First Impressions Riding the Overland Expo Foundation Ultimate Build URAL Gear Up Sidecar Motorcycle
The Overland Expo Foundation cranks out some serious builds each year as a part of their Ultimate Vehicle and Motorcycle build series. The Foundation coordinates vehicle and parts donations from OEMs and parts companies and the builds are auctioned off at the end of the season on Bring A Trailer. All of the proceeds from the builds go directly to the grant recipients of the Overland Expo Foundation. The 2024 Ultimate Motorcycle Build is a URAL Gear Up Standard and it is an absolute riot to ride. Read more to learn about the bike and my first impression of riding it.
Small disclaimer: Rachael is the foundation’s Executive Director and I am completely biased in my review of the foundation’s work. They have two part-time staff, and a handful of volunteers that make a real difference in people’s lives through trail work, overlanding education, and support for organizations using overlanding as therapy and recovery.
If you have never ridden a motorcycle with a sidecar, it is the weirdest and most non-conventional experience that a motorcycle rider can have. The bike fights against the sidecar until the sidecar comes off the ground and then you are navigating a motorcycle with a 300-pound weight hanging up in the air. The URAL is simple, scary, and one of the most unique motorcycles I have ever ridden. I loaded up the bike for the short ride from Colorado Springs, CO to Loveland, CO for the Overland Expo Mountain West show. What seemed like a straightforward ride through the plains on the east side of the front range became a mini adventure all of its own.
The bike is outfitted to the nines with all of the gear from DENALI Electronics, Mosko Moto, and even SuperWinch, which makes it extremely heavy, but prepared for just about any adventure you can throw at it. Because of the 62-mile-per-hour top speed on flat land, my route was chosen for me. I would leave the Springs to the east, and pass through the small plains towns of Elbert, Kiowa, and Bennett before speeding through Greeley and into Loveland.
We spend a fair amount of time around Elbert, especially during the winter, mostly for the dirt roads that are long enough to string together gravel bicycling routes that last hours while the mountain roads are snowed in. Training for early spring rides is tough in the mountains and these small communities help keep us pedaling during the colder months. The same thing that attracts us to cycling in this area is evident while riding the URAL. I constantly catch myself navigating my route to include rolling and curvy dirt roads, some with more sand than gravel. The URAL eats it up. I learn to let the front tire go where it wants, within reason, because there is no use in fighting it. Thirty miles per hour feels like 80 on a street bike. It’s magical in a really weird way.
I fuel up in Kiowa, Colorado, a small town known for its rodeo and the Elbert County Fair. I fuel up here because the URAL fuel light comes on around 110 miles on the trip counter giving an efficiency of around 34 MPG, not bad for a three-wheeler. Towns like Kiowa remind me of small towns in Oklahoma where everyone knows everyone else and the food is as good as the mostly unconditional hospitality. I spoke to as many people in Kiowa about the URAL as I did all weekend at Overland Expo.
The ride north was brutal, with a headwind and no windscreen, and my maximum speed was limited to 58 miles per hour. The sweet spot for the URAL is 55 miles per hour. The four-speed transmission and the 749cc engine with its 41 horsepower want nothing to do with going faster than that. For reference, my 2011 BMW F800 has a 798cc engine with 85 horsepower, gets 46 miles per gallon, and has a top speed of 125 miles per hour. To be fair, the URAL engine is a “replica” of a World War Two-era BMW boxer engine.
I crank along at 55 mph, with the wind occasionally catching under the sidecar and shifting me within the lane, and I can’t help but smile. Is it comfortable? Not really. But is it fast? Also, no. Riding a URAL is like driving a slow car, fast. It’s weird and feels counter to the vehicle’s design, but somehow, you get off the bike smiling every time.
Rolling into Overland Expo Mountain West in Loveland, CO was the biggest challenge of the ride. Riding through Greeley, CO and the beginnings of the Denver suburbs meant the pace quickened immediately and the challenges of the URAL were more obvious. The slow shifting of the four-speed gearbox became more obvious. The top speed was more of a limit for keeping up with traffic. But with smart riding and a creative route, the URAL made it to the destination without too much hassle. Something about riding a motorcycle that was designed in the 1930s into an event with the most over-the-top vehicle builds in the world is strange, but I was comforted that I was on the old dinosaur and that I had an adventure to get there instead of rolling in on a trade show trailer. v
We will be taking the URAL out for a few more adventures before we give it back. Keep an eye on our feeds and YouTube channel for more content coming your way with this slow, beautiful, absolute blast of a motorcycle.
