| Author | Message | ||
     Nose2wind |
Milwaukee, Wis. (November 20, 2009) - Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG) announced today that following the company's recent decision to discontinue the Buell motorcycle product line, Erik Buell, Chairman and Chief Technical Officer of Buell Motorcycle Company, will leave the company to establish Erik Buell Racing, an independent motorcycle race shop. Erik Buell Racing will specialize in the supply of race-use-only Buell motorcycle parts and race preparation services for engines and motorcycles, and the building and sale of Buell? 1125R-based race-use-only motorcycles under license from Harley-Davidson, as well as providing technical support to racers of Buell motorcycles. | ||
| Unrealtrip |
Race only?  | ||
| 88b |
Race only? HD wouldn't like it if he made a success of it now would they. | ||
| Hangetsu |
It fits in with the most recent Buell advertising campaign. In the cubed Blast ads the campaign stated boldly that racing and sport bikes were "officially all that matter". This campaign, which was launched before the company's demise turned me off greatly and struck me as very short sighted. No motor company exists for the sake of racing. On the contrary, racing exists for the sake of advancement and refinement of product destined for the consumer. With the success Buell had with the XB12X and XT and the potential the rotax platform had in a sport/adventure touring package, I found this focus of his very disappointing. | ||
| Firstbatch |
The XB with the Thunderstorm motor has been kicked to the curb for now and the go forward platform is all about the rotax based bike. Good news is the Thunderstorm will live on forever since it is so easy to work on and maintain. Who knows maybe we will see the Rotax Uly come alive some day  | ||
| Hangetsu |
Not very likely. We may have seen the last of EB designed road-going motorcycles. | ||
| M2nc |
Someone needs to develop a Uly racing class so we can get update parts for our Ulys. | ||
| Towpro |
I think I have seen a club in the East Coast Enduro Association setting up an enduro for Adventure bikes. That would be AMA sanctioned, would that count  But even the AMA says "an enduro is not a race, it is a timed event". | ||
| Ulyessesman |
we need knobies for the dirt!!! , i been lookin everywhere , im bout to start lookin for rear rim replacements for that simple reason , i think all us uly riders should start a petition to get goodyear or pirelli or michellin to start producing a tire that fits the more adventourous uly riders! i want traction!!!! | ||
| Kellaupat |
Ulyessesman is right. Nothing brings respect more to a so called "adventure tourer" than ripping up a side of a muddy jeep trail, and actually passing the jeep! | ||
| Growl |
The Shinko Dual Sport 705 Tires look pretty promising. I emailed Shinko about making these in Uly sizes and the response was yes, they would, eventually... so email them and tell them they should sooner than later! info@shinkotireusa.com | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
I can only wonder how well Buell's business model is going to work. Best of luck to Erik though. Maybe he will work a deal to keep all our bikes in parts, thereby letting HD off the hook. | ||
| Eulysses |
Electra...that is what I am thinking. The man understands loyalty. It would be a good way to underwrite his passion...being a parts guy for the mess...I mean...all the bikes left behind we like so well. Plus the possibility of holding the existing clientele as future buyers. I would be on it in a hot minute...he knows how the game works so he would be a natural and a preferred source for distributors and customers. There is just too much great capitalism here to leave alone. I think we should just ride em and not worry. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
I'm not worried. Heck, old Indians still have parts available. Somebody always steps in to fill a need. | ||
| Windrider |
