Preview of 2019 Urals — Now With Modernized Engine

Stop the presses. For 2019, everyone’s favorite anachronistic Soviet-designed mode of transportation gets some pretty significant internal engine mods. It’s the biggest thing since fuel injection.

When Ural updates its line of sidecars it's sort of like Budweiser updating its recipe—you fear they'll ruin the whole thing. Certain things just are. You don't expect them to change. The Ural—like the hammer, the wheel, and the… I don't know… the drinking glass—don't really need to ever be updated.

Maybe that's an exaggeration. After all, motorcycles—even when the goal is to keep them proudly irrelevant (sidecars have basically been outmoded since the Ford Model T, after all)—can stand the odd improvement. So Ural has improved reliability and efficiency and kept them emissions-compliant. Even if you drive (not ride) a sidecar, The Man will remind you it's the 21st century and all must comply.

oing forward, Urals will feature a newly-designed top-end and a 25 percent larger oil pan. Cooling fins on the heads and cylinders have been improved for 20 percent more efficient cooling, intake and exhaust ports have been modified for improved gas flow and reduced heat transfer, and new pistons feature fancy teflon inlaid skirts and plasma-sprayed molybdenum on the top compression ring. All these advancements come straight from lessons learned during the construction of Sputnik. Kidding.

Ural also updated its EFI system. It’s operated by a new ECU and features Keihin throttle bodies. There’s also a new in-tank fuel pump. Ural claims the changes improve combustion efficiency and make the machine easier to start and idle more smoothly.

Nik Hays, Ural’s head of development, says, “our goal was to improve performance and reliability while meeting or exceeding ever-tightening emission control requirements in the US, Europe, and other markets where Ural sells its product.”

We’re big fans of the Ural, and are glad it continues to develop and refine its product.For 2019, the two-wheel drive Ural Gear-Up will have an MSRP of $16,999 and the one-wheel drive cT will have an MSRP of $14,999.