| Author | Message | ||
     Fool4buell |
I'm just back from DualSport Northwest in the Columbia Gorge (Washington). http://www.soundrider.com/dsport/rally/ There were about 75 dualsports including two Uly's. I was really impressed with the Uly while riding the Poker Run on Tuesday. We had about 60 miles of forest service dirt roads -- much of it washboard. I reduced the tire pressure to 28lbs front and back and had little trouble. At least no trouble I can attribute to the bike -- I still have a tough time taking corners in the gravel at any sort of speed no matter what I'm riding. I expected to be passed by the KLR650's and BMW GS bikes but never even saw them in my rear view. My buddy and I always let at least a 8-12 bikes leave in front of us from the checkpoints but we'd never see them again AND made every check point first. The other bikes must have been site seeing (or lost). The other Ulysses left before the Poker run so I didn't have much chance to talk to him. There was also at least one Ulysses and several other Buell's at SportBike Northwest held the 4 days prior to the dualsport event. I assisted on their Poker Run and was able to do a couple runs on the Maryhill Loops road which is normally closed to the public. It was the first paved road in the Northwest and is now a museum. http://www.maryhillmuseum.org/loops.htm WHAT A ROAD!! Bikes were spaced out every 30 seconds and no cars or trucks to dodge. Great weekend! Registration was about $79 but I came back with over $300 worth of door prizes including a free Avon rear tire. I might put that on my maxi-scooter 'cause I'd like to put Pirelli Syncs on the Ulysses. (Message edited by Fool4Buell on August 30, 2006) | ||
| Sanchez |
That sounds like a blast. Are there any similar events coming up this year? I haven't really had much of a chance to get my Uly off of the pavement. | ||
| Debueller |
Fool, Now is your chance to talk to one of the other Uly owners. I think you were the one with all the Tourtech stuff on your bike. I was the one with the Drummer and we talked briefly at the top of the Maryhill loop road. I had an awesome time. I seen a CityX that had alot of Uly parts on it. There was also another Uly with him. Seen the wrecked Beemer up on road 90 near Mt. St. Helens the next day. Also seen the wrecked Beemer at the bottom of the hill. (what was up with the Beemer riders??) Did some dirt on the Mt. hood loop, what fun! I could go on and on. It was a great weekend. | ||
| Fool4buell |
Yep. I volunteered to play traffic cop at the top of Maryhill. I didn't see any wrecks but I heard a Yamaha crashed shortly before I got there. There was a CityX with a Uly fender and orange translucent body work. The guy really wanted a Ulysses but it was too tall for him. WWW.soundrider.com has a good list of motorcycle events in the Puget Sound area. He is the one that organizes the Sportbike/Dualsport Northwest rallys. He has one more dualsport ride scheduled for September. I had ordered the Touratech bags last January and they are finally starting to come in. I got mine two weeks ago. I didn't like the Hepco-Becker clamshell design. Everything drops into the Touratech bags and it's easy to get the top lid on. | ||
| Debueller |
I would really recommend the rallys put on by Tom Mehren and Sound Rider. Unlike most rallys that are geared toward the cruiser crowd, his rallys encourage actual riding and not so much hanging around worshiping each others "chrome shrines". Add camping in the fairgrounds, the beer garden with great Walking Man microbrews ($3 a cup, awesome!!), breakfast and dinner, poker run, Maryhill loops road, raffle, and great Columbia gorge riding opportunities and you can't help but to have a great time. I did the Troolhaugen dualsport ride earlier this summer and it was also a great time. He puts on events for sport bikes, dual sport bikes, sport touring and even maxi scooters. We need more of these and no more "cruiser events". I've been to plenty of rallys and always have more fun at the events that encourage putting your kickstand (or jiffy stand) in the up position. |
