Long Term Uly Ownership Information

[BnKnWA]

I'd like to ask current Ulysses owners to send in their ownership experiences to this blog. I am not a Buell owner but I am shopping and the Ulysses seems like it may be a good fit for what I'm looking for. I am looking for a good general purpose bike that could also do forest roads and easy trails to campsites as well as the Alaska Highway to see my kids in Alaska. So far I've looked at BMWs, older R100RT and GSs, R1100GSs, Guzzis in similar setups, Suzuki 650/1000 V-Stroms.
What I would like to see is more owners that have 30-50K on their bikes and what their experiences have been over the long haul. There seems to be a lot about problems and most of the postings I've seen are less than 10K miles. Obvioulsy other bikes have been around longer or there are more of them so there is plenty of long term ownership information available on them. I'd like to give Buy American a chance, currently HD doesn't offer anything that is of interest and the XB12X, maybe XT seems to be in the ball park. Bike height isn't a problem and at the 425lb advertised weight is a plus compared to all the others and I can handle basic maintenance -- I've rebuilt several car engines from the 1930-1980's model years.

Thanks in advance, I hope it will become an interesting read.

 

[sprinklerdude]

my 06 has a bit over 20k and the only problems i've had is wheel bearings and they just went out on the 9th of oct. and fork seals seep but a feeler gauge fixes that they have only leaked twice in 20k and i ride my bike in the rain snow and dirt. The bike does not like jumping and wheelies are easy i ride the hell out of my bike and i love it. I live in new mexico so i'm at 5000 ft and i ride in high elevations up to 12,000 ft with me and my wife and I'm 225 and she is about 170 and we keep up with the bmws and yamaha fjs through the hills. If you do buy a uly don't think the harly stealership will help you with any service just buy a manual and do it your self ist cheaper and a lot less headaches.

 

[Petrus]

I have an 06 uly with little over 40k on the dial.I use it for general day to day driving, weekends away and holiday. Took a while to get used to it but now I would'nt like to mis it anymore.
The problems i have encounterd the last couple of years:
Mass wire connection for the lights on the lower Triple tree broke at 40.532k
Stator change out at 39k
Weelbearing front at 32k
Weelbearing rear at 35k
Change out of front brake rotor at 23k.
Right blinker did not work anymore, started to give problems at 24k. turned out to be the connection were it splits from 1 wire to 3 wires, easy fix though.
In general it runs fine with the occasional hick up when cold.
Mods:

Race ecm, race exhaust with 1/2 wrapping on the headers, mainly to get rid of the heat on the leg.
Right side scoop, fan is not running that much anymore.
corbin saddle.
Free spirits Belt tensioner.

Ordered the following: new background for de speed/rev dial.
Need to order the heatshield from special opps.
New front wave brake rotor.
Mods to do: crankcase reroute and opening up the inner airbox.

grtz

 

[cb750]

Picture thread on advrider
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=120486

 

[88b]

Only got about 5000 miles on my bike in a year, only real problem I've had is a battery and earth ( ground ) problems. new battery under warrenty and I fixed the ground myself, next time it's apart I think I'll run a wire from the battery to the motor and cut out all the bolt together alloy between them.