| Author | Message | ||
     Krabykarl |
Spent most of the day putting around in my new to me 08 Uly X model. For those not paying attention or caring this is my first bike in 15 years and my first V twin. Love the low end torque. Downshift? Don't need no stinking downshift. Get it above 5 grand and it smooths out nicely. Pop 2nd gear at 5 grand and the front end gets light. Strange... Vibrations in my feet are soothing. Vibrations in my throttle hand are numbing. Anyone using bar end weights? Any other suggestions like "Don't lug the motor you idiot. But it's got all that low end torque." Turn the motor over and the starter catches then has a hitch. Almost like it's straining against the first compression stroke. Is this normal? Bike has very quick steering to the point of being twitchy. Admittedly, I don't have the suspension dialed in. Preload is a 1.5 turns above the bottom to lower seat height. New rubber is going to be done shortly. Speaking of seat height. It's very doable with my 32" inseam. Sliding up on the seat at lights the balls of my feet are almost flat. I bought a pair of boots with 1/2" sole which helps. My plan to lower the bike has been eliminated freeing up funds for the before mentioned new rubber. Who came up with the balls of your feet expression? My feet don't have balls. Very little driveline lash. I've had chain bikes and shaft bikes before but never a belt. So far I like it. Brakes stop fantastic with way too much dive. Suspension is stiff but to me just right. I have about a thousand speed humps in my neighborhood. Lift my butt and it tracks over them at 30mph no problem. Sweet. Talk about an oxymoron, speed hump. It was cool out today so the heat off the rear cylinder was nice. It seems to attract a lot of attention from other riders. "What is that? Not a sport bike, not a cruiser bike." My 15 year old kevlar reinforced "Draggin' Jeans" still fit. A bit tight but what the hell my balls are on my feet. | ||
| Terrible1one3 |
Don't see too many first impression threads these days. Nice to see. Looks like you enjoy the new ride overall. Spend some time browsing old posts... Soo much info here you will love it. | ||
| General_ulysses |
Sounds like you're having a good time there Karl. I'm loving my bike, although it spits, pops and misses once in a while. I just received an ECMSpy cable and software I bought on ebay. I plan on taking a look at the inner workings of the bike's computer and zeroing the TPS and anything else that is advisable. One word of caution, on my bike I found a few wire chafing points you may want to look out for. I have the '06 model, so they might have addressed it on your bike. But just in case they haven't, the lower right side of the bike, there is a wire emanating out of the stator cover on the right side of the engine. It's a smaller wire covered in shrink wrap that's zip tied to a larger wire bundle with a nylon weave shield around it. These two bundled wires go underneath the chin fairing toward the front drive pulley (front "sprocket"). The smaller wire was chafing against the fiberglass fairing AND it also chafes against the metal bracket coming up from the muffler. It was really chafing there, plus that muffler bracket is hot, serving to melt the wire's insulation. I lightly bent the muffler bracket out/away from the engine to gain more clearance. I also slightly rerouted the smaller wire coming from the stator and re- zip tied it to the larger wire bundle so that it was tucked further away from the chafe areas. I also used a file to grind away some of the fiberglass on the chin fairing in this area to gain more clearance. Lastly, I slipped a wafer of wood (sliver from a cedar shim) between the wires and the metal muffler bracket to make sure it never touches it again. Anyway, it's a known problem, so watch out for it. I also installed the rider comfort kit Friday and rode the bike a few times since. Definitely seems a lot better, engine runs cooler and not as hot under the seat. Fan doesn't come on as much either. So overall I'd say the comfort kit is a winner. Kind of pain to install though, took a coupla hours. Probably could do it quite a bit faster next time though, learning curve and all. (Message edited by general_ulysses on April 14, 2013) | ||
| Ratbuell |
The starter "hitch" is normal - you're trying to sling two large-displacement, high-compression pistons around with a relatively small battery. Rule of thumb? It takes a lot of juice to crank it over. Don't start it unless you can RIDE it for at least 30 minutes. Not sit and idle...but RIDE. They don't charge at idle, they want to go out and run! Set your suspension. It will be a night and day transformation. Throttle hand, try rotating the bars or otherwise changing your arm position. I've found through the years that most hand-numbness issues aren't the hand, but the arm. Beyond that...just enjoy the permagrin!  | ||
| Uly_man |
"Vibrations in my throttle hand are numbing. Anyone using bar end weights?" Bar weights help as do foam grips or better still Grip Puppies. "Brakes stop fantastic with way too much dive". Add 5ml of heavy oil per fork and then re-adjust, back off, the comp (the bottom one as USD forks) to suit. Easy and cheap to do. This is for a OEM set up so if others have changed anything you will need to sort that one yourself. Works great though and done it on both my Ulys. This bike has VERY good suspension. Set it for the 08 book to start with. DO NOT adjust any comp or rebound setting more than half a turn at a time. DO NOT set the rear pre-load past 50% to start with no matter what your weight. And remember the forks have the comp on the bottom and the rebound on the top. | ||
| Etennuly |
If you are a throttle "blipper" as in old carb'd bikes, don't do it here. It can foul the plugs and confuse the ECM. Like Ratbuell said, don't start it unless you are ready to ride it to full warm up. Cold short run starts will also foul plugs. This engine has to be respected like the high compression cammed up hotrod that it is. Most of these Ulys start best by not touching the throttle, hit the switch, let it idle while you get your gear on. They do best when warmed up for a few minutes before riding. It helps avoid a popping or backfire a mile or two out into a ride. On the front end dive.....don't forget you have a long dirt bike like suspension. If you stiffen it up to avoid the dive, you will miss part of the benefit of long soft travel. Something to balance as you get used to the bike. Air pressures in the tires are important to how it feels for sure. | ||
| Ourdee |
Loosen your grip on the throttle. | ||
| Uly_man |
"If you stiffen it up to avoid the dive, you will miss part of the benefit of long soft travel." The oil thing works. It does not make the front stiff or cut the travel of the forks at all. What it does is control the dive via the oil through the plates/holes inside the forks. You do, however, need to re-adjust the comp. Suspension is all about balance of the bike. Front braking only "loads up" the front wheel which you need to counter for good balance. This can be done in many ways but the less input you need to do it the better the ride. Riding a bike well is a bit like playing a guitar well. Anyone can do it but to do it well needs an understanding of what can be done with it and how the parts of it work to give you those results. A bum played note will spoil the song as will a a bum suspension setup will spoil the ride. | ||
| Biffdotorg |
I use a vista cruise - Universal to help with the long trips and numbness. Short trips I just don't have any issue. There are plenty of bar weights, but they may interfere with your handguards. A handlebar snake is popular. Lug the engine? Overrev the engine? Heck, it will do either and run fine. When riding alone, getting the RPM's up is a blast. Riding double, I lug it all the time. Not intentionally, just making it a smoother ride. It's amazing what it does for the mileage. X2 on new rubber. Good tires are always a good investment. Be honest about where you will be riding it most, and you will hear all sorts of options on here. Have fun! | ||
| Krabykarl |
Just got a set of Pirelli Angels. I will be riding 99.5% on the street. It's off at the shop getting the tires mounted and balanced and a state inspection. Had to get the inspection done anyway so I had them remove and replace the wheels. |
