Space-Minded Ural MIR Comes with Solar Panel, Unique Repair Instructions

These Russian bikes are known for being robust, go-anywhere things, and they routinely arrive with sidecars and camouflage paintjobs. The brand's latest limited-edition model, though, does away with the camo'd color scheme and replaces it something a bit... extraterrestrial.

This is the Ural Mir, named in honor of the Shuttle-Mir program, a space-based collaboration between the United States and Russia that saw shuttles visit the orbiting station in a then-unprecedented spirit of cooperation.

In addition to its most obvious change, the Orbital White Metallic paint, the Ural Mir features a solar panel affixed atop the nose of the sidecar. According to Ural, it can serve as a battery tender or as a source of power for accessories. It can also be simply removed and replaced with a luggage rack, should you need more space (or if it's cloudy). High-intensity LEDs adorn the nose of the sidecar for peering into the pitch-black abyss.

The other cool feature of the Ural Mir is its special instruction system. A QR code has been fitted on a large wrench, and when accessed, it provides "when all else fails" instructions including a, um, clip from the disaster flick Armageddon. So yes, if your Ural breaks down, it seems the manufacturer advocates you beating it with a wrench to get it running again. Your results may vary.

The Ural Mir starts at $16,999 and will be limited to just 20 units and arrives at dealers in November.