On Friday morning, JedR and I headed south on the Parks Highway towards Anchorage. During a coffee stop in Nenana, we saw a Ural pull into the gas station. That is Buster on the left with his 2014 Gear Up. He had picked it up from Mickey last year and at only 1400 km, he had to pull the engine due to a crankshaft problem. It was rebuilt in Washington presumably by Ural. He now has about 4K km on the rebuilt engine and is very happy with how it runs. We were parked by the side of the gas station and he wanted to take a picture. JedR's 2015 Patrol is in the middle.
The weather wasn't great and I dragged out the heated gear for the ride down. There was headwind north of Healy down to "Glitter Gulch", the touristy region just north of the entrance to the park which was our destination for the day. I just needed to deliver some mail to my son who is working at one of the hotels in the area. They weren't open for business yet but he's been working there since early April getting the facility ready. It was mostly overcast so no good mountain views and we even had a bit of rain on the trip back to Fairbanks.
Even with the headwind, the Ural got 31.7 mpg on the trip down and 33.7 mpg on the way back. That gas mileage, by the way, is based on the Ural odometer. Using GPS miles the return gas mileage is almost 37 mpg! I had just renewed my Spot subscription so I figured that I may as well try it out. 241 miles for the day.
I've been cold all evening and just when I think I'm warming up I read you post. Now I'm cold again and reaching for my blogging blanket...
ReplyDeleteSounds like you're having a fine adventure in seemingly the land of URALs...
Steve Williams
Scooter in the Sticks
The "Land of Urals". Kind of has a catchy ring to it. The third wheel goes a long way to making year 'round riding a reality. JedR has ridden his at least once every month through the winter. Buster mentioned that efi seems to have make the rig more cold blooded. I.e. hard to start when cold. He still has huge really lean stock fuel map as he hadn't made it back to Mickey yet.
DeleteYour Friday Ride seems very enjoyable. What is your bike ? I would like to enjoy such a ride.
ReplyDeleteThanks For Sharing
Thank you for stopping by and commenting. The blue/white rig is a 2012 Ural Patrol.
DeleteDelivering mail in Alaska on a Ural. Close to perfect, I think.
ReplyDeleteIt would have been easy enough to pop it is into the mail but the short visit was nice and it was a good excuse for a longer ride. Plus the engine was ready for some higher speed running.
DeleteThey're everwhere!
ReplyDeleteThe latest EFI mapping OR1.02 made it harder, for me anyways, to kickstart my 2014 rig when cold. That and because it is a richer mix, mileage suffers. Trying to get OR1.01 put back on my rig to regain mileage in spite of "not as smooth" parking lot speed performance.
I'll mention that to Jed as he was thinking of getting the new efi map installed.
DeleteThat was a comment from another passing by. She had taken a picture of a blue/white one at the Fairbanks Fred Meyer last winter. ;-)
Mail by Ural. I love the idea. Our mail is delivered to our doorstep by a conventional mail man on a bicycle.
ReplyDeleteOn a bicycle even. Very old school.
DeleteWho needs pony express when you have Ural mail delivery. A good excuse to put a few miles on.
ReplyDeleteIt was a good reason for a ride. Especially knowing that I will be going out of town for a couple of weeks.
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