New to me Ulysses and new to the Forum

[RevrdMark]

Hi thought I'd introduce myself. My name is Mark, and I live in Spokane , WA. I have been a sport bike rider all my riding career, but decided that i wanted to explore some of the dirt roads i always rode by. I picked up a new-to-me 06 Ulysses last month and have really enjoyed it so far.

It came with the Hepco & Becker hard luggage which was a little over kill for me and the occasional one or two night trips i take, so I went to the local Army Surplus Store and got a couple Ammo Boxes on sale for $15 each. I got some angle iron, u-bolts, bolts and spacers and made a set of luggage that was a little smaller and more useful for me.

Here is the Uly as i brought it home.

Cut 4 pieces of angle iron to fit the bracket already on the bike

Painted them black and bolted them on with a few nylon spacers and bolts

Attached the boxes with 4 holes, some big ol' fender washers and wing nuts (for speedy removal)

Originally I was going to paint them flat black but i kinda like the olive drab and spray paint look of the original boxes. It has a certain "bad assery" that i like

The next projects are modifying an old universal windscreen to bolt on, and waiting for the new fork seals to come to replace the leaking ones.

 

[rchuff]

Sorry to say but you should of left the original bags on it. Looked much cleaner and nicer with original. just my 2 cents

 

[user_deleted]

hmmmm........uhhhhhh.......

 

[buell248]

Take it easy you guys.... He's new!

 

[rchuff]

New or old, if you post pics you better be ready for people to tell you like it is. I'm one to tell you if it looks good or bad no bull sh-t. Nice pic John! :up:

 

[Chicknstripn]

As long as the owner of the bike is happy with it the rest is all opinions.
And you know what they say about opinions!

 

[UMDterp13]

Welcome to Buell land. There are a lot of knowledgeable people here who can guide you if needed. Looks like you are going to be a great addition as you already modded stuff without asking what others would do to YOUR Buell!

Awesome! please do research on little things if you are thinking about asking stuff. There's a lot of info here & on badweatherbikers.com also

& there's plenty of used parts out there along with some dealers who still service them, I think there's a few near you! So never worry about that

 

[neilrl79]

Welcome. A good way to search for answers to questions you may have is to go to Google and in the search field type: "Site:BuellXB.com" followed by your question or topic. That process seems to be more accurate then the built in forum search.

 

[submax]

Welcome Mark! Good to see another PNW rider joining the Bueller ranks! :up: I live outside of Portland, OR and I know there are several other folks both here and on BadWeb from OR and WA.

 

[ToneTheMoan]

Well mate i really like it! and i like the way you mounted the boxes on, you would fit right in as a London despatch rider as those boxes would take a few wing mirrors off cars! lol Just make sure those wing nuts stay tight and dont vibrate off you dont want to drop one of those boxes in the road thats for sure! Nice bike welcome to the madness!! :eagerness:

 

[BuellyBagger]

Just make sure those wing nuts stay tight and dont vibrate off you dont want to drop one of those boxes in the road thats for sure!

That a good point tone!! maybe you should think about "pinning" them on, would make it even quicker to remove. I've always like how quick my stock outdoorsman cases come off. can take em off and haul them in to the tent to unpack and then stick em back on the bike. The ammo cans will look cool if you continue with the militarian/apocalypsey theme on the rest of the bike other wise they doooo look a bit goofy . WELCOME!!

 

[BuellyBagger]

oh and how many miles on yours??? hope my fork seals aren't soon to be leaking!!! tired of working on mine LOL

 

[RevrdMark]

I still have the original luggage for longer trips and the new boxes are just a bolt on. I did add some lock washers to the wing nuts after one of them vibrated loose. I love the boxes and love the look, much better than the Samsonite 1970's looking Hepco & Becker luggage. The bike has 32K Mostly highway miles so I think the fork seals put up a good fight. I've done suspension work on sport bikes that were pretty complicated with varying levels of success, but the suspension on the Uly was pretty simple and took about 30 minutes each fork to do the seals. The next thing I'm looking into is tires. The bike has a mixed match set of street tires on it at the moment. The 180/55 seems like a difficult size to find dual sport tires in. I like the Shinko 805's and have seen threads that they are coming out in larger sizes but have yet to see them for sale in the wild yet. At the risk of the usual flames and hijinx tire and oil threads generate ...What tires are you all running on your Uly?

 

[RevrdMark]

Welcome Mark! Good to see another PNW rider joining the Bueller ranks! :up: I live outside of Portland, OR and I know there are several other folks both here and on BadWeb from OR and WA.

I lived in Vancouver WA for 13 years and loved it. I think I have every turn of the Cougar-Carson loop memorized. I miss the area but I must admit I like the break from the winter rainy season!

 

[BuellyBagger]

Im running stock size pirelli angel st,s.

 

[RevrdMark]

Im running stock size pirelli angel st,s.

At least 75% of the riding on this Uly will be street, but i got it specifically to explore off pavement roads. I'm not planning on any MotoX riding or single track trails (especially with a 400 pound bike) but i would like to be able to hit fire roads and get off the beaten path. That being said Mud is an issue. I have friends that have used street tires and say that the tread on street tires easily clogs with mud and they effectively become "slicks". I think my challenge will be finding something that has deep enough tread to move mud, but not so knobby it knocks my fillings loose on the highway getting there, and in the 180/55 17 size rear. Hmmmm Any of you mounted the 170 or smaller size tire on your rim with out any adverse effects?

 

[RaisinCain]

They make these to fit the Uly:

http://www.continental-tires.com/motorcycle/tires/motorcycle-tires/off-road-enduro/tkc-80

I have these on my Uly since I don't ride in mud if I can help it:

http://www.continental-tires.com/motorcycle/tires/motorcycle-tires/off-road-enduro/contitrailattack2

 

[RevrdMark]

Made my first long-ish ride on the Uly to Seattle and back.

I ended up riding in some rain and fog (in Seattle... who knew!! lol) anyway the two little headlights don't put out a lot of light so i have ordered some running/fog lights to mount up as well. I had a couple questions for any of you who have done similar things.
1) I'm toying with the idea of putting dual bulbs in the existing headlights so that its both lights on for low and both for High. Have any of you done this? its seems like a pretty easy wiring mod. My concern is heat in the enclosed lenses.
2) i was looking through the PO's reciepts and it looks like the R/R and Stator has been replaced. It was done at a Harley dealer so i assume it was replaced with stock. I have replaced a R/R on my speed triple with the three stage one and this seem like a much easier process on the Uly. I will probably do it sooner rather than later so i dont get stranded somewhere. Is there anything i should know before i get into it?
3) Finally with the added power draw to the running lights and i possible stock head light upgrade and having a GPS or cell phone charger or what ever i add, does the stock power system keep up, or should i look at maybe a more powerful battery?

Thanks for any info

 

[Chuckski]

Welcome Mark! I'm less than a year into my Buell experience. We are almost neighbors. I'm in Wenatchee! Nice work on the ammo mods. I think it looks cool.

 

[lowkey]

At least 75% of the riding on this Uly will be street, but i got it specifically to explore off pavement roads.

You are going to wan't these then... wen't through 2 versions and 3 sets, they served me well in the conditions you are planning to use them. Best is they come in the right size front/rear.

https://www.pirelli.com/tires/en-us/motorcycle/all-tires/sheet/scorpion-trail