| Author | Message | ||
     Roma_tomato |
Hey there good people! I am currently looking at 3 Buell Uylsses XB12XT. I have had a fairly good gander through this pretty awesome site but can not find and answer to my following question: How are these bikes for everyday rides? I will be using my bike to commute to work every day which is a 40km round trip. Then the usual day trips with mates on the weekends. So I am wondering about how reliable these bikes are for every day commuting and if these short trips will worry it at all? Please excuse my ignorance in the matter, having never owned one, its hard to get a sensible answer out of the sellers as they are obviously going to tell me what I want to hear. Love these bikes so was even thinking of getting something else to commute on and keeping the boss bike for the weekends. Thoughts? | ||
| Brakes2late |
2006 XB12X - 400 miles a week for the past four and a half years and only left me stranded once. Now has 87,000 miles on it. Doesn't get much more reliable then that! | ||
| Buewulf |
My experience is the opposite of Brakes2late, and my anecdotal opinion after being involved with the Buell community for the past several years is that air-cooled Buells are less reliable than most makes. Don't take that to mean that all XBs are rolling time bombs are anything like that: plenty of people have had great luck with them. The good thing is that most of the problem areas are known and documented on this site, many of which can be addressed in a preventative fashion if you wish. For everything else, there are some aces on this site that can get you through just about any issue you may encounter with your Uly. With respect to commuting, summers are a problem for me if I find myself in even light stop-and-go traffic. If your commute is pretty free flowing, the Uly makes a great commuter. In fact, it does pretty well at just about everything. | ||
| Britchri10 |
I commute about 30 miles round trip daily. I have an '09 Ulysses. I haven't experienced any problems so far. The bike has c 30k miles on it now. Chris C | ||
| Arry |
I agree with Beowulf, I avoid stop-and-go as much as possible. The Uly is happier with lots of cooling air flow. | ||
| Brakes2late |
Yeah, I'll qualify my statement by saying "Freeway Miles", which almost all of mine are. | ||
| Roma_tomato |
The round trip to work is pretty much open highway with only 2 sets of lights at the end so the trip is pretty easy. Will be minimal town riding ever. Cheers for the response guys  | ||
| Fotoguzzi |
you got it right, "BOSS Bike" ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFeuPWgDB9k  | ||
| Reepicheep |
Mixed highway / backroads / city for me, 40 mile round trip. 35000 miles on an XB9sx, almost no problems. About 20k miles on the 07 XB12X now (bought it with 10k, so it is at 30k miles total). Aside from a rash of issues caused by a failing to yield corolla, and a few preventative things I did, my only problem was a chafed wire in the harness and a failed TPS sensor. It does have some kind of harmonic rattle now I can't track down. I don't think it's valvetrain / lifters, but it might be. I pulled it apart and can't find anything, now I have to ride it for a while and see if it gets better or worse. It's been too cold. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Oh, and a Uly with hard luggage is an insanely good commuter. Lots of space to stop and get stuff while locking up a laptop to go into the store, 45 to 50 mpg, and parking is only as limited as your nerve and imagination...  | ||
| Reepicheep |
(And 08's and up are likely more reliable, but there are smoking good deals on the 06 and 07's). | ||
| Nateba |
I think there is no doubt the Ulysses can be reliable. I think its important to mention though (my experience includes buying an almost brand new '08 with 5,000 miles) that if you need a reliable commuter right off the bat, a Buell purchase can backfire. My bike has had problem after problem since I bought it a year and a half- ago. As mentioned above, almost all of the problems are documented and can be fixed with help from users on this site. But, if you don't have another reliable commuter, those fixes can be really inconvenient and costly (either in time if you're mechanical, or in cash if you're not.) Ive been stranded quite a few times and left without transportation quite a few times as well, and I still lack confidence (even after all the fixes) when taking longer trips. | ||
| Cyclonedon |
I have an 2006 Uly and it's by far the best and most reliable motorcycle I've ever owned. But I've just been riding motorcycles for 45 years now so maybe I haven't experienced everything yet! | ||
| Callawegian |
^+1 my 2006 XB12X has 20k and aside from regular maintenance and rear cylinder cooling fan no problems so far. It doesn't like stop-and-go traffic, but I do 60 miles round trip of most 4-lane and it makes me look forward to the trip. | ||
| Mark_weiss |
Six years of low-density traffic commuting. Very few traffic jams, lots of stops at lights. No problems. I have more issues with Phoenix metro summer heat than does the Uly. | ||
| Nateba |
Maybe I got a lemon. I had a TL1000 and an SV650 before this bike, and never had one problem in years. The Uly is definitely a cool bike, but in relation to my personal experience, I wouldn't call it reliable. | ||
| Brakes2late |
