Earlier this year, I had the extremely interesting experience of spending time with the Ural Neo Prototype in person. While it's true that I regularly check out motorbikes and other powersports vehicle launches as part of my job, I can count on one finger the number of times that I've gotten to ride a pre-production prototype.
Suffice it to say, since I'm not now and have not previously been anyone's factory test rider, it's a pretty rare occurrence.
But given my experiences thus far, there were a great many things that intrigued me about what Ural was trying to do. Neo is a major step in a different direction for the company, and while it's easy for naysayers who don't understand the truly unique challenges the company was facing to criticize, it's a lot harder to do when you begin to wrap your mind around the broader picture.
