| Author | Message | ||
     Heath3n |
Guess I'm feeling a little bit better about my negative dealership experience yesterday afterall. Looks like I'm just gonna hold out for the '08 Uly now.  | ||
| Windrider |
Maximum, You are my hero. Thanks for taking the time to share all of this. I feel like I have a flavor of homecoming from this thread....... I am planning next year's summer vacation now to include a trip to WI....... | ||
| Hughlysses |
Wow, with all the hype on the Buell superbike video, it's good to see a pic of the 08 XB12STT. That change in the engine cover us undoubtedly the oil pump setup developed for the XBRR. It gets rid of the (relatively) weak 90 gear drive used on all previous Sportsters and Buells. The article in Fuell on the XBRR a couple of months ago showed a closeup of the oil pump and mentioned that it was one of the very few die cast parts on the XBRR motor, which seems to have been a big hint that it was planned for mass production all along. | ||
| Maximum |
Your very welcome everyone, thanks for the kind words. Iugradmark: No news on what if any of the improvements will be upgradeable, but I believe that it would very Buell for many of them to be available for updating Bertotti: It is amazing, by far the majority of riders have been wearing helmets and proper safety gear all week. The temps have been in the mid 80's and some 90's today, yet almost everyone is still wearing the gear. I say "hat's off" to Buell riders, or would it be Helmet's Off? Now back to the Homecoming coverage, from your inside reporter. Today, Saturday July 7th, was the Road America race day. But again, let me cover first things first. Today I managed to get a seek peek at the new Buell that everyone else will first see on Sunday at 3:30 pm. Here is a picture of it...  OK, OK, I know that was evil but I could not resist. Today was another fun packed day at the 2007 Buell Homecoming. The day was spent up at Road America, which is a really nice race complex about an hour and a half north of Buell Headquarters. A few of us took some Wisconsin back roads to get up there, which took a little longer but was very scenic. The obvious activity of the day was the races, and there were some pretty cool one’s going on. Not having ever been to this type of race before, I really did not know the best way to see it all. It is not at all like watching it on the television, where you are spoon feed all of the information. When you are at the races in person, there are numerous places to watch the races, and it is a good idea to ride your bike around to the different locations to see which spot is best for you. I don’t really know who won what, but I did have a great time.     Another activity that Buell setup for us today was two full demo stations. One of the demo areas included all models that would be guided through a route that went outside the race complex. There were about 8 riders at a time that would take a lightly spirited 15 minute group ride. The other demo area was setup around a small race course environment. This was crazy fun! We had a person lead us on the first lap, then basically turn us lose to really check out the performance of the Buell motorcycles. I my opinion, this is the best demo experience I have ever had. I really cannot accurately describe how awesome this was.     Once again there were many different styles of Buell’s attending Homecoming. At one point during the day I counted about 130 Buell motorcycles in the parking area. Of the 130 bikes, there were 27 Ulysses. That is a pretty high percent representation for the Big, Bad, & Dirty XB12X.        Another great time at the races today was towards the end of the day, when about 100 of the Buell riders got to take a “parade” lap around the official race course. I found myself hitting speeds as fast as 80 mph on the straight a ways during this so called “Parade” lap. Between the race track demo’s and the ride around the track, I am hooked on the track thing. I really need to find a place in Colorado to do some track days!       With one more day of official homecoming activities, I am already stoked about next year! Base upon what I have seen the last couple days, the MVP of this multi day homecoming event is a very hard working young lady named Laura. Obviously it takes many people to pull off an event like Homecoming, but Laura seemed to be every where, taking care of issues before they became problems. Thank you to Buell for putting on this entire event, and thank you to all the wonderful people who helped make it a success, and finally thanks you to Laura for being such a hard worker!   There is one day left of races, demos, and friends and fun. I will be sure to post some final information of the last day. Again, the really big news is to be announced at 3:30, so stay tuned for that information. Also, my son and I are planning a three day trip back to Denver via the Mall of America, the South Dakota Badlands, Mount Rushmore, and the nice roads of the Blackhills. I will continue to post some pictures all the way till we get back home, so please continue to enjoy! | ||
