I bought a Uly and brought it home on Saturday. It's been a long process and I thought I would tell ya how it came about. Pretty much every year at Easter, I go home to Wisconsin and spend Easter with my family. 2 years ago, I went home and was going to ride the Leaf River enduro in Byron, Il. I had just done a top end on my KTM 250 and needed a new sidestand bracket. None in Mn, so I called around SE Wi when I got down there. Uke's Dirtstore in Kenosha had one, so I had them hold it and made plans to pick it up. My brother went along and while we were there, he suggested checking out the Harleys. Whatever. I was kind of looking for a BMW Rockster or a V-Strom, so I did not see the point of checking out the Harleys. Right inside the door, sat a 'demo' Ulysses with about a bunch of miles on it. "Mike check this out." As I set about eye-balling the Uly. Huh, a tall nakid street bike at a Harley store??? The heck you say. It did not take long for the salesguy to wander over. Turned out the Uly in the showroom was one of the bikes that was used in Colorado for the Uly rollout. "Go ahead, sit on it." So I did. And that, as they say, was all she wrote. The sales guy did tell me about the design history and target buyer and told me a bit about Buell. I am 6'4", tall bikes do it for me, tall bikes that are well-balanced even more so. Plus, the price seemed pretty darn reasonable. Now, to pay for one..... The oldest graduated HS, we did some remodeling, bought a car for said graduate, sent her to Costa Rica for a school trip, sent the youngest to Florida for a dance team trip, bought her half a motorcycle (she paid for the other half), bought a pick up for racing and a camper. No Uly. So, for 2 years, I've been working extra OT (pretty easy to do at UPS) and paying off everything and buying what we need with cash. I managed to save up a nice little nest egg. Went to see the family at Easter this past spring and did the 'annual' trip to Uke's. They had 2 Ulys on the floor. The one that caught my eye was a Blue 07. Another customer bought an 08 and traded plastic. Looked really cool. Bonnie says, "If you can get a good price, do it." Really?!?!??!?!?!? So Colin comes up with a quote. It was a little higher than I wanted, so I passed, but told Colin that I had off again in a month and for the right price, I would drive down for it. Got home and looked at bikes at some of the local dealers. Was completely blown off by one dealer. Another dealer, Donahue, though not only did not blow me off, but were interested in showing me a Uly, but has a salesguy that is a Buell owner/rider. Had him quote my a price. A little higher than Uke's but close. Then Bon Bon went to work and was talking about getting a street bike and her boss says, "Think carefully about large purchases, the company is for sale, and we do not know if new owners would keep our department." That threw a big buck of ice water on the whole thing. Right after that Colin from Uke's called. Sweetened the deal even more. CRAP. Weekend before Memorial Day, Bonnie and I decided to see if we could do a test ride (and get a hydration pack.) The ride was not as smooth as I hoped, but Bonnie said that she would get used to it. Russell wrote up a quote on an 07. It was not quite as killer a deal as what Colin quoted, but, 5 miles away vs. 390 made the difference a wash. Thanks to living lean I was able to pick up a barricade orange 07 Uly with a tall shield and tankbag (and all the Buell luggage.) I am using it as a daily commuter. Bonnie and I are hoping that we can do some weekend trips. We talked about doing the homecoming, but with only 3 days off, she thinks that is too much, too soon. I have not had any service experience, so I cannot comment on that. But, from the buying experience that I had, I would certainly recommend Uke's (even though I did not buy from them, if I lived in SE Wi, I would have) and Donahue HD. Both dealer's had Buell knowledgeable employees and they were enthusiastic about the brand. NEVER did either dealer suggest that I would be better off on a Harley. My initial impressions.... so far, so good. My last road bike was a UJM (Suz GS850G) and the Uly is roomy, comfy seat and handles great. I suspect that there is an XB9 primary in my future. Maybe once it breaks in, it will smooth out a little. I find that anything under about 2,000 rpms is rough, very rough. In town, I ride in 2nd, 4th on the hwy. The other things are all things that everyone else notices, tight steering lock, stumble off idle and the fan is really loud. Oh, and no one else has one and every where you go, other riders look. A Uly is not for someone that wants to go stealth. Now that I have it, I still see another bike in my future. A serious dual sport, single track capable. In the meantime, I think I am going to have a ton (several tons, actually) of fun on my new Uly. Tom B
Congrats on the new Uly! Yeah, you're going to have tons of fun. It's the coolest bike I've ever ridden. 47k since 1/06 and still grinnin!