Uly riders have been clamoring for knobbies since the 06 Ulysses was introduced. After 4 years of such noise and especially now that the Uly is no long mass produced I think that odds are really thin that any tire manufacturer will make knobbies for Uly tire sizes. There are many threads on this topic so do a little research and try what has been done. Try the Dunlop tires that came out on the 06 (some think that they were better in the dirt) or try shoehorning on some 160s (there are few choices of semi knobbed tires in that size) but I don't think that you should expect a major tire manufacturer to come out with a knobbie just for the Uly. Ulys are mode with sport bike rims and tire sizes and that is probably a good hint of it's intended use. | ||
| Jammin_joules |
Corsa MT60 I believe it is are a 40/60 off/on road more aggressive knobby-esque tire. It only comes in a 160 rear but it fits right on for us at the dealership. My sense is that is as good as it will be getting for a Uly off road. ~jammer | ||
| Hangetsu |
The Uly is not the only ADV bike with 17" wheels. Think Triumph Tiger and the Ducati Multistrada, the old and new one. | ||
| 12bolt |
Those bikes I'm sure have narrower wheel. I believe that Erik Buell Racing is the dagger in the Uly's heart. There will never be another Uly built, least not and air cooled twin. This is a sad sad day. | ||
| Trevd |
The sad day for the air cooled Uly was on Oct. 15. There will never be another Buell with an air-cooled twin... Given the sales success of the Ulysses, I suspect that any future street bike company run by Erik Buell will have some sort of Ulysses-like bike... but with a liquid cooled twin. | ||
| Froggy |
Good, because the radiator pods work better to protect the bike than frame pucks. | ||
| Eulysses |
Corsa's look nice...look more like me and what I do with my Uly. Hopefully they last as long. I like my air-cooled twin too! One thing I sense about us Buellers after meeting you guys on BWB...even before HD bailed out. We may be in the cheap, DIY and maybe survivalist type category. I sense the leather crowd to be more dealer dependent anyway...with the bucks to throw that way. Something about the type of guys that buy Buells..."can-do" types. | ||
| Firstbuell |
this foto from BadWeb, quite awhile back -  | ||
| Unrealtrip |
If I recall I saw that thing on ADVrider, and that is a rear $35 tire mounted up front in order to take the Uly on the TAT. Off road apparently it is great, but as you can imagine, that tire must be completely worthless on the street. | ||
| Gun_for_hire |
RE: 17" ADV bikes : The very capable BMW F800GS also has a 17" rear rim. It takes the 150 series rear TKC 80's very nicely. The bike pictured above ( by firstbuell) seems to have the TKC-80 on the rear. The TKC 80 is a fantastic long wear knobby dual sp tire. Widest the REAR comes is 150. WISH they had a 160 - 180 ! They have nothing even close to fitting the front with out modifications, and reportedly bad effects. CONTINENTAL TIRES would sell a TON to ULY owners if they made TKC's in 120 & 180 /17" sizes. ARE YOU LISTENING Continental ? I didnt like the idea of a 150 on a 180 rim, so I put the M/T Corsa 160 / 120 rear /ft on my Uly in August then I went riding off road. I did a trip from Memphis to Moab on the TAT trail. Tires had 50 street miles at the start of the trip. The rear was gone way before i finished. They were good tires on and off, but were way too fast gone ! The fronts were only 1/2 way gone at the finish of the trip, so I attribute the wasting of my rear to an overzealous throttle hand and gravel roads. See details and pics & new video on our trip blog : http://tat09.blogspot.com/ Food for thought on Thanks- giving Gobble gobble Gun-for _hire. | ||
| Ejc |
Yikes! Something just ate my Honda Ruckus! | ||
| Mnrider |
That's Rotorheads bike. He's over on a desert vacation right now and I wish him well.He hasn't checked in for a while. | ||
| Jlnance |
That would be AMA sanctioned, would that count I need that ABS system they designed for the 2011 Uly in order to race. | ||
| Eulysses |
Looks like rotorhead has a chain drive. Bet he would be fun to hang around for a weekend of riding. Guns...thanks for the Corsa input. How many tourqie miles did it take to wipe out your rear 160? | ||
| Gun_for_hire |
Euly..... The mt60 corsa rear was new in Memphis, gone by engineer pass in lake City Colorado. 1600 mi. The kicker is that I had to do the hardest incline of the trip with a Nearly bald tire.....in the rain. | ||
| Froggy |
Yes he did a chain swap because of the large amount of off roading he was doing at the time. |
