| Author | Message | ||
     Gsilvernale |
I went up into the mountains of NC and rode some twisty roads yesterday. I have ridden the same roads on my VFR. My riding skills are about a 6 on a scale of 1-10. Never done a track day, but I have ridden lots of different bikes for a long time. Here are some of my impressions. The bike ran flawlessly the entire trip. Temperatures ranged from 70 to about 45, and elevations up to about 3000 feet. I ran the heated grips most of the time. Front brake is great. It modulates well and really slows you down cleanly. Trail braking into a corner also works well. At first I suffered from looking too close - meaning that I was looking where I wanted my front tire to go, instead of looking up around the corner and letting my peripheral vision do its thing. This may be because of the posture on the Uly. Once I recognized the problem, I quickly retrained myself, and got much smoother. I feel like I am more on top of the Uly than I do riding the VFR. Which meant that I felt like I could attack harder on the VFR. I think that I am faster through the tight twisties (10-20 mph corners) on the VFR. But is probably a toss up on the faster corners. I never felt like I was going to overrun a corner on the Uly. If I was going faster than I wanted to do comfortably, it was easy to just crank in a little more lean. I have a classic style, I don't hang off. Going right is easier than going left. I know that there is a lot of potential that I did not tap, and that with increased riding on the curves, I will increase my ability and comfort on the Uly. However, where I live - its mostly straight roads. So my opportunities are few and far between. There are plenty of rough roads in this area (like 176 going up to Saluda), and the Uly really shines here. Going up hill was a blast. The available torque puts a big grin on your face. I found a few gravel roads, and rode them. It does okay as an explorer bike. I have the tall Buell windshield on my bike with the Palmer Brackets. I started out in the full top and out position. But I quickly dropped to the lowest position. In the top position, the screen interfered with my sight lines, but was not noticeable in the lower position. (i am 6'2"). I rode the twisties for about 5 hours straight. No specific aches or pains to complain about. At one point I got a little bit of rain, and just poked along until I got out of it (30 minutes). So I guess the bottom line is that I had a blast. I am still very happy with my bike and look forward to my next opportunity to go riding. | ||
| Supertoon |
You are a lucky man to be that close to some of the best roads in the country! Outside the rain turned back to snow and it basically will suck for another few weeks. I was coming off a FZ1, before which I had two consecutive VFRs. (preferred the 94 over the 02 and sold it with 100 000 clicks) I am sure I am faster in the twistys with my Uly, especially the tight stuff. Last time to the Gap my buddy on his ZX12, who is maybe just a bit faster than me , couldn't keep up. Very cool! On sweepers or slab he blows me away though... But everybody is a hero in a straight line! Thanks for the virtual ride.  | ||
| Chadhargis |
I've maintained from day 1 that the Ulysses is a sportbike for tall people. At 6'5", I don't fit comfortably on most motorcycles. The Ulysses is one exception. If it weighed 70 pounds less and had the 1125r engine in it....It would be the perfect bike.  | ||
| Treadmarks |
A Uly in Summerville, SC. Who woulda thunk it. Lived there fron 68-98. Dam fine forrest roads there, great backroads up around the lakes too. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Treadmarks, we've got at least 3 Badweb Ulys in Summerville now: me, Gsilvernale, and Jwnsc. At least one other has been spotted in town. You'd be amazed how much Summerville has grown in 10 years- and how much longer the commute to Charleston takes. | ||
| Treadmarks |
Yeah, my folks and many friends We grew up with are still there and I visit a few times a year. It gets pretty bad (traffic)around Oakbrook and Dorchester road now. We lived on the Jedburg side. Spent most of my life running those backroads on various XRs. There was no Uly back then. Figures...Now that I have a Uly...there is no Summerville left. | ||
| Gsilvernale |
I would rather have an XR and Summerville back the way it used to be. But then I would be a lot younger too.  |
