I am researching good bikes for a family trip RTW (a couple with two small kids). For some time I've been thinking about a Ural with a sidecar.

However, I've not found much info yet on any others who has done RTWs on the newer 750 cc Urals, and many when they talk about Urals don't distinguish between the older 650 and the newer 750. Also, many when discussing the performance attributes of the Ural, like top speed, hardly ever mention other conditions such as how heavily loaded it was, how it was performing up hill or in head wind or at altitude...

If I was to draw a conclusion from all the hundreds of comments/opinions that flourish the internet about the 650, it is that they are extremely unreliable, has poor performance, poor top speed, poor handling both off road and on tarmac, poor comfort, and just about extremely poor everything - in short they have nothing going for them but nostalgia. I am nostalgic guy myself, riding classic Vespa scooters, but for an RTW with kids, nostalgia takes the back seat.

Although high speed, great handling either off-road and on-road, long service intervals, or Japanese reliability, are not great concerns of mine, I do set minimal standards that are higher than what the 650 seem to be able to offer in any of these areas. I therefore want to look more into what the 750 has to offer. Problem is though, that I have not found any blogs etc from people who has actually done RTW's on these bikes. Also, most of the comments i find don't distinguish between the 650 and the 750 or the conditions they were used, making it utterly impossible to make an educated decision.

I've spent my share of time crawling this forum and advrider.com but i am non the wiser still. Advrider.com I had to give up completely as there was just too much nonsense noise to cut through deriving from all the pouting, bashing, trolling, the touchy-feely posters that had their feelings hurt from a previous post discussing Urals, etc. It just made me frustrated having to sift through all the crap. I like it better here at horizonsunlimited.com

Therefore, if anyone has anything to share, opinionated or not, hearsay or own experience, links or pointers, it will all be appreciated.

In particular, some of the things i want to know are:

• Service intervals of the 750 cc and what we really mean by service - are we talking about an oil change or jtighetening every spoke and fastener every 10.000 km?
• Reliability - what are probable issues, and how probable are they and how easy can they be resolved - also in comparison to the 650
• User experiences on long adventures, including reccomendations
• Performance - and in particular what the top speeds will be for a fully loaded Ural (Rider, a child, spare fuel, tools, luggage, and all the typical stuff that one brings along on an RTW), both up hill, at altitude and in head wind. If i can do 90 km/h uphill with all my stuff onboard, then this is ok. If we are talking 70 km/h than it is a definite no-go
• And, does its rideability crush the confidence of a nervous wife??
• Other things I need to keep in mind

Also, if there are other great options out there that will not require me to rob a bank, please share

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