| Author | Message | ||
     Mattmcc00 |
Hi all, As promised here is my write up about my BMW offroad training class I took Saturday. Before going on about the class, let me mention this important point: Anybody who tells you that the Uly is not a competent off-roader has too be asked this question: "Compared to what?" because if he says a GS you can slap them 'cause they don't know what they are talking about!! My Uly & I dominated the BMW class. we were lighter, faster, and considerably more manouverable in all excercises and rides (and keep in mind that I am 6'3" 220lbs). The only area where the Uly had trouble was in emergency braking because the brake pedal is too low (see below for full write up). Woke up at 0600 to get ready for to meet up with the class at a Second cup (Canadian starbucks) near the training cource. Class started at 0700. Here is a pic of us at the Second cup parking lot before heading out to the off road cource. Notice the lovely weather we had. It had been raining all night and it continued to rain until about 1500. The cource track had areas of gravel, mud, grass, a swamp, and a light forested area. With several hills, ditches, holes, mounds and the like.  Here is a pic of us arriving at the cource track.  This is where it became apparent that I was the only without a BMW... in fact I was the only one without a GS! I certainly felt intimidated beside those 9 GS and GSA with thier knobbie tires. Other than myself thier was one other guy who didn't have any knobbies on his GS. We then were instructed to remove all side cases and mirrors off our bikes. Before starting the instructor, Ray, took us on a little tour of the training area. The guy without the knobbies on his GS fell immediately. Ray then stated the golden rule "never let someone pick-up his bike alone". He then shouwed us how to pick up these behemouths. We then finished the little tour of the area and when we got back I went down. I was so fixed upon studying the ground where I was driving that I drove the bike TO the ground. Ray then told us about when you are off-road, as with on-road you must not look at the ground, 'cause that's where you will go. Anyhow, having my first fall under my belt (1st in 16years of riding) and seeing how non catastrophic it was I felt better, and that's when my apprehensive scardicat riding began to change into one of the best riders in the class. I did have some damage on that fall though. I broke the end of my clutch cable. Notice the missing ball at the end of the lever.  We started out with more instructions about picking up your bike, solo, 2 people, right side, left side, how to turn and manouver your bike while it is resting on its side, etc. good stuff to know. THen basic off-road adjustments and instructions. Not the least of which was that ass soon as you enter any-offroad situation you need to stop and turn off youy ABS, and traction control, because these things will get you killed off-road. Which ray demonstrated how the bike will never stop, Full on braking on the GS and the computer just keeps the wheels turning. NExt was always ride standing up, and so the levers and pedals need to be adjusted to be able to comfortly use them. anyhow enough of this boring stuff i'm sure you'd rather here abnout the bike's performance. The Uly performed above all expectations! at the begining of the class thier were jokes flying around about the Uly and how I brought the wrong bike etc.... but by the midle of the class no more jokes, and by the end you could feel the interest in the Uly and the jokes turned onto their  25k GS.  Examples: Lock turns, in this excercise we were to drive in cricles as small as we could locking the steering against the steering lock. In this exercise we dominated the GS. I was able to perform turns locked right upto the steering and using the clutch, throttle, and rear brake to maintain balance that were MUCH smaller than what even the instructor could do on his GS. During this excersice everyone dropped thier GS. Uly never whent down.  Other excercise was driving upto a T intersection in the gravel and having to make a locked steering u-turn and return the sam way you came. Again the Uly dominated with the short wheelbase and lower center of gravity I was able to do this excercise no sweat, whereas the GS were basically unable to complete this exercise save for 2 guys that were already heavily experienced (labrador, alaska, inuvik) but even then they as well as the others, had thier GS go down. Uly stayed up the whole time. Next excercise had us driving while jumping around on the bike, Uly stayed true, the GS had more falls. In the after noon we started to incorporate much of what we had worked on. We did the u-turn excersise as we did in the morning only this time going up and down into a ditch. Down into a ditch real slow and control to make a SHARP! locked steering turn to then drive back up out of the ditch, then sharp turn and back down into it, then back out... etc... This was really a tough exercise but the ULY again outpergormed the GS. I was worried that with Metzeler road tires I was not going to be able to drive back out of the slippery mud ditch given that lack of room to get a rolling start. Basically had to start giving it gas befor the steering lock turn was completed to start going back up. Anoth example was when we drove right into another narrower ditch and drove down along in it. The uly had enough room to manouver and maintan control, but the GS didn't. one of the guys even ripped off his cylinder head cover, basically the boxer engine sticks out too far on each side and it was preventing manouverability and hit every rock and