Ural is bringing the solo to the US soon. You want classic looking and a clunky shift Ural is the way. Shaft drive and they weigh about the same as a savage. You're only getting 40HP out of it stock, and the pricetag is $8000 but they also have a 2 year unlimited mile warranty.
If only I had $8k laying around.

Ural? Oh man... They have a distro network in US now. $8000 doesn't sound too bad, not sure about the quality, though.

dasch wrote on 04/30/10 at 10:38:53:


I briefly considered getting a sidecar version and looked into them pretty deep. There's two really good forums for them that together come close to equalling the resources on this site. Apparently every year Urals quality goes up considerably with the low point being in the early/mid 90's. The new ones from '05 and onward are apparently quite well made. And if they're not, for whatever reason, the 2 year parts/labor unlimited mile warranty comes into play. A lot of the parts are sourced now where they used to be primarily russian made. Brembo discs front and back on the solo, i think they're using keihin carbs now, herzog gears, Nippon Denso alternators (as the russian ones could take out your engine. refered to as russian hand grenades). Just by looking the solo seems like a very solidly built bike. Like i said, if only I had $8k.

I knew i could count on you guys for some good replies on this topic.

james may wrote on 04/30/10 at 19:15:25:


Without a LOT of cutting and stretching, you will never fit a sportster or big twin into a savage frame. You just can't get that square peg in a round hole. As far as post '85 Harleys- it is all a matter of opinion. I have ridden the harleys for many years. In 1985, the evolution engine came out and was a bit improved over the shovel and iron heads. But 1985 was also the year that Harley-Davidson started turning on the very people who made the prior survival of the motor company possible. Dealers who had to start selling outboard boat motors through the 70's to overcome the lost profits from AMF trash, had their dealerships revoked because they did not fit the "image" that the new and improved motor company wished to project. The harley evo, to me, symbolizes the 20 year decline of the motorcycle culture, which seems to be coming back now. The evo also symbolizes the beginning of the prostituting out of the HD name to every product that has nothing to do with motorcycling. I have never had a need for HD splash on cologne , underpants, or active footware!

"The evo also symbolizes the beginning of the prostituting out of the HD name to every product that has nothing to do with motorcycling. I have never had a need for HD splash on cologne , underpants, or active footware! "


In el paso we have Barnett HD which claims to be the worlds largest. More than half of the entire store is clothing and ridiculous junk with the logo on it! I have never understood that. If I like a product I may own a shirt that supports the product but these guys go way overboard! I think I counted about 10 people at different businesses wearing harley shirts and I watched most of them get into a car and drive away. ha!

Lots of us have second bikes (generally big open road bikes).  

Some of us were silly enough (or financially pressed enough) to have to sell the Savage.

Of those, over half picked up another Savage fairly soon afterwards.


      Something was missing.


The Savage is THE BEST quick nimble get around town bike ....


"don't it always seem to go

that you don't know what you got 'till its gone?"