| Author | Message | ||
     Missin44 |
Demoed a Uly yesterday. It's tall, I'm 6' and on my toes, and it had the low seat. But I knew that. 2 things really bug me. 1. Wobble at highway speeds, maybe it's the tires, maybe the suspension needs tuned. I don't know, but would never buy one until it could be eliminated. 2. The rear braked my be the worst rear brake I have used in the past 20 years. Are there aftermarket mods to make it better? Otherwise a sweet ride, just a ton of fun. | ||
| Adrian_8 |
The wobble is the tires and I think it is related to how well balanced they are. My stock 616's did not wobble; my demo bike did, the Scorpian Syncs did wobble, and the new Michelin Pilot Roads do not wobble...The rear brake is probably working as it is intended. The rear is for holding you at a stop sign, scrubbing a little speed in corners..thats about it. | ||
| Motomickey |
My Uly doesn't wobble and the rear brake works fine. The front is fantastic !Weird, I have even ridden it over uneven, cruddy highway groves and it doesn't care. I did set the suspension up for my weight according to the manual and it feels alot better than the way it was delivered..... JMHO | ||
| Jim_sb |
After 2500 miles my rear brake started working better. I seldom use it though. Mainly when off pavement in an off camber or tricky situation and I want to really control the rear of the bike. It has enough power to lock up the rear if you try. I think there is some confusion between the "wobble" and the "swimming". Many bike & tire combos "swim" on rain grooves and the steel grate bridges. My Uly does. That doesn't bother me at all. Most bikes I've ever owned have done that to some extent or another. But I do get the "wobble" which is a noticeable and continuous back and forth waggle of the handlebars in 2 different circumstances: 1. Decel wobble - in 5th gear, hands off the bars decelerating through 45mph mine will wobble 100% of the time. Similar results in other gears at slower speeds. It appears to be related to engine rpm. My guess is the rubber donuts are "tuned" to damp the engine vibes well in the normal riding range of rpms and at such a low rpm (about 2k) some vibes get through to the bars. Easily stopped by placing your hands on the bars, no big deal at all, really just an idiosyncrasy as near as I can tell (about 4k miles on my bike now). Curiously my bike would NOT do this at all until I passed 1000 miles. I have had the steering checked at the dealership. They say it is at the tight end of the spec. 2. Tank slapper - AFAIK I am the ONLY one to experience this so far - but out in Death Valley on West Side Road I encountered a couple of stretches of sand and gravel that were very soft and say 4" deep or more. Both times I got up on the pegs dirt bike style to better control the bike and experienced a tremendous back and forth bar wobble - borderline to a tank slapper and I was nearly out of control both times. I was able to save it and I believe that due to the low handlebars (vs. peg height) standing on the pegs causes me to lean forward placing too much weight on the front tire in those conditions which exacerbates any instability. Since then I have remained seated in sand/deep gravel while off road and have only experienced more mild wobbles. Obviously the Uly's geometry is quite aggressive and the final solution to this is probably simply adding a steering damper. But this one will bite you if you are unprepared, have little or no off road skills and handle it wrong. Just my opinion of course, but I've got an eye witness. Anyway, I have done hundreds of miles "off pavement" with my Ulysses and it has been just peachy on all manner of surfaces except the 4" + deep sand/loose gravel. Regards, Jim in Santa Barbara | ||
| Galloper |
I've got 4200km on my Uly now. No wobble and the rear brake is able to make the bike slide like I used to do on my BMX bike. | ||
| Buelluk |
Mine doesn't wobble or swim - but I check my tire pressures regularly and have the suspension on the factory recommended settings, and I don't use the rear brake except at lights ,but I don't think it is much good anyway | ||
| 2old2bfast |
Just passed 3000 miles, no wobbles, will swim very slightly at higher speeds, but not enough to annoy me at all, will follow grooves in road surface willingly (again not enough to bother me at all), and rear brake takes more pressure than I am used to in order to induce lock-up on pavement, but seems perfect in dirt as more power would cause lock-up prematurely in my opinion. Just my thoughts... | ||
| Madduck |
Jim_sb, I got one of those tank slappers Saturday. They had been doing some road repair and had left about 60 feet of gravel in several spots on Highway. First two were fine but the third one was filled with a very fine powder. The Uly hit the powder and the bars went lock to lock till I hit pavement again. closest I've been to an accident in 25 years. I ran my BMW R1200 RT at that same stretch Monday and it didn't even wiggle. Tried higher and lower speeds and no problems. There is something in the ULY suspension that "really" doesn't like powder. I have had no other problems and gravel roads are fine at any speed I am willing to attempt. Running Scorpion syncs now and they do well. Highway to GPS 112 and no problme either accelerating or decelerating. Gravel goes better if I back off the rear preload about three full turns. Paul | ||
| Jim_sb |
Hi Paul, Welcome to the club!  Were you seated? I found I could stop that behavior by manhandling the bars (I normally grip very lightly but in DV when it happened the only way I could make it stop was to use all my strength to force the bars to remain stable). It worked for me twice. I really think a simple steering damper will solve the problem; that's what they're for, eh? I don't think it's the suspension (which is very good), I think it's the very aggressive front wheel geometry. Best, Jim in Santa Barbara | ||