tree branch running down the trench. This continued ALLL day, the Uly out classed the GS in every excercise and in every situation, except emergency stopping. In this excersice the GS out classed the Ult because they has a little flip up spiky brake peddle pad, or whatever. The idea is that when they ride standing up offroad they can flip up this little pad ontop of the brake pedal making it easier to reach. The issue is that to maintain proper body position and be able to pull my levers I couldn't reach my rear brake. Shame my precision engineering lower pegs hadn't arrived yet because the lower pegs might just have fixed this. If not then I will have to see if I can adjust the rear brake or replace it with an adjustable one. The other situation where I was not able to continue was going up hill in the wet grass. I, as well as the other GS without knobbies were not able to go up the hill without knobbies. The rear wheel just had nothing to grip. However, having a lighter bike than the GS I was able to get up while being pushed (poor guy got covered in mud. But the GS was hopeless even with 2 guys pushing. We also have an important advantage regarding water crosings. Ray stated that you must be very mindfull about water crossings because of the placement of the air-intake, and the $3k bill associated with getting water in the air-intake. On the GS the intake in behind the front wheel near our header from the front cylinder. Whereas on the uly it is ontop of the airbox safe from the swamp water. I crossed the swamp with water over my ankles while on the bike. THAT WAS FUN!!! All and all the Uly outclassed the GS in this class in all excercises except for the emergency braking excercise, which is easily addressed, and the lack of knobbie tires, which can be addressed. But my point here is that these 2 issues are not fundamental issues based on how the motorcycle is built, compared to the GS where for them to be able to even meet (forget exceading) the performance of the ULY they would need a full motorcycle redesign. After the class, weather started clearing up.  Here is my Uly check out all that mud!  Here is a pic of one of the GS Adventure that broke the windshield, cluch lever, and header cover.  | ||
| Mattmcc00 |
Btw, by the end of this class I was power sliding around the training area having great fun, where at the start of the class I had gone down. GREAT CLASS! my off-road driving skills have improved in those 10 hours of riding more than I could have ever expected! I STRONGLY recommend it, plus it was priceless to wipe that smug look on the BMW riders face.!!!! | ||
| Tocino |
Congrats on doing so well in the class. (and awesome use of smileys!  ) That steering-lock U turn things sounds useful - I suck at u turns. | ||
| Paralegalpete |
That's a fantastic write up. Sounds like you had a lot of fun and that it would be something I could benefit from. It would be great if you would post this in the ADV forum, of course there's lots of BMW guys over there and it would be interesting to hear their take | ||
| Mideon |
Doesn't every GS some with a case of SMUG as a standard option? | ||
| Rcf2 |
Matt, thanks a lot for sharing and bringing this terrific input! | ||
| Rotorhead |
It's good to see that I'm not the only one that has found the ULY to be decent off the tarmac. I found the bike to be just as nimble as you have demonstrated. You just got a chance to stack it up and compare it real time. I have an 06 but have not done a steering mod but I now see that that will be next years mod. The foot pegs were an issue but I thought it was just me, so it is good to know and adjust them for the next long stand up ride. Now you see the only reason for the knobs I mounted is for worst case conditions of traction. Always good to be prepared for the worst when you know the roads can go to complete crap quick. You have found the ULY's limits, your limits and know where to improve them for you TLH ride. Thanks for the writeup! | ||
| Nevrenuf |
great writeup and rockon erik again. looks like he took a really good look at those bikes that he had up in the shop when he put the uly together. i think there was a bmw, ktm and something else i think, didn't they. | ||
| Court |
You're my hero ! Very cool. | ||
| Volume_eight |
Matt, this was a great read! Thanks for taking the time out to write this up. I had no doubt that the Uly could outperform the Beemers. Thanks for proving it! btw- any word on routing/mapping software that recognizes the road between Cartwright and Goose Bay? Im looking for it myself, will keep you updated! | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Great story, great read, great success. If you'd have showed up with trials tires or knobs you'd have most of those BMW guys looking to buy a used ULY. | ||
| Mattmcc00 |
Here are some more bike pics, and one with the instructor and I.   | ||
| Tootal |
Atta boy! I love it. I would take the Uly any day over the GS. I was completely amazed at where the Uly would go. A lot further than I expected but once you stand up it really felt like an old dirt bike. Way to show them up. Well done!  | ||
| Mattmcc00 |
I forwarded the link to this thread to Erik Buell Racing and within a few minutes I got this responce from Erik himself!!! Many thanks for sharing this with us. We did so much testing with the Uly against GS and other bikes off road as well as on, and knew how good it was. It was devastating to read magazine after magazine talk about how the Uly couldn't go off road with the "real" adventure touring bikes. Not that the GS isn't quite good, but so was the Uly. Oh well, we don't make them anymore, but the people who own them actually know how good they are! And that's what counts. Glad the people who bought them are having so much fun! That class sounds fantastic, by the way. Erik Buell Erik Buell Racing LLC www.erikbuellracing.com Facebook: Erik Buell Racing AWESOME! | ||
