| Author | Message | ||
     Maximum |
In an attempt to pass on the total Buell Homecoming experience for those unable to attend, I will try to update this thread each night. Let me know if you have any questions. This morning (Wednesday-July 4th), my son (Sean - age 14) and I departed the house in Denver, Colorado for the 2007 Buell Homecoming festivities. The projected journey will be a two day, 1050 mile trip.  The first issue happened before we even left the house. We discovered that my low beam light had gone. I had done my standard pre-ride maintenance checks last night, so this must have happen first thing this morning. So that gives me 6 months of use with the Sylvania Silver Star. No problem, plenty of other lights, I'll just swap it out tonight.  The goal was to make it to Des Moines, Iowa tonight (670 miles) so that Thursday will be a relatively short 340 mile day. Fully loaded, two-up riding, with newly installed Drummer pipe, driving at 85 mph my fuel economy seemed to drop off to 41 mpg (normally 49). While still in Colorado (almost into Nebraska), my low fuel light came on much sooner than I expected, requiring me to turn around and go back 15 miles for fuel. I did not know what options were ahead, so I decided just to play it save. Fuel stops in Nebraska were much more predictable.  One thing is for sure, riding through Nebraska in July is a buggy proposition! This is what my helmet looked like at every fuel stop.  So we made it to Des Moines around 5 pm, 11 hours and 700 miles (including turn around for fuel) after leaving Denver. The Uly is such a great machine! And even though it loves the twisties, it is such a joy to ride on the slab too! With these wide open rural interstate highways, one device that I found to be a lifesaver was having a "throttle lock" installed. At the end of the day, I was tired, but not sore anywhere. Normally my right wrist is one of the first casualties, but not today!  Stay tuned for more. | ||
| Firstbatch |
Great Idea! We will be able to go a virtual trip with you to the big gig. Look forward to your posts and have a great trip | ||
| Snub13 |
Great trip so far Max Have fun! PS; those bugs are...sooooo tiny! You should the monsters in Alaska!  | ||
| Mikef5000 |
THOSE BAR ENDS! Is there a write-up somewhere about them? (Where you got them, and how you made them work with the handguards) | ||
| Paochow |
Every time I see that red Uly, I'm tempted to do the same to mine. Looks awesome. +1 on the Throttle lock, couldn't do 750+ mile days without it. Thanks for sharing the experience, make sure you get the scoop on the new models. | ||
| Iugradmark |
Which throttle lock is that? | ||
| Maximum |
Mikef5000: The Bar Ends are HVMP’s. You can do a search on Badweb to find tons of information. They are the only make I know of that work perfectly with the Ulysses hand guards. The HVMP's only come in Stainless Steel, so you will need to paint or powder coat to match (if that matters to you). Paochow: Do it! I’m hoping that Sunset Orange becomes a standard color for the Uly, that way I don’t have to paint the parts again should I ever need replacements. Iurradmark: I used the NEP throttle lock, but it needed some major Dremel work. I think the Vista Cruise model would work with less modification. Now on to Day 2 of the Journey. We left Des Moines at 7 am, making two fuels stops and arriving in the East Troy area around 12:30 pm. The drive was uneventful, with sunny skies and temps in the low 80’s. I wanted to take pictures along the way, but if you have ever seen endless fields of corn crops, you saw what I saw most of today! We did a light 350 miles today, for a two day total of about 1060. Once we arrived in the area, we headed over the Hal’s for some of the pre-homecoming festivities that “Budc” lined up. It was nice to see many Buell owners, and all the different and personalized bikes. Back in Denver I get excited when I see one other Buell on the road.     I even had the opportunity to check out Steve Mackay’s Ulybolt! Cool machine, and its red! No really, it is a work of art. I even got to sit on it.  We were able to catch the Buell Stunt team do their thing. It is pretty wild to see what guys can do with an almost stock (larger rear wheel sprocket and chain) 400 lb motorcycle. My son really enjoyed this performance, and I got some ideas on things to try on the trip home…NOT!!!!     Next it was time to line up for the trip over to Bike Night at the local Drag Strip. Talk about a cool experience, this was an awesome 40 minute ride with about 40-50 riders. We evidently took the long way over to the track, but it was tons of fun riding through some nice southern Wisconsin twisties. There is something empowering about riding around in such a large group of riders. If you ever get a change to do a large Buell group ride, do it!    Once we arrived at the drag strip, there was good food, great Blue’s music, more socializing with other Buell enthusiasts, and some pretty cool racing!        All in all it was a great day, and the official Homecoming hasn’t even started yet! Stay tuned for more tomorrow! | ||
| Horridus |
Very nice of you Maximum to post so many great pictures with a wonderful write up. Thanks and have fun. Horr | ||
| Paochow |
Keep up the awesome work  | ||
| Old_mil |
Very nice - wish I was there...next year maybe. | ||
| Packdog |
Thanks a ton for the coverage! I had plans to be meet some friends in Sturgis for the 4th of July celebration, then head over to homecoming. Unfortunately, on Monday, I hit a dear on I-90 in Wyoming, totalling my bike and bringing my vacation to an abrupt halt. | ||
| Stewadi |
Not to hijack but Packdog I hope your ok!! Maximum, Thanks for the pics and the posts! | ||
| Fast_eddie_1956 |
Great report! Looks like a lot of fun so I'll have to plan on attending next year. | ||
| Motomut |
Thanks for taking the time to keep those of us who couldn't go up to speed. | ||
| Lorazepam |
Homecoming is a blast. I had a good time last year, and would love to be there again. Thanks for the pictures, Maximum. It is so cool that you can share this with your son. | ||
| Orangeulius |
Ditto. Thanks so much for keeping us in the loop. Etennuly called me to say he made it ok. Hope to go next year. | ||
| Troyyz |
Max, Great posting as usual. Wish I had made the trip with you. Please don't forget my request... Looking forward to next year. | ||
| Ulywife |
