| Author | Message | ||
     Etennuly |
There has been no machine I have admired as much as my 06 XB12X Ulysses. I've been at one with it from the day Brad lead me on an 80 mph test ride. I have physical issues that as I've aged have become more of a problem as riding goes. I've kept this Uly a few years beyond when I likely should have quit riding. Why? Because I love the damn thing. I've been squeezing all I can out of my riding time. I put it up for sale. I have a parking spot up by the highway where I display item I'm selling. It's a prime spot. I rode it up there yesterday. Parked it, locked it put a sign on it. There were a few lookers through the day that I saw, but it was a cloudy day. Sunny days are sale days. As evening approached I went up to get the Uly. I had been doing busy work all day. I got to my wonderful machine, lined up my lame ass in a position to mount up, tossed my leg...this is where I should say "over" the seat. My foot did not even make it to the bottom of the seat. I hit the side an nearly fell over. This was after a long day so I kind of expected one day it might happen this way. But it would be the same if I rode it a couple hundred miles and got tired. I doubt I'd ride home for a day or two. So I manually picked my foot up and slid it over my 06 low seat. So now I'm sitting on the bike both feet on the ground, I had to look to make sure, and have no strength in my legs to get it started off. So I sat there on the bike and rested a bit. The things we take for granted... I tilted it up off the stand, fired it up. This is on a gravel/ damp dirt spot. I have to turn within 15 feet onto unlevel grass. Launching down hill on pavement would be easy. I had one shot. To tip over would have really sucked. Kind of like put your feet up on the bars and launch off the side stand. Lucky for me I have a little skill left. Lol. I made it back into the shop without incident. But my nerves were rattled! I can do well with it if I have a complete day or so of physical rest before I ride. But sure can't when I'm working. So mean ol Mr Reality smacked me in the face! This time with both hands! So now I'm actively making efforts to sell it, you know, before I screw up. For now I'm keeping the blast around for "good day" short rides. | ||
| Teeps |
I've been saying for years... So many bikes to ride; so little time to ride them. To quote Greatful Dead: "What Long Strange Trip it's Been" | ||
| Two_seasons |
Hey Vern: Your profile pic reminds me that we are all but a grain of sand on this ball called Earth. Hang in there brother, sometimes we get a break from the pain and can ride for hours! Listening to SRV, specifically Come On, says a lot about physically getting where your mind already is!!  | ||
| Etennuly |
Thanks. I ain't dying yet ! I have a lot of suffering to do! Just don't want to damage the Uly on a stupid low speed tip over. All is fine when I'm moving. But to stop and hold it or to get off or on .... | ||
| 86129squids |
Well, dammit Vern, you've said a few times I wasted you time taking your on that test ride! You had already decided to buy that POS. Oh well. We've ridden some dayum incredible rides together... not the least of which was HC2010. I also remember my first time to TWO, with you and Fatty, I'd decided not to let a couple of 1203's outrun me and my 984 across the Cherohala... I'm pretty sure that sounded the death knoll for the original motor. Or maybe when I tried to keep up with Tom Bumpus... who can tell. Keep the Blasturd. Heck, that'll take you anywhere... and, it wasn't cubed like the rest of the P3's when Wandell waved his little jazz hands and killed the brand. Fkin Maytag man, wonder what burger he's flipping now. "Time and Perseverance are the Greatest Warriors." Andrei Tolstoy  | ||
| Tootal |
Eventually we all will reach the point of giving up. My old riding buddy started having vertigo from diabetes and he switched to a trike. But he just didn't enjoy it. He said that if you can't lean in the corners it's just not the same. So he stopped riding at 79 years of age. He turns 90 in August! He still misses it but like Clint Eastwood said, "a man's got to know his limitations!" Good luck on selling the bike, I totally get it. I remember Frank at TWO. He ended up on scooters but still had a great time and wasn't anywhere near slow! | ||
| 86129squids |
What Greg said. I've long ago decided that when I give up two wheel funnin', I'll go with a convertible... to me the SC430 Lexus is the one. Pebble Beach please. I've taken off work for the days of the May TWoS weekend... Greg, maybe, if you are heading down to Suches, we could head to New Market. That'll be in the vicinity of my planned destination over in Sevier County. Hope to see lower gas prices, more money and time to make TWoS and catch up with all youn's later in the year. What say ye, our elderest statesman, the Abiding Vern?  | ||
| Etennuly |
Well first thing is this is simply the next stage of my physical being. I don't call it giving up as much as finding something else to do. Like riding a dirt bike up a long steep hill, sometimes you just turn off before you crash for sticking in it too long. In my youth I tested this theory several times to find that feeling between success and near death. The life rush. My then new Yamaha TT500 took me to that edge many times. I learned all about almost going over backward at the crest of a 200 foot near vertical wall that none of my pro mx guys would even try. But that was the early 80s. Nobody had foam pits to test their limits. I messed up my spinal chord by exploding a disc in my spine at work 30 some years ago. After months of not being able to walk at that time, I've counted every moment of what I have been able to do as a blessing. I squeezed as much fun out of those years as I could. I got lucky, in my desire to find the perfect long travel soft suspension adventure bike that would give my back a chance, the Ulysses popped into my life at the right time. It absorbed highway bumps like no other bike I had owned, but for a long legged dirt bike. Through owning the Uly I got even further fortune by meeting you fine people. I intend to make some of our events into the future as I can. I'll always carry with me fantastic memories of riding two wheels with great people. | ||
| Etennuly |
Did someone say convertible? I'm in! I can't shrink the picture to fit here. Think yellow C4 Vette. | ||
| Aesquire |
Dropping my Cyclone in the burger stand parking lot @ zero speed, because the knee wouldn't support it, was my Sign it was time for surgery and getting over that river in Egypt. I'm still working on coming back from that. It's hard to get the leg over the seat. Getting on & off a bicycle is difficult. So eventually, maybe next year, I'll put Buttercup up for sale and someone will get the bargain of a lifetime, a very low mileage '01 Cyclone Low with the S3 fairing and bar, the good seat, etc. and all the parts to put it back to stock. Driven by a professional traffic coward and maintained with synthetics and most importantly, had it's first 2 oil changes by the time the odo read 500. ( the Toyota mechanics think I'm crazy too, but think my cutting open the filter and looking at it with a microscope take it to a new level ) Time wounds all heels. To quote Dirty Harry, "A man's got to know his limitations." But I'm learning slow. | ||
| Etennuly |
I'm gathering up a bunch of Buell parts for sale. Most are 06 Ulysses stuff. My problem is my android phone will not down size photos to fit here. What it does when shrinking the actual size, simply zoom in. Used to be I could resize and actually shrink them. One of the updates a couple of years ago changed that feature. So I need to probably put the list and pictures on face plant. Ugh! Meantime things you can contact me about for 06 Ulysses; used drive belt carried as spare - transmission out put shaft bearing (new) - lightly used front isolators - used hard bags NO brackets L AND R with key - license plate bracket - the original BAW. I'll get back with more. I'll be back. Thanks. | ||
| Teeps |
I went through the ritual of re-homing of Uly spares. Shipping even in 2018/19 was terribly expensive on things like muffler, rear wheel, airbox cover... With shipping costs the way they are now; encourage local pickup for large, heavy or bulky items. | ||
| Zacks |
I suggest a simple, free, small app: PIXResizer for your pictures. | ||
| Ftd |
BAW?? | ||
| Hughlysses |
BAW?? Big A** Windshield  | ||
| 86129squids |
Yeah... to alleviate the love bug splattage. Vern is nothing if not resourceful and inventive, and a dayum good fabricator/painter!  |
