Leave it to the Russians to make something that looks completely out of place, but kicks serious ass. Video of the Russian-made Sherp ATV is going viral on the web and it joins the Bublik raft and the Kalashnikov (AK-47) as another Soviet invention that steps away from convention while remaining completely functional. The Sherp features self-inflating tires and a nearly 45 horsepower engine (rather small). But with it’s gnarly-treaded tires, it can climb walls or, as the video demonstrates, enter amphibious mode to break through iced-over ponds and re-emerge unscathed. Retailing for around 50 grand, the Sherp can turn on it’s own access and runs at 28 mph, top speed, 3.7 mph in the water. One big question remains? Where would you use it?
There’s miles of logging roads in the backcountry across the U.S. as well as several hundred miles of uninhabited beaches, but Russia features some of the most empty country in the world as the largest country with more than 6.6 million square miles of terrain. And while the U.S. has plenty of terrain as well, do we really want these machines roaming free in the backcountry? Maybe the Sherp would work perfect as a hunting machine? To use as a transport vehicle to set up remote hunting camps? We’re open to all ideas.
