve distilled them down to an easy-to-digest 10 choices. Plus a bonus pick, as we can’t be hip if we just stick to the rules.

28/01/2013 | By:
According to a Ural announcement the Russian sidecar manufacturer posted a third year of consecutive sales growth. Ural claims that the two previous years, 2010 and 2011 put the company in a position to enjoy a record year in 2012 of 30+% growth, more than previous record set in 2006.

“We fell really hard in 2009, maybe harder than others in the industry. So it’s very reaffirming to surpass our biggest number. Next year’s goal is the same, “30% sales growth or die trying” says Madina Merzhoeva, VP of the company’s North American distribution. . “Our small team is ready to take on the challenge. If we can manage to do that every year for the next few years, we might outsell some big names” sums up Merzhoeva regarding the company’s long-term growth goals.

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28/11/2012 | By:

What’s orange and black and comes with an oar? Ural’s limited edition 2012 Yamal. Why is it the only motorcycle to ever come with a factory installed oar. It’s named after a boat, of course.

The NS  Yamal is a nuclear-powered Russian ice-breaker that’s sailed to the North Pole, the twelfth ship to do so. The ship gets its name from the Yamal Peninsula, an inhospitable region of northern Siberia known for reindeer husbandry. The peninsula consists of permafrost and is surrounded by frozen seas. In the local vernacular, Yamal translates to “end of the world.”

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11/01/2012 | By:
Ural, the funky motorcycle sidecar manufacturer from Russia, is boasting a 39% increase in unit sales for 2011. Considering the company’s total expected output for last year was approximately 1,100 models, you won’t notice an influx of sidehacks dominating your local roadways, but this is really good news for the small manufacturer of eclectic two-wheelers, especially in the midst of a deficient economy.

Ural recognized an article in the New York Times and a collaboration with bike builder James Hammarhead for some of the company’s increasing popularity. We like to think our positive review of the Ural Gear-Up model last year as cause for Ural’s booming market share. Some may consider our love of this machine to be irrational, but we’re in the company of Ural owners including Brad Pitt and Ewan McGregor, who both added Urals to their garages in 2011.
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20/04/2009 | By:
John Gibson had a vision 15 years ago to sell ice cream from a motorcycle sidecar, inspired while running as he listening to motivational guru, Tony Robins. After years of experimenting with different bikes and setups, including using the Russian made Ural (he once owned a Ural dealership), Gibson, finally settled on the Honda 750 Shadow and the Harley-Davidson 883 Sportster.

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