The Ural Tourist - Stalin's Revenge

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: They neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Stalin in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these..

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: They neither toil nor spin; and yet I say

We always thought sidecars were for lazy old fat guys. Turns out there's no need to wait that long. Pushing a hack to modest speeds is more physically draining than riding a streetbike fast, and it requires equal concentration. There's nothing like drifting into the oncoming lane of a busy arterial intersection to crank your pupils right open.

And that's entertainment. Feeling jaded by $10,000, 100-horse bikes? Try a $13,000, 40-horse, 2WD bikeosaurus. Riding a Ural-to the store, to the mountaintop, to the symphony with your sweetie, to the middle of nowhere with your dog wearing goggles-may not convert you to a babbling sidecar proselyte, but it will expand the way you look at motorcycles. "What kind of sh*t is that?" you might reasonably ask. The good kind.

Ivan would approve. More fun than a barrel of inebriated monkeys with more anti-hero cool than Steve McQueen reincarnated to lead Revenge of the Nerds, it's the 3-foot tool roll of adventure riding.

Crank it up with the button, or use the kick lever if you feel nostalgic. The Ural perches there, panting away like a puppy with a ball, slyly inviting you to go play outside. Listen to those valves tick. Are they counting down your dead-end life, or calling you to seek your misfortune? Excuse me for a moment. I need to find out for myself.

By Jack Lewis

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