The retro-styled Ural outfit is finally entering the space age with a limited edition model named after the combined USA-USSR Shuttle-Mir space program.
The Russian-made Ural Mir (or МИР) even features a solar panel to bolster the battery and care auxiliary items such as phones, GPS, music players etc. It also features sidecar windshield and a custom tonneau cover that uses reflective insulation like a space capsule and can be used as a rescue thermal blanket.
And they’ve also included the wrench in an accessible position! I’ll let the Russians explain further because their press release is hilarious:
“Travel in deep space is filled with the unknown, so we’ve secured an emergency repair wrench onboard, complete with an embedded QR code for very special “when all else fails” emergency repair instructions.
Ural wrench“2014 LE Ural “МИР” – the only motorcycle that comes with the solar panel, the wrench and the Lev Andropov’s problem solving method.”
Only 20 two-wheel-drive, right-side-chair units are being made and all are destined for the USA. Ural Australia spokesman Jonathon Taylor confirms we won’t be getting any here.
The white Ural Mir will cost $US16,990 and arrives in US showrooms in November.
Urals still look very retro, but have become more modern in recent years with the addition of disc brakes, LED lights and electronic fuel injection.
The EFI Ural Ranger has an electronic fuel injection system developed and built in Michigan that is claimed to improve fuel economy, lower emissions, increase torque by 15% and provide a better throttle response.
The lighter Ural Ranger comes with all-wheel disc brakes with Brembo calipers, adjustable hydraulic steering damper and a new airbox. It also gets modern lamps for the dashboard, a new engine cover, revised kneepads and badges on the fuel tank, and improved preformed hoses for fuel lines, breather and reservoirs.