From Newsgroup: rec.motorcycles

https://greekreporter.com/2025/08/21/russia-gifted-alaska-man-motorcycle-putin-trump-summit/

During last weekrCOs summit in Anchorage between US President
Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, an Alaska
man received an unexpected gift from the Russian government rCo
a new motorcycle.

Mark Warren, a retired fire inspector for the Municipality of
Anchorage, received a Ural Gear Up motorcycle with a sidecar
from PutinrCOs delegation. The gift followed a television
interview that unexpectedly made him a viral figure in Russia.

. . .

I've ridden Ural ... they're fun and utilitarian.

However there's apparently no direct Russian
translation for "quality control", so beware.
When they first appeared in the USA, the rule
was to buy TWO ... so you could combine the best
parts and get one good bike. They DID get better.
Latest were fuel-injected, kinda peppy.

Alas NOW, with all the sanctions, don't expect
to find many PARTS for Urals. Know somebody
with a 3-D metal printer ?

WW2 ... the Russians pushed into east Germany,
found and STOLE an entire factory for the BMW
R-75 motorcycles. Apparently some of the original
machines/tooling is STILL used for the Russia-
made variants.

Note ... NEVER expect a Ural to hold a straight
line on the highway, you'll go insane trying to
achieve that. It's SUPPOSED to drift back and
forth about a foot or so, the AVERAGE DIRECTION
being straight ahead :-)

BMW should kinda re-issue this machine, but in
modern high-quality.

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