Sounds like you may have gotten a lemon, or maybe that first 5,000 was rough! | ||
| Djohnk |
Before I moved from a tropical climate to Oklahoma in July, I rode my Uly at least 300 days out of the year, often riding it to work and back (about a 15km round-trip). I did this for several years. Although it has stranded me twice ... once was a broken throttle shaft, and once because it had a bad battery, it never let me down on my work commute. Depending on the year of manufacture, they have some little things your have to worry about, but all bikes have one thing or another you have to watch out for maintenance-wise. Even though I ride it to commute, i still like getting around on it on the weekends and have taken several trips (I don't get tired of riding it). It's also nice to have top and side cases for grocery stops on your commute. The best advice I think I can give you is if you don't like wrenching on and maintaining your own bikes it could get expensive, and I probably wouldn't recommend getting one. | ||
| Reepicheep |
If your goal is simply reliability, buy a Toyota Tercel. Same money, and it will run for 200k miles with very little maintenance. And you will wish somebody would just shoot you after every single one of those miles. So you don't really *just* want reliability, it is just one factor of your decision. | ||
| 99cyclone |
My Ulysses is the perfect every day ride. I commute to work on it every day that is suitable to ride (i.e. no snow or ice). I do everything with this bike, commuting to work, long haul touring, grocery shopping, etc. Great bike. '06 with 27k miles and counting. | ||
| Etennuly |
My '06 has has some issues, mostly electrical of one sort or another. Each issue has stayed fixed once it has been found and repaired. As far as commuting.....the biggest problem I have had is I frequently turned a twenty mile ride into fifty miles of Permagrin. So many times turning the wrong way has been the best of rides for me. One of my best was at Homecoming 2010 when Wolfridgerider and I, who were both over 600 miles to the North and West from our homes, went another day West in order to go East for an extra day or so of riding home. It was an awesome adventure add on. It happens all of the time. It cannot be helped. | ||
| Kaikoura |
@fotoguzzi..love your little youtube vid..send more our way..T | ||
| Fotoguzzi |
this is one of my best but a few years old, warning- 10 minutes long. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tvRKb2yS70 | ||
| Kaikoura |
Thanks! Im out of work at the moment so I have a least 10 minutes to spare..  | ||
| Mhevezi |
Well, In the past two years I have put 15,000 miles on my 2008. My commute is from Oakland, CA to San Jose. We are lucky in CA and lane-splitting is legal, which I'm sure helps. I have had very few issues and do my best to stay on top of the 'known issues' and prepare myself for what might be around the corner. Cant' catch it all, but overall I would classify my 2008 XB12XT as reliable. I LOVE the bags and use the tail trunk most of the time, so I can squeeze between cars easier! | ||
| Orygun |
I have an '06 I bought last summer with very low miles on it (106). It replaced my BMW f800st with 50k miles. For several months, I lamented my purchase, missing my silky smooth, nimble f8. I have only a 13 mile commute to work now. Despite warming the bike up for 5 minutes prior to starting out each morning, the bike barely warms up prior to my arrival at work - something I hear is really BAD for the bike. Not really suited for a short commute!? Its not the most comfortable thing to be on in bumper-to-bumper traffic either. This winter, I was having a spate of car issues and I have been commuting and generally getting around on my Uly in some truly awful conditions. It began to dawn on me - as I rode through driving rain, slush, and frigid winds - that this bike inspires confidence in me. The bike totally won me over this winter - much better than my beemer in tough conditions. As a bonus, with a size L Cal Sci windshield and cheapo heated grips - I was actually warm - never even broke out my heated vest! I've only put about 5k miles on it so far, but it continues to grow on me every time I climb aboard. Has a few niggles that I will continue to work on - but I am learning to live with its "personality" and am now planning to keep this bike for a long time... | ||
| Uly_man |
"I have only a 13 mile commute to work now. Despite warming the bike up for 5 minutes prior to starting out each morning, the bike barely warms up prior to my arrival at work". Now here is something? My 06 bike would get furnace hot even after a few miles and the oil cooler was only slightly hot. The 10 bikes engine stays cool and the oil cooler gets hot as I would think it should. I still maintain that there WAS something wrong with the 06 bikes oil cooling system. Does your oil cooler get nice and hot???????? | ||
| Uly_man |
"How are these bikes for everyday rides?". I have used my 06 and 10 bikes for commuting in the City and other things for 7 years and do it "all year round" as well. A later bike, like the XT, is better for this due to the revised fueling and other things. The 06 bike is a bit of a wheelie machine but fine if you take care off the mark. In other words they are great as long as you are happy with the 120 mph ish top end and you do not want to enter the Dakar rally. |