| Heath3n |
I am SO jealous right now.  I WILL be at next year's homecoming and I WILL be on an'08 Uly. Great recount of the homecoming Maximum. Man, this board is great! | ||
| Galloper |
Great topic... even for us euros without an event like homecoming. | ||
| Court |
>>>even for us euros without an event like homecoming. Don't get to feeling too bad. I suspect Buell has more than one announcement planned for today. | ||
| Bertotti |
When you hit the Black Hills you have to hit Spearfish canyon. A beautiful drive, better in the fall, take the gravel and follow the stream. I've been wanting to get there on the Uly. I'll be in Rapid late monday or tuesday morning, my cell is on the ran page if you are around. | ||
| Saltydog |
Great post!! I feel like the guy who snuck into the vacation pictures....I spied my bike in a few of the pics (uly with aluminum cases). Was great talking with you on friday, good luck on the rest of the trip!! | ||
| Cyclonedon |
Steve, I have been following this tread and also have been to every event since Thursday evening. I agree with all you have said and just want to add that all of the Buell employees have been great!!! And Laura was one of many to keep everyone informed about the delay of the parade lap after we had got staged for the ride and there were several race accidents so while we were there waiting, Buell had a golf cart with an ice chest full of ice cold water passing out for a lot of very thirsty Buell riders! Hats off again to Buell and their hard working employees for all of the hard work they have put into this homecoming weekend! First class AAA!!! one last note on Laura, during happy hour when everyone was sitting around eating and having drinks while listening to the band, (a very good band I might add), Laura came around and was talking to everyone when one Buell rider asker her a technical question. He wanted to know how much antifreeze the new 2008 Buell would require. Laura didn't have the answer, but her smile was all the answer I needed! I, headed up to Road America now to catch the last day of homecoming. I'm already looking forward to next years homecoming, 2008, the 25th anniversary! | ||
| Court |
Hey . . . great point on Laura Denissen. I think the "what will do now that B.R.A.G. is gone?" question has been answered. Laura has not lust stepped up to the plate, she's stepped up, bases loaded and gunned one out of the park. Time's been good to us. We've had some folks who, in spite of wearing the B.R.A.G.-cuffs, still delivered a good time for the owners. The rules, in so many ways, have been rewritten and Laura is living testimony to that. Recalling that nothing makes a great experience more probable to reoccur than reinforcement, I'm writing both Laura and Laura's boss today a handwritten, in the US mail, thank you note. I WANT that type of experience recognized, rewarded and repeated. I'd love it if Laura got 100 letters next week. Trust me. . . I want her to be a WHEEL in her department . . . known as "The Best of the Best". Court Laura Denissen Buell Distribution Corporation 3700 Juneau Avenue Post Office Box 653 Milwaukee, WI 53201 Jon Flickinger, President Buell Motorcycle Company 2799 Buell Drive East Troy, WI 53120 The two most powerful words in the language are . . . 471 people more than doubles prior year records! | ||
| Bobsims |
Steve - MANY thanks for providing your great live blog of the Homecoming event for the enjoyment of Buell riders worldwide. Your place in the Badweb Hall of Fame is certain! Thanks again! Bob | ||
| Maximum |
I'm glad to hear so many of you saying that you will be at Homecoming next year; it is a great experience that will not disappoint. Court: My intension in bringing up Laura was in fact to point out the positive. So many times in life we only hear about the negative things, so I wanted to shine the light on a job well done. Thanks for posting the addresses and the letter idea. I told Laura several times how impressed I was with her efforts, but the letter thing is definitely the way to go! I saw you a few times at Homecoming, but never introduced myself as you seemed to be a man always in demand and didn’t won’t to interrupt. Bobsims: Thanks for the kind words, but the Hall of Fame talk should be reserved for those who have given many years promoting Buell. I am just a guy who loves to talk of the things that I am passionate about. Passion is contagious! Now on to the final day of homecoming, day 5 of my journey. I said goodbye to my new Buell friends at the Sleep Inn, as they were heading home, and my Son and I started the 1.5 hour trip back up to Road America for the final day of Homecoming and the races. Because of construction in Milwaukee, we ended up missing the turn north a found ourselves in view of the great lake. Isn’t it great how when you are on a bike, getting lost is even a great experience? It