Howdy all! I'm a lunatic. Easier just to get that out of the way off the bat. Some years ago I decided that I was at a point in my life that I'd own every bike I ever wanted (not all at once.) In the past few years I've gone through most of the list, most recently being VFR800/DL1000/GSX600/KLE650/VFR700/FJ1200. I picked up a Buell Blast a year or so ago as a spare/loaner bike for small money, and had to admit that for all the grief they get it's actually a pretty cool little bike. Earlier this summer my son (17) and I took the Blast (him) and the FJ12 (me) on a 4-day, thousand mile, back of the dragon trip. Lots of fun. Once I had enjoyed the FJ enough it was time for it to go to make room for the next bike. Let me digress here, the KLE650 was bought as a counterpoint to a DL650/DL1000 I had previously, and the Versys immediately became my favorite bike, racking up over 20K miles in a few years. This made it my go-to, and the bucket list bike was second to that. The Versys was the perfect bike for me, being literally a redneck ninja 650 with a lift kit and mud tires. Loads of fun, good for day trips, with the soft bags and hard trunk it made an awesome tourer, single and two up. Took it to the dragon a few years ago, on TKC80s. Loads of fun, figured that would be my forever bike.
Anyway, moving back to the recent past, the FJ had to go and off it went to it's new owner. Another digression, I don't flip bikes. Flipping implies that profit is the motive. I certainly don't want to lose money, but I don't do it for profit. Any bike I buy is mine and is treated as such. I'm a mechanic, and I buy bikes that need love, give them that love, then move on to the next. Cheaper than girlfriends (so says my wife) keeps me out of trouble, and lets me spend time working with my hands in my shop. Win/win. I look at it like I'm a rescue group for wayward bikes, that finds them, brings them back to health and releases them back into the wild.
So, digressions aside probably. This time the list of bikes to replace the FJ were, in no particular order, a KTM Duke390, a sportster, a GS100 P/D, or the Uly. I just missed out on a deal on a 390, and the only GS I could find wasn't the P/D model. Lots of sportsters available, and the blast had shown me how much fun a bike that was designed with performance not even vaguely in the requirements could be. I started looking for sportsters, with the thought of turning it into a dual sportster thereby offending both harley guys and dualsport guys. When suddenly a wild Uly appears! Actually, two. One was a 2006 with no addons, shredded this and roadrashed that for $3500. Another (2008) with everything I wanted for $4500. Way out of my spending budget. Talked to the first guy, almost closed the deal, when I saw the 2008 on ebay for $4K with no reserve. I was the only bidder, and the day after christmas I took a three hour per way drive to pick it up. 2008, 8K miles, new tires (bridgestone sport touring) stock plus Corbin seat, big beefy aluminum footpegs, touratech big kickstand foot, heated grips, stock plus huge aftermarket windscreen with madstad bracket, all three buell hard bags with mounts, race ECM plus stock, HID low plus LED high beam headlight, FSM, FPM, buell tank bag, stock black plastics plus a white with raised blue lettering airbox cover. Honestly I have no idea how I managed to luck out so much. On the bad side, if you want to call it that, it's clearly been down at least once as the frame puck on the throttle side was new and there were some minor grind marks in that side passenger peg. Sanded them out and sandblasted the part, looks as new.
Long story less long, there was almost nothing wrong with the bike. Normally I spend the first week un****ing what the previous owners did, usually wiring. This time I had to reset the TPS, and the PO had modified the high-beam flasher to operate his garage door opener. Took that out and that's all I've done to the bike. A very first for me.
Immediate plans for the bike are to sell the white airbox cover and pick up a translucent one, preferably red. It has aftermarket handlebars, gold colored, which are lower than stock. Looking for a set of stock bars to put back on, as well as some stock handguards. Other than that I'm just going to put miles on it.
For me the big indication of how much I like this bike came the other day when I pushed the Versys to the back of the barn, and parked the Uly in it's place. Holy crap, I think the Versys just got replaced! I'll make the final decision later once I've put more miles on the Uly, but for now it seems like I have to decide whether to sell the Versys and keep working down the list, or give it to my eldest son who loves it.
Anyway, wanted to say Hi, introduce myself and say thanks for all the info and help you all have unwittingly given me as I've been going through the archives learning everything I can about the bike.
whodat
Anyway, moving back to the recent past, the FJ had to go and off it went to it's new owner. Another digression, I don't flip bikes. Flipping implies that profit is the motive. I certainly don't want to lose money, but I don't do it for profit. Any bike I buy is mine and is treated as such. I'm a mechanic, and I buy bikes that need love, give them that love, then move on to the next. Cheaper than girlfriends (so says my wife) keeps me out of trouble, and lets me spend time working with my hands in my shop. Win/win. I look at it like I'm a rescue group for wayward bikes, that finds them, brings them back to health and releases them back into the wild.
So, digressions aside probably. This time the list of bikes to replace the FJ were, in no particular order, a KTM Duke390, a sportster, a GS100 P/D, or the Uly. I just missed out on a deal on a 390, and the only GS I could find wasn't the P/D model. Lots of sportsters available, and the blast had shown me how much fun a bike that was designed with performance not even vaguely in the requirements could be. I started looking for sportsters, with the thought of turning it into a dual sportster thereby offending both harley guys and dualsport guys. When suddenly a wild Uly appears! Actually, two. One was a 2006 with no addons, shredded this and roadrashed that for $3500. Another (2008) with everything I wanted for $4500. Way out of my spending budget. Talked to the first guy, almost closed the deal, when I saw the 2008 on ebay for $4K with no reserve. I was the only bidder, and the day after christmas I took a three hour per way drive to pick it up. 2008, 8K miles, new tires (bridgestone sport touring) stock plus Corbin seat, big beefy aluminum footpegs, touratech big kickstand foot, heated grips, stock plus huge aftermarket windscreen with madstad bracket, all three buell hard bags with mounts, race ECM plus stock, HID low plus LED high beam headlight, FSM, FPM, buell tank bag, stock black plastics plus a white with raised blue lettering airbox cover. Honestly I have no idea how I managed to luck out so much. On the bad side, if you want to call it that, it's clearly been down at least once as the frame puck on the throttle side was new and there were some minor grind marks in that side passenger peg. Sanded them out and sandblasted the part, looks as new.
Long story less long, there was almost nothing wrong with the bike. Normally I spend the first week un****ing what the previous owners did, usually wiring. This time I had to reset the TPS, and the PO had modified the high-beam flasher to operate his garage door opener. Took that out and that's all I've done to the bike. A very first for me.
Immediate plans for the bike are to sell the white airbox cover and pick up a translucent one, preferably red. It has aftermarket handlebars, gold colored, which are lower than stock. Looking for a set of stock bars to put back on, as well as some stock handguards. Other than that I'm just going to put miles on it.
For me the big indication of how much I like this bike came the other day when I pushed the Versys to the back of the barn, and parked the Uly in it's place. Holy crap, I think the Versys just got replaced! I'll make the final decision later once I've put more miles on the Uly, but for now it seems like I have to decide whether to sell the Versys and keep working down the list, or give it to my eldest son who loves it.
Anyway, wanted to say Hi, introduce myself and say thanks for all the info and help you all have unwittingly given me as I've been going through the archives learning everything I can about the bike.
whodat
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