At first glance, you might not think that off-roading a bike like a Dnepr would be a huge deal. After all, a major part of why these bikes exist was to go wherever, whenever, on rural Russia’s notoriously bad roads. They were never meant to be the fastest, but they were meant to be all-terrain. That is, after all, why a bike like this Dnepr MT16 came standard with 2WD. 

Still, according to the video description, it’s only YouTuber Road Home’s third ride on this bike—so he’s not used to it yet, and hadn’t ridden with any sidecar before acquiring this MT16. With that in mind, taking on a sandy trail through a forest, he seems to be doing quite well. Both bike and rider look totally capable. Like any rider with a new bike, as he gains confidence with that sidecar, he’ll only get better.

At one point, he encounters a downed tree across the trail, and it’s too big to climb over with his bike, so he simply turns around. The one point where it gets maybe a little tricky is when he gets to a bit where he has to get out, kick-start the bike, and then gently walk it out of a place where he gets stuck. Power-walking an 800-ish pound bike with a sidecar from the side is probably no one’s idea of fun, but lucky for this guy, he seems to have it pretty well under control. 

Although Urals and Dneprs are often mentioned in the same breath, Dneprs were more heavily intended for military use, and have a reputation for being slightly heavier-duty machines. Unlike Ural, the company no longer exists to produce new bikes, but we have no idea of the specific year of the one in this video. As you might expect, Dnepr made this model for a long time, so this thing could either be kinda old, or very old. 

Know what’d be fun? Taking this thing on some trails, bringing an excellent picnic in that sidecar so you can eat and chill once you find someplace pretty, and then doing more riding after lunch. 

Sources: YouTube, Bike-urious

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