Maximum - thanks for sharing your pictures and comments on Homecoming. Hope everyone is having fun and being safe. | ||
| Maximum |
Here is the Day 3 update from my Homecoming trip. It was actually day 1 of the official homecoming festivities, and it was another full day. Let me just cut to the chase! We took a self guided tour of the factory, but we were not allowed to take any pictures, but here are my observations of the 2008 Ulysses. 1. There will be a Blue Uly offered. I don’t know what the name of the color is, but it is somewhere between cobalt blue and navy blue. 2. The engine looks different on the right side. I was told that there was a change to the XB12 oil pump system. I think that it looks a little cleaner from the outside. 3. The exhaust has changed; it looks a lot more like the TT exhaust now. The outlet pipe looks to be larger in diameter, and no longer has the vented steel plate welded to the tip. 4. Now for some cool news, the 2008 Uly had standard grip heaters! There looks to be a three position switch on the right hand switch housing, ya know where the blank is located (that everyone has wondered what should go there). Also, someone did say something about a six speed transmission, but another worker there said no, but then made the shhhhhh sign. So whatever that means. Now back the order of the day. Etennuly, Wolfridgerider, US_Uly and I made our way over to the Buell facility around 8:30 this morning. We got there early for a good parking spot, but ends up that all the parking areas were pretty good.      I already covered the self-guided tour, which ran from 9 am to 10 am (sorry about the no pictures thing). At 10 O’clock Abe started a tech class on Buell motorcycles. It was a very in depth look at total force, mass, and acceleration. All I can tell you is those 30 minutes of formulas ended up explaining why Buell motorcycles can pull wheelies! Actually Abe is obviously an extremely smart individual, who just so happens is also very passionate about his job, which is great news for all of us! Next was lunch with Erik. Really it was lunch with the Buell workers and all the other attendees of the homecoming event. Erik seemed to skip lunch in order to sign autographs on posters and bikes. This guy works really hard to ensure that we all have a great ownership experience. I don’t know if there would be any other CEO of any company that would make such an effort to connect with their customers.     Another great thing about this day is the chance to see so many Buell motorcycles, both old and new, stock and personalized. It is very inspirational!           | ||
| Maximum |
The other great thing is meeting so many nice people, Buell owners, and many Badwebbers.     After lunch Erik delivered an awesome seminar on the history of Buell. I would try to deliver the high point, but it would never do it justice. You all will just need to hear it for yourself next year. Around 2:30 pm most of the Buellers lined up for a group trip the Uke’s Buell. Yesterday I thought that a 50 bike convoy to the drag strip was pretty impressive. Well today the ride to Uke’s seem like about 100 or more Buell heading about 30-40 minutes down backs roads. At most intersections the cars would just stop and let all the bikes get through the intersection together. Maybe that was an example of friendly Wisconsin drivers, or maybe it was the fear instilled in the drivers by over 100 Buell motorcycle’s coming right at them! Either way it was pretty cool.      Once at Uke’s Harley/Buell, we wandered around for a little while, checking out the cool bit of history in their very own museum. Kevin Ulicki gave many of us a personal account of the history of Buell. If you read the article in the most recent issue of Fuell magazine, you know the history I’m talking about.    Around 5 pm, Uke’s provided a little chow, which was followed up by the final event of the day, an awesome stunt show by the renowned Bubba Blackwell. Bubba is a great showmen, and obviously a great promoter of the Buell line! This was good clean fun for the whole family.      Tomorrow is the first of two race days, stay tuned for more reports! | ||
| Charlie_zulu |
Staying tuned.  Nice pics. | ||
| Bertotti |
I find it incredible all the people wearing gear. Helmets and jackets. Was it a cool day? I also found it interesting all the people wearing full face helmets. I must be in the minority wearing a half bucket or regular helmet on a Buell. Thanks for the updates it makes not being there much more enjoyable! Oh one other question, is everyone there over 6 feet tall? it sure looks like it in the pics. | ||
| Alsza |
Wow, what great pictures! Hopefully my daughter and I will get our chance to come up next year for the 25th, with Oz leading the way how can we go wrong?! Thanks for posting them! And the offer is available for anyone coming through buffalo on the way back for bed food and rest. | ||
| Paochow |
At the very least I owe you a few beers at homecoming next year. Great pics and report. I'm definitely going next year. | ||
| Iugradmark |
Great report. With all the people in attendance, you are the only one that provided any info on the new Uly model. We have over one thousand posts on the XB board and not one scrap of actual observed info. Thanks. | ||
| Atoms |
I looked at the '08 Uly for quite a while but didn't notice the heated grip. I was too captivated by the new color I guess. That and the exterior change to the engine. I dunno what the name for that part is - but the thing with the circular Buell badge directly under the rear header? On the '08 it is stretched out - the sides are circular but the top and bottom is flat. The emphasis now is on the name of the motor "Thuderstorm" I don't recall if it mentions Buell at all. It also says "East Troy, Wisconsin" (or perhaps "WI"?) which is very cool. The 07s don't mention that the are made in the USA in any conspicuous place. | ||
| Dgunther |
Cameras in the factory were strictly forbidden, but this '08 TT was outside, so it was fair game. You can see the difference in the timing cover.  | ||
| Paochow |
Ah now I understand. Thanks for the pic. | ||
| Chadleys1 |
Awesome thread, Maximum. Thanks for sharing.  thumbs up on the red treatment Uly. | ||
| Iugradmark |
Maximum, Now that the wraps have been taken off, any more details you can share on the changes to these bikes? Any discussion on how much of it might be transferable to older models? |