| Eulysses |
Thanks Matt. You experienced what I only imagined was true so much appreciated. I had my first ride last night on my XB9 gear reduction and it really feels like a dual sport now. Just let the clutch out and it goes...no slipping the clutch. Thanks again. | ||
| Bzrider |
the problem with the rear brake is corrected with pers.engineering drop pegs these are a life saver hey make the brake level while standing the uly is a great  | ||
| Florida_lime |
Good job ! The most important part of off-road riding is the person riding the bike !  | ||
| Mattmcc00 |
My Precision engineering pegs just arrived today. I was hoping that they would be in for my class on Saturday. They were 1 business day late. | ||
| Buellerxt |
Thanks for taking the time to write your experience up and post it Matt. Much appreciated and CONGRATULATIONS! You Da' Man! Erik is right, " the people who own them actually know how good they are! And that's what counts. Glad the people who bought them are having so much fun"! A great bike, the best I've owed, and a great Uly family. We're lucky folks! | ||
| Orangeulius |
Awesome write up. I've done one small river crossing with my Uly and very limited off road. I'll feel a little more capable thanks to the info shared here. Thanks for posting! | ||
| Eulysses |
Makes me want to get some knobbies and head out...rooster man! | ||
| Swimmonkey |
Wow Matt! You really made my day by writing this. Not only did I enjoy reading about your experience, you confirmed what I have been realizing every time I have ride with my GS buddies. I always dust them and I also run street tires. My neighbor is a national enduro racer and he can't keep up with me when he's on his 1200GS. It really pisses him off!  Ironically, I test rode an F800GS this past Saturday. I was pretty impressed with several things such as the transmission and I kind of liked the hight of the bars. The funny thing was that when I hopped back on my Ully to ride home, I again realized just how fine the bike I own really is. No trade in my future - that is for sure. Thanks again for such a thorough report! | ||
| Bzrider |
DEFINIATELY TRY THE 2.5 RISORS YOU CAN STAND ERECT AND REALLY RIDE MORE CONTROLLED AND COMFORATABLE | ||
| Eulysses |
Bzrider...you have 2.5's? How did you deal with the cables. My Rox's are the max for me. | ||
| Bzrider |
the cable worked perfect the brake line is tight until u relocate the clamp behind the fly screenheres a pic hard to see  | ||
| Mnrider |
Thanks for the great write up Matt. It's good that it was wet,you probably learned more. You made us proud to be Uly owners. I looked at a GS and Aprilia Cappy before I bought my Uly.I bought the right bike! (Message edited by mnrider on May 11, 2010) | ||
| Wbrisett |
one of the guys even ripped off his cylinder head cover, basically the boxer engine sticks out too far on each side and it was preventing manouverability and hit every rock and tree branch running down the trench. First, Congratulations. Looks like a great course. Second, owning a boxer, I can tell you first hand, that the first thing that 99% of the RT/GS/R folks buy are cylinder head protectors. That being said, because they get beat up so much, the one inexpensive thing on a BMW is the cylinder head covers. Everything else cost you some bucks, but the covers are cheap. Go figure.  | ||
| Swimmonkey |
Bzrider, I'm lazy! Can you tell me where you get the risers? Are they from Buell? Thanks ahead of time. | ||
| Bzrider |
percision engineering same as the drop offroad pegs | ||
| Theotherbmaker |
Matt, I'm disappointed that you went online and spread such half-truths First off, I will say that the Uly did very well, just as well as the GS. I was impressed. However, this claim "where for them to be able to even meet (forget exceading) the performance of the ULY they would need a full motorcycle redesign." is ridiculous. Yes, the heads make the GS wider, and that's a limitation for the bike. However, to say something like this based on your experience in a beginner off-road class is ludicrous. You didn't even have off-road tires. How can you realistically think that you appraised the Uly's ability? Some facts you should have straight before you post: 1) The guy on the GS without the knobbies did not drop it as soon as we arrived. That was the GS with the knobbies. I should know. I was the GS without. 2) The fact that you are 230lb and tall does not reduce maneuverability. Maybe if we were riding 125s it would, but with heavy bikes, being tall with more weight to throw around is a big advantage. 3) You keep talking about how the GSs kept falling and the Buell didn't. There were 5 GSs (not 9, as you claim) and one Buell. If you had compared your falls to one other class member, it might be a reasonable comparison. There was one student who I never saw drop. Marc. On his GS. 4) On that last ride, he most definitely did not lose his cylinder head cover. If he'd done that he wouldn't have been riding anymore. He broke the plastic guard. However, the point that the boxer heads stick out and that makes the bike wider is absolutely true. 5) I don't remember giving you a hard time or questioning your choice of bike. We teased you about being the odd man out, but everyone said the Uly was a fine bike. The instructor teased you a bit, but to make all of us out as BMW fanboys is pretty unfair and wrong. (Message edited by TheOtherBMaker on May 11, 2010) |
