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I don’t really get the people who obsess about riding a Ural – a Russian knock-off of a German sidecar just doesn’t strike me as an enjoyable time on a motorcycle.

Of course, my saddle time on a Ural has been relegated to around-town and highway riding, which isn’t really the Ural’s domain of choice. These Cossack bikes really shine off-road, where their funky WWII-era 2WD design becomes an asset, not a hinderance.

Add to the fact that Urals are bone-simple to work on — owning a Ural means you will be wrenching on it, a lot, by the way — and you’ve got a motorcycle that’s well-suited to the rough-and-tumble lifestyle of where the road ends…especially when the road ends in a river.

Attempting to ford the river, Oregon Trail style, these Ural owners are experiencing all that the Russian marque has to offer. Seeing is believing, after the jump.

The sidecar class at the Isle of Man TT is about to get a pretty big change, as the ACU has announced a shift in the sporting regulations for sidecars. Already opening up the engine spec for the 2014 Isle of Man TT, the governing body has once again modified what the three-wheelers can use for their engines.

Applying the solo-class Supersport engine specs to the sidecar class, teams will have more strict guidelines on what they can and cannot modify for their machines, but they will also have greater flexibility in what engines they base their racing operation upon.

Since the Isle of Man TT Supersport class allows for 675cc three-cylinder sport bikes to compete, Sidecar class entrants can now make use of power plants from the Triumph Daytona 675 and MV Agusta F3 sport bikes.

Proud of the opportunity to host the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia showed its accomplishments to the world during the opening ceremony on Friday by showing off its culture, traditions, and highlights of its post-World War II industrial economy.

As part of those highlights, a procession of twenty bright red Ural sidecars rolled across the ice at Fisht Olympic Stadium, as three billion people looked on via television.

Harley-Davidson is further consolidating its business categories, as the Milwaukee brand announced last week that it would be discontinuing its sidecar line. Interest in Harley-Davidson sidecars has been waning over the years, and with the introduction of the Tri-Glide family of trikes, Harley-Davidson has seen its sidecars sales plummet. The 2011 model year will be the last year the Harley-Davidson sidecars will be available, and the company plans on shutting down production once the forecasted 2011 number of sidecars is finished at the factory.