Hazzards of the job.
Big Dave.
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I couldn’t believe my luck when AMPS’ Sales Manager, Bruce Saunders chucked me the keys to the new Buell XB12X Ulysses and said ‘put a few hundred kays on our demo before open day tomorrow please. Bed the brakes and just shake it down to make sure it’s right.'
I’d just returned a bike from the Kiwi Rider office and it was turning into one of those ‘roustabout’ jobs that I love. ‘Hell yeah! I ‘enthused’. I was dead keen to try the first ‘dual purpose’ machine from the Motor co. I’ve liked the look of the Ulysses concept since the first pics and reports surfaced online.
As we wheeled it to the door Bruce pointed out that the aesthetics and appearance of the bike galvanised opinion. ‘It’s one of those ‘love it’ or ‘hate it’ styles.’
I loved it. It has the Buell aggressive and minimalist look and I found its line very easy on the eye.
Then I climbed on it. ‘Oh my goodness! A tall person’s bike!’ In these days of diminishing saddle heights and sports bikes getting smaller and lighter it was refreshing to sit on a tall performance bike. There are plenty of riders shorter of leg with the technique to handle the XB12X, but it’s more comfortable being manoeuvred by riders near 6 feet or more. IE Pick ‘Big’ Dave!
After a quick detour home to grab the camera I headed out to Waiuku and went exploring around the Steel Works en-route, Friday afternoon traffic getting left well behind.
‘Exploring’ is much of the attraction of this ‘all roads’ machine. You can pick an unknown road or route and not worry about encountering shingle or unfinished surfaces. The dual purpose Dunlop tyres handled unmade roads and hard packed beach sand well enough, considering how well they performed on the tarmac. Harder core adventure riders would prefer a more aggressive tread, but occasional dirt punters like me will find them quite satisfactory.
The upright riding position, off-road style handlebars, copious legroom and the effective screen and hand-guards make the Ulysses a pleasure on the open road. Add to this a sweet, free revving, ‘torquey’, 100hp Sportster engine, dropped into a chassis similar to what many consider the best cornering motorcycle available and it makes for an exciting package indeed.
Although rated at 100 ponies (modest by 2006 sports bike standards), the v-twin’s torque and the speed the chassis can comfortably carry into the corners makes it a very quick and potent machine.
The wide bars, well shaped, wide, comfortable seat and the excellent foot peg positioning (ideal for standing when off road too) mean that it’s also very easy to get some weight ‘off board’ and move around on the bike. This further enhances its brilliant cornering capability.
Back from Waiuku and the co-pilot was invited to give her thoughts on the pillion arrangements as we cruised the freeway and foreshore in the evening light. ‘Big, roomy and comfortable’ was her glowing assessment.
The back carrier arrangement also met with approval. It folds down to give a cargo platform over the passenger seat when solo, or it can flip up 90 degrees to give a flexible passenger back rest, or it can rotate through 180 degrees and become a lightweight carry rack. Quite ingenious.
As are many of the other design innovations on the XB12X. The dry sump engine stores its oil in the swingarm, the fuel is housed inside the frame and the muffler is slung low under the engine – all to keep the weight of the bike and its centre of gravity as low down as possible.
I was quite fizzing by the time I returned it for the big open day. I then successfully begged and pleaded to do the rest of the ‘run in’ and take it home for the balance of the weekend.
Subsequently, Sunday had us off to Tauranga for lunch.
Motoring down the freeway, the ‘shakes, rattles and rolls’ that the Air/oil/fan cooled, four stroke, 1203cc 45º V-Twin produces at 2,500rpm, disappear. It transforms into a sweet sounding, smooth, honey of an engine. Peak power is achieved relatively close to the 7,000rpm redline and torque (81 ft-lbs / 110 Nm) at 6000rpm.
The motor ‘feels’ strong and torque is delivered in an even curve, it pulls strongly from stationary and is real fun to launch from standstill. A tap of the clutch on takeoff sends the front wheel as impressively skyward as does grabbing a handful of the triple piston radial front brake to produce stoppies with remarkable ease.
We copped some heavy rain through the Kopu-Hikoi Gorge and on to Whangamatta. The Dunlop D616F 120/70 ZR-17 Front tyre and the D616 180/55 ZR-17 rear were solid and trustworthy in the wet and the tiniest of front end movements on some shiny black was all we felt till the road dried out for my favourite stretch of twisties down the coast to Waihi.
I’ve never been through there faster. With a passenger or solo. We hooked in so hard that the co-pilot said she might have been getting motion sick. That’s the first time in 25 years. We went through like we were on the rails of a roller coaster.
‘What! On our demo you are running in!’ The AMPS boys chided when I told them – but I reassured them I didn’t thrash or strain or load the motor to do it. It just torques its way through and we sat comfortably in the mid rev range as I varied its speed (As you wanted me to do – eh Patrick!)
Down the boring stretch from Katikati to destination Py’s Pa and sitting back on the-Highway2-mad-if-you-don’t speed limit we were again impressed by the smoothness and the roll away the distance touring capability. Wonderfully comfortable for two.
A quick ‘off road’ excursion followed after lunch, just to see how we handled the shingle.
The Ulysses isn’t trying to be a grand adventure ride-it-up-the-slopes-of-Mt Cook-bike. The underslung muffler placed where hard core adventure machines have a bash plate and its expensive alloy wheels define the Ulysses as more of an ‘all roads machine’. The dual-purpose nature of the tyres also restricts hard out adventuring - but they are ideal for keeping on going when the tarmac on a good sports road stops and the adventure turns to dirt.
Another adrenaline session through the Karangahake Gorge, a fang through the Hunuas and back to Brian’s shed for a wash and a review and a tinker and the bike was ready to return - fully ‘run in’.
Co-pilot and I had a brief ‘deep and meaningful’ discussion that night.
‘How did you enjoy the Buell’ I broached.
‘I thought that was the most fun I’ve had in ages.’ (She actually did say ‘Can we get one of these’ – after we had travelled about the first 500 meters on it.)
‘Hmm’ I muttered. ‘So we’ve just done 1,000 k’s on a bike that is really comfortable, handles brilliantly, can broaden our riding horizons by easily handling dirt road touring, has a sweet spot that makes me grin from ear to ear, looks a million bucks and we’ve both fallen in love with it.’
We call it the 'puppy dog' close. Take it home and it never comes back to the shop. I only went in to deliver a bike.
'When can I have a Black one?'
'Well, someone just cancelled their order...'.
Arrives on the 25th.
Now we’re just trying to decide on the luggage or not.
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