A Contender For My Next Vehicle – Ural Gear-Up

What vehicle doesn’t usually lean in corners, doesn’t have a roof or doors, uses rather old technology, and isn’t priced under $10,000 (it’s $13,949 if we’re being specific) but has still captured my heart?  I’ll give you a few hints.  It’s Russian, wears a camouflage paint scheme, has three wheels, requires a unique skill set to operate, and features two wheel drive

OK, I’ll tell you – It’s the Ural Gear-up and I’m still :drool2:

It’s decidedly not fast and the speedometer bounces around in about a 10 MPH range, but who cares   The Gear-Up’s two wheel drive is made to be used off road and that sidecar looks like the perfect place to carry a whole bunch of shotguns and rifles into the desert   I wonder how hard it would be to remove the spotlight from the sidecar and fit a machine gun like the Russian Army used to

In all seriousness, I’m rather in a quandary here.  A BMW F800GS would be quicker than the V-Star and will do off road with ease as it’s made to be a dual sport.  It’s about the same price as the Ural and would be a much more capable touring mount.  A Suzuki V-Strom would be about half the price, require less maintenance, and go just about anywhere the Ural would.  Both are normal motorcycles which lean and do all the other fun things motorcycles do.

On the other hand, the Ural with its sidecar would allow me to carry more and different stuff than either of the motorcycles would.  Friends and family would probably be much more likely to climb aboard the sidecar than they would be to mount up on the back of a bike.  I’d still be on the vehicle rather than in it, still in the weather, and it has plenty of character   Motorcycle.com’s full review of the Ural Gear-Up is here, Ural’s website is here, and their page for the Gear-Up can be found here for your reading pleasure and educational enrichment

I’ve still got quite a while to go until I’m ready to buy my next means of transportation, so at least I’ve got that going for me

So what do all my readers think?  I can almost guarantee I won’t buy another regular car as long as I’m able to operate a bike of some sort, but that still leaves plenty of options open   Go ahead and post your thoughts on the subject down in the comments, OK