took us an extra 20 minutes to get up to the races, but the views along Lake Shore Drive were certainly worth it! Saturday I had not fully taken advantage of the Buell demo bikes, so today I wanted to make sure I got some good rides in. Yesterday I demoed the Blast and the 9R on the track. Today I got to ride the Lighting Long, the TT, and 12S low. Besides my current plan to take over the world someday, I have a more short term goal to get my wife a Buell, so call it research. I find it so amazing how all the bike I rode on Sunday have the same engine, but they all create a totally deferent riding experience. I am going to need to own 3-4 Buell motorcycles myself to get the total experience! My personal favorite for me on Saturday was the XB12SS (Lightning Long), from the second I got on the bike, throughout the entire ride, it felt like an extension of me. Hummmm, maybe I could have twins in my garage...  Once again the races were awesome. Not being a seasoned track guy, I had a little hard time figuring out who was racing and how the Buell riders were doing, but it was fun none the less.      Of course by now everyone know the big news. We are talking about the new Buell 1125R. So I won’t go on too much about the bike, other than to say that it is one sexy beast! Every thing on this bike looks like it was done top notch and it certainly has a very attractive price point. The most interesting comment (during the unveiling) to me was when they talked about this as being the new Buell platform. They described it in such a way that let us know that all Buell models will benefit from this new technology over the next several years. Now all I have to do is figure out a way to get one of these beauties in my garage for my new desire to start doing that whole track day thing.     Although the crowds were much smaller on this last day, the enthusiasm was not. It was great getting to know many other Buell owners, and my only regret was not getting a chance to personally talk with everyone that was there. I am sometimes more on the shy side when I first meet people, but I really do love meeting people and creating new friendships. So next year I will try to get out of my shell and meet even more of you.  BTW, thanks Crusty for the cool Bazootie! It will be put to good use. So after the exciting announcement from Buell, my Son and I were off for the start of our long trip home. I say long only because we are not going direct, I am still looking forward to riding every single mile. Our goal was to make it up to Minneapolis Sunday night, which we would have been able to do by 9:30 pm….but those dang thunderstorms (and I am not talking about the Uly engine). Around 8:30 pm we saw some dark clouds coming, then a little lightning (and I’m not talking about an XBS). So the decision was made to pull over at the next exist to get gas, maybe some dinner, and to get our rain gear on. So what happens? You know, you have all probably been there. The skies open up and down comes rain, hail, thunder and lightning about 1 mile before our exit. So we took an extended stop to dry out a bit, have a little bad food, get our wet weather gear on, and then finish up our last hour of riding for the day. We had wet roads and a little drizzle, but it really was not bad. All in all it was a long, but great last day at the 2007 Buell Homecoming event!  Monday...it is a quick stop for my son to check out the Mall of Americas, then on our way to the South Dakota Badlands! Yee Haaaaaa!  | ||
| Court |
>>> I saw you a few times at Homecoming, but never introduced myself as you seemed to be a man always in demand and didn’t won’t to interrupt. I'll find you. Buell owners know they can not escape me! I nominate you and Laura both for the Hall of Fame! Great Event! Great Coverage! I sure hope folks will take a moment to write. Laura has tall marching orders for next year and we need to provide here with all the corporate "ummph" we can. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Maximum, It was real nice to meet you and your son at Homecoming. I even was in a few of your photo's that you posted. Thanks. I'll post the ones that I took and you are in some of them. Homecoming was and is a great event. Maybe next year also, we shall see, and maybe I'll be on an 08' and my boy will be on my Erik Buell signed 06' ULY. | ||
| Maximum |