| Chadhargis |
"The rear braked my be the worst rear brake I have used in the past 20 years" You use the rear brake?? Actually, I do use it, but not when I'm riding aggressively. Locking up the rear brake is FAR more dangerous than it not locking. I love the Uly rear brake. I feel like I could stand on it and it wouldn't lock. Keeps my big size 13's from getting me in trouble. Given that the Ulysses could easily loft the rear wheel in a hard stop, the rear brake needs to be less sensitive to avoid inadvertent lockup. I was on the track with my Ducati coming into a downhill left hander and was hard on the front brakes. The rear end was wagging like a dogs tail. If I had breathed on the rear brake I'd have been tossed head first into the gravel trap. No thanks on a powerful rear brake. My bike doesn't swim thanks to my Pirelli Diablo Stradas. D616 tires a junk. (Message edited by chadhargis on May 24, 2006) | ||
| Madduck |
Jim, The ULY lack of steering lock let me hold on, give it some throttle to unload the front and get it to skim instead of digging in. Luckily it was only a short distance to traction. I think the ULY was followin a car rut under the powder which I couldn't see. The odd thing to me is that the BMW had no problem at all with the powder trap. Maybe that tele/para lever stuff is useful?? I agree the really steep head angle is most of the difficulty in real powder. | ||
| Jim_sb |
Hi Paul, I was in 3rd gear both times moving right along. The guy I was riding with was on a GS1200 (2 up) and he had zero problems. I really think it's a geometry issue and I suspect a steering damper will help. Best, Jim in Santa Barbara | ||
| Lowflyer |
The variability in these bikes is amazing to me. My rear brake locks on demand and I have never experienced any wobble, swimming, or other uncommanded inputs of any kind. Steering lock has never been a problem for me either. | ||
| Bosh |
Variability in riders. Probably not bikes. | ||
| Bienhoabob |
I took a couple of demo rides this past week. The first one I took was from the traveling Buell demo semi. The spokesman for the demos, said that the rear brake is weak, by design. It's not a flaw of the bike. Sorry, I didn't catch his technical explanation. But I think it's what Chad commented on. The demo guy did say that if you're used to stopping with the rear brake, you will have to change your driving habits or you are not going to like the way the Uly brakes. | ||
| Missin44 |
I agree that it varies with riders, I can also assume that Buell designed the rear brake the way it is. My only problem is, when it comes to a brake, the rider should be able to dictate how much rear braking he wants. Press lightly you get a light braking, press hard you get hard braking. It's not brain surgery. For me the rear brake is a small issue, the bigger issue is the wobble. If it's a matter of dealer setup, then next time I demo, they should be able to get rid of it. | ||
| Chadhargis |
I've only ridden two Ulys, mine and the one I took a demo on. Neither of them had a wobble. That being said, the front end felt like it was swimming a bit, but nothing that felt unstable. I've had tires that cupped, or followed rain groves that felt exactly the same way, so I attributed it to the tires (I have never liked Dunlop tires). I'm not saying the wobble doesn't exist, but I'm willing to bet there are bigger differences in the riders than there are in the bikes. | ||
| Lowflyer |
We've been beating this wobble horse for months now. I don't think anyone has narrowed it down to any one thing. I do know that my bike is the smoothest.   (Message edited by lowflyer on May 25, 2006) | ||
| Lorazepam |
Yeah lowflyer, they are real smooth sitting in the garage.  | ||
| Thunderbox |
I really think the problem is not in the front of the bike. I think it is related to the rear. I'll tell you why I think this. I changed my rear tire only and the, I call it a squirm, was gone right now. I noticed with the other tire it only started to squirm once I had about 2000kms on the bike. New rear tire only I did not change the front. I think it also has something to do with angle of the swing arm. When I had 2 up it never occurred. The bike is squated down with 2 on and the angle of the swing arm is different. I would suggest not over tightening the rear shock preload. This will increase the angle of the swing arm and may cause an increase in the squirm effect. You should also ensure the front fork preload is at the maximum for your weight this will also decease the angle of the rear swing arm. As far as a wobble is concerned I would not describe the effect on my bike as a wobble, not even close. I think we have hashed the front bearing issue to death. They say a sign of mental illness is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. I think we need to look at the bike from the other end for a while. | ||
| Fubar |
There could be some truth to this. Pre-2003 Harley baggers had a tendency to get wobbly due to chassis/swingarm flex. I personally experienced semi-tragic occurrences 3 times on my '98 RK. Was always able to recover, but did have to stop to remove the impacted seat from my butt. The MoCo addressed this with a beefier swingarm in '03 and it was a night-and-day difference. I'm not saying that there is a chassis stiffness issue with the Uly, only that the wobble could be caused by something in the back - like tires/suspension. fubar | ||
| Lowflyer |
"Yeah lowflyer, they are real smooth sitting in the garage." Are they? Mine's black so I wouldn't know about hiding it in the garage. Besides, I have ridden mine almost everyday since I bought it back in Sept. I'm no Iron Butt wannabe, but I have 6500 smoothassmiles on #650.  | ||
| Lorazepam |
Sure wish I could ride everyday. But I do have 3600 miles on since the end of february. I cant get enough of this bike. Gonna have to do the bike night at Quaker steak down there and say hey. |
