Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. I don't know much about motorcycles, but I do know that we need more Russian vehicles!
I spotted this Soviet bike in just about the same parking place in which we saw the 1978 MG Midget earlier in the year. Normally, a non-four-wheeled vehicle wouldn't qualify for this series, but I've given up hope of ever spotting a GAZ Chaika or even a Lada in Alameda and so the rules shall be bent to allow this three-wheeled comrade entry into the DOTS pantheon.
The Ural can trace its ancestry back to pre-World War II BMW forebears, as can be seen here in its boxer-twin engine design. This particular model may not be very old (hey, you can buy 'em new!), but its design goes way, waaaay back.
DISCUSSION
Ha! Saw that bike on a trailer, along with a side-car sportin' Bonneville a couple of months back. The owners had stopped for a little tasty Jack in the Box breakfast like we had, and said they were heading up to some bike event up north. That bike's only a couple of years old, and the owner couldn't say enough nice things about it.