Day 6 of the Maximum Homecoming journey had a slow start to it. After all of the non-stop fun over the past few days, we decided to sleep in a little, and then go check out the Mall of Americas (which at the request of my son is why we are taking such a round about way back to Denver). It is most certainly a huge mall, with an indoor amusement park in the center, but to me it really is just another mall with all the same stores you see everywhere else. But it was a big deal to my son, and he seemed to get much pleasure out of buying a polo shirt in this mall, even though it was from a store where he can shop 10 minutes from our home. Oh well, another item checked off of things my son wants to do, and a few cool points for Dad for helping to facilitate it!   Monday we had a goal to get close to Rapid City so that we can check out the Badlands, Mount Rushmore and the Blackhills on Tuesday, prior to heading back to Denver. 90% or more of our 500 mile journey was absolutely as beautiful weather as we could have asked for. It was sunny with temps in the low 80’s pretty much all day. Here we are outside of a south western Minnesota country fuel stop.  Of course it is the 10% that will always get you. We had the same scenario as the night before, with storm clouds building on the horizon around 8:00 pm. Even the Garmin GPS weather alert system let us know of the severe weather up ahead. So we decided to be smarter today by stopping to put on our wet weather gear before it actually started to rain. Although it might have been even smarter to wait out the storm, I decided to press on to our scheduled stop about an hour more down the road. Well not more than a couple miles back on the highway it started to rain. The wind picked up and the lightning started to crack all around us, it was scary!  Even with sometimes sideways wind and rain, the Uly did a great job. I slowed down during the harshest parts of the storm, but the bike felt great with never any feeling of a loss of traction or control. The other successful test was on our Olympia mesh riding suites with their rain liners installed. For the price of these suits, I figured that they had better keep us dry, and that they did. Even with over 30 minutes of fierce wind and rain, I was completely dry when we arrived at our destination. The only thing I noticed was a slight amount of moisture around my neck area, but everything else was absolutely bone dry! All in all, not as exciting of a day as the last several days, but still a great ride on the Buell. As there is lots of time to think while riding, I was thinking of things that had impressed me this past weekend. One thing was Buell’s corporate values. I could not find them on their website, but they were posted in their Headquarters and referred to several times during Homecoming (If anyone happens to have the list, or a picture of corporate values plaque from the classroom, please post it). I have worked for companies before that had a great set of core values, but when it came right down to it, I couldn’t tell if they actually practiced them, or if it was a list that the CEO came up with following some leaders' seminar. Everyone that I either spoke with (or that gave a presentation) this past weekend seemed not only to believe in Buell’s corporate values, but also appeared to be guided by them! I find this extremely impressive. I love my Ulysses, and I just can’t ride it enough, but now I feel a sense of pride in knowing that I am riding something that symbolizes honesty, integrity, and a commitment to customers and maximizing their riding experience. What I saw during this Homecoming event was outstanding leadership, and a cream of the crop work force that fully embodies the vision of Buell. Sorry to get all mushy but, Buell….”I Love You Man!” | ||
| Tigrridr |
Hmmm - after reading all this, the Tiger may need to move over a little and make room for an 08 Uly ... | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Great ride report, Maximum. Enjoyed all the photos. Next year I expect to see your son riding his own bike to homecoming. You met my son, Sage, and he is only 15 with a learner's permit and he rode like a champ, even in that crazy traffic through Milwaukee on the way up to Road America. Make darn sure he takes the MSF course though. By the way, if you have anymore questions about becoming an MSF instructor just email me. | ||
| Bertotti |
I left Rapid City this morning. Went to Dickinson ND then over through fargo and down to Sioux Falls. Some beautiful weather and some bad storms but they will be worth it when you drive through the Black Hills! | ||
| Etennuly |
Steve, it was great to finally meet you, and your son. Your bike looks as I expected....a really good paint job and way too clean! I like what you did with the color change and I meant to ask you why your top bag is different than all of the rest of them, but when we got back Saturday evening Mark and I were a bit preoccupied. I'm really glad to see that you guys had a great trip too! Uly's Rock!! | ||
| Maximum |
