Skip to main content

Three Wheeled Fury: Ural Motorcycles

Earlier this summer we were lucky enough to spend a long weekend getting a sneak peak at Coleman’s National Park Centennial camping gear (more on that soon). As part of our trip, we spent quite a bit of time cruising fire roads and ATV trails of Washington’s Kitsap Peninsula aboard a Ural Motorcycle. After gunning the engine up our first steep, washboard hill, the two wheel drive had us swooning – although that could have been the exhaust fumes too.

Related: 5 Tips For A Great Motorcycle Tour | What Kind of Motorcycle Should I Get?

Ural’s parent company has been building sidecar bikes in Irbit, Russia since 1941. Originally based on the venerable BMW R71, Ural’s early models were exclusive to the Red Army. In the 1950s they starting producing bikes for the public, and in 1973 the first motorcycles made it across the Iron Curtain into Great Britain. Over the years the sidecar design hasn’t changed, but modern ignition systems, disc brakes, and powerful 750cc engines have become part of each bike’s DNA.

Ural’s USA headquarters in Redmond Washington is the perfect location for some serious testing, so we couldn’t pass up a weekend of riding when we had a bike at our disposal and pristine forest roads to ride on. At first blush, the two wheel drive is insanely grippy – too much for paved roads, but excellent for loose gravel and washed out dirt roads. The sidecar affects the balance enough that you’ll have to pay attention closely at first, but if you don’t drive like a madman (we’re looking at you Ryan Hayter) it’s not a steep learning curve. The best part is the cargo space. The sidecar has a seat for a copilot – or dog – and plenty of room for a weekend’s worth of camping gear. So if you’re planning on heading out for a weekend of fire road cruising and camping, your first choice should be a Ural.

Pictures Courtesy of Ural Motorcycles

Editors' Recommendations

Austin Parker
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Austin Parker is a former contributor at The Manual Parker is a powder skier and sport climber and is no stranger hauling…
Everything points to Apple TV+ making a change you’re not going to like
Is an ad-supported tier coming to Apple TV+?
The Apple TV Plus Logo

It turns out that TV worked pretty well under its old model. According to a new report from Business Insider, Apple TV+ may be the latest streaming service that's set to introduce an ad-supported tier and charge those who don't stream with ads a premium fee to access their great shows and movies.

At this point, the report is still speculation, but Apple has made several recent hires in the advertising space that seem to suggest the direction they're planning to take. The company recently hired former NBCUniversal ad executive Joseph Cady to serve as executive vice president of advanced advertising and partnerships, a move that comes following the company's hiring of another former NBCUniversal executive, Jason Frum, who joined Apple's video ad sales team.

Read more
From Gilda Radner to Ali Wong, these are the best female comedians of all time
These women from all generations will make you laugh out loud
Ai Wong comedian 2017 Moontower comedy festival

Hot take: I don’t care for straight male comedians. It’s not that they’re not funny, they’re just … I don’t know, boring? Maybe that’s reductive of me, but I never seem to leave a straight male comedian’s set feeling particularly inspired. And though some may argue that it’s not important for a set to "inspire" its audience, I’d actually argue that the opposite is true. For me, I want to see a comedian use humor to address real issues and say real things about the world, even if they do it in a completely goofy way.

Therefore, I tend to prefer female and female-identified comedians. They’re sharp, tough, and have often seen shit that makes their comedy feel raw and true. Undoubtedly there are male comedians who do this, too, but to a much lesser degree, in my very humble and very personal opinion.

Read more
12 classic sci-fi books everyone should read
If you love science fiction and reading, these classic sci-fi novels are a must
Man reading a book and drinking coffee

It may feel like we were recently living in a science-fiction dystopia life -- and in some ways, we were -- but that doesn't mean that we should simply avoid an entire genre of writing. Hardly. In fact, this is probably the perfect time to explore classic sci-fi books, to see what the masters have written, and maybe even see if someone predicted anything like this. Many, though, simply ignore sci-fi wholly and completely because of an association with robots, aliens, and the like.

Long story short, if you think you don't like sci-fi, you have never read great books from the genre. But indeed, many such books abound, including a number that has delighted generations of readers going back well over 150 years. In fact, one of the best things about so many sci-fi books is their very timelessness. As by definition, this type of fiction breaks away from the norms of the everyday world -- whether slightly twisting things or taking place on entire other worlds -- the stories often feel as fresh and relevant today as when they were published decades ago.

Read more