Up Shift – URAL motorcycle departs Russia.
URAL has been a Russian Motorcycle company for, well, forever. But with the economic sanctions leveled against Russia for the Ukraine invasion, URAL had a hard decision, to stay or go. They went.
URAL has moved out of their home factory in Irbit, Russia, to Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan, with the move forcing the brand to hire new workers in Kazakhstan.
“People understand that what’s happening doesn’t represent the brand,” says Madina Merzhoeva, VP of marketing and international sales, in an article from CycleWorld.
“Ural has always been about integration into the world. It’s always been about community, doing things together and connecting. Probably unlike any other motorcycle brand, in a sense, because by nature there are two or more people riding in a Ural.”
My Take – What else could they do if they wanted to survive? I would expect there to be quality control issues for the next couple years as a new workforce is taught how to build URAL motorcycles.
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Down Shift – Tesla is killing motorcyclists.
Is the Tesla autopilot software not able to “see” motorcycles? In two recent event involving Tesla the apparent answer to that question is no.
In July 2022 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) sent investigation teams to two crashes where Tesla’s crashed into motorcycles on freeways in the darkness. Both were fatal.
The first occurred 4:47 a.m. July 7 on State Route 91, a California freeway. A white Tesla Model Y was traveling east in the high occupancy vehicle lane. Ahead of the Tesla was a rider on a Yamaha V-Star motorcycle.
The vehicles collided, and the unidentified motorcyclist was ejected from the Yamaha. He was pronounced dead at the scene by the Fire Department.
The second crash happened about 1AM July 24 on Interstate 15 near Draper, Utah. A Tesla Model 3 was behind a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, also in an HOV lane. “The driver of the Tesla did not see the motorcyclist and collided with the back of the motorcycle, which threw the rider from the bike,” the Utah Department of Public Safety said in a prepared statement.
The motorcyclist was pronounced died at the scene.
From 2016 to now the NHTSA has investigated 39 crashes involving autopilot features 30 of which were Tesla. The Tesla’s involved 19 deaths.
My Take – Not sure why it is taking so long to issue a recall for this autopilot feature? Tesla is taking the brunt of the investigations but is that because they are worse than the other manufactures or because there are more Tesla’s on the road.
My recommendation…. If you see a Tesla coming up behind you, get out of the way. There is no way to know if the dummy driving the car is on autopilot or not.
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Ride on, Ride Safe