Etennuly: It was great meeting you too, I hope that you are feeling better. The top case is the 50 liter Hepco Bag, which can fit two full face helmets. It is great for trips. Now onto the final report... The last day of our Homecoming trip started Tuesday morning with a quick stop in downtown Wall, South Dakota. The rain had finished up last night, but we woke up to sounds of high winds instead. I could tell by the flag outside that we were in for an exciting day!   Next we took a minor detour to ride through the Badlands of South Dakota. This is a very majestic area that is worth the $10 National Park fee to drive through. There are a few nice curvy roads there too, which was a welcomed break from the miles and miles of Interstate that it took us to get there. The Badlands are so large and unique that pictures can never do it justice, but still I try.    Next stop was Rapid City and the Blackhills area. We decided to just drive through the Mount Rushmore area, and not to stop for very long, in order to save a little time. If we can make it home by 6:00 pm, I can catch my daughters' final softball game of the season. A funny thing happened as we departed the Interstate in Rapid City bound for Mount Rushmore; at a stoplight we came up behind Kip, a fellow Uly rider out on a joy ride with a buddy. One good thing about having a red (sunset orange) Uly is that most Badwebbers know who I am. We didn’t take time to chat too much, but it was pretty cool to see another Uly on the road outside the Homecoming events. The Blackhills area of South Dakota is a beautiful part of the country with many things to see and do. I saw a big bill board for an Alligator petting zoo, but then realized when I got closer that it said “this is no...” in small letters. Both the Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monuments are magnificent structures to see, and the surrounding Blackhills roads aren’t a bad deal either!   A couple more stops for fuel, and we were back in Denver, right at 6:00 pm! It was a great trip for my son and me. Each of us had our grumpy moments; especially when we got tired, but it was well worth the quality time we got to share together. This Buell motorcycle has given me an opportunity to connect with my children in a very special way. This has been very important to me following my 2006 tour in Iraq, and my career driven absentee fathering I was doing even before being deployed. The final numbers were 2876 miles on this seven day Buell Homecoming trip.   During this trip I kept thinking about a quote from the movie The World’s Fastest Indian. Where the character played by Anthony Hopkins is asked by the boy next door “are you ever afraid?” in reference to riding his fast motorcycle. And his reply was “No….you live more in 5 minutes on a bike like that than most people live in an entire life.” That is how I feel about my Buell Ulysses. The experiences I am having with this bike will last me and my family a lifetime! In closing I would like to say thanks for everyone that has followed this thread over the last week. I look forward to seeing you all next year at homecoming! | ||
| Bearly |
Great coverage of your trip. I had to work and was a bit sad that I missed the homecoming but you made me feel like I was there just a little. Thank you for you time and effort. PS. please hit the "more" button on your zumo and let us see you "highest speed"! | ||
| Hughlysses |
Not to diminish her concrete contributions to Buelldom in the slightest, but does anyone besides me think Laura would make an awesome 2008 BadWeb calendar girl? | ||
| Etennuly |
Laura is not only a great looking woman, but she has to be one of the best people in the world. I got to see her work for a while as I was temporarily incapacitated(couldn't get my boots back on so I had to bare foot it around the hospitality tent). She was very attentive to Wolf and I, and was our transport to the track hospital. She checked on us regularly to see if we needed anything. THANK YOU Laura! One thing I noticed, she wasn't alone, there is a good team at Buell there! Steve, Awesome job at recording the trip. Is 2876 your personal record on a bike? This trip I did 1783 miles, my longest yet. | ||
| Snowscum |
Great write up and photos Steve! Wish I would of went with you but not ready for long trips on a motorcycle. Not sure if I ever will be. Interstates(bores/sores) me no matter what Im driving. Again glad you had a great trip and will hopefully ride with you one of these days. | ||
| Maximum |
Bearly: Here it is. The max speed must have been during our parade lap around the Road America course, cause it would have been speeding any where else.   Etennuly: Yes that is my personal best bike trip distance. I would have done a little better 20 years ago when I rode my brand new CBR1000 from Louisiana to New Jersey to visit my parents, which was about 1500 miles one way. Unfortunately a little high side incident prevented me from making the trip back home on the bike (until a month or so later). Snowscum: Thanks, we need to plan an Estes Park ride for later this month. | ||
| Saltydog |
Maximum, I plan on riding through your area on my way to Taos later this month...send me your number. Planning on riding to Mt. Evans area then continuing south. Tim | ||
| Maximum |
Saltydog: PM sent. | ||
| Jammin_joules |
I have some good news, dealer told me he specifically asked, and was told, 2008 front end is retrofittable to older models. So you get same wheel base (forks offset axle behind axis of fork tubes to maintain the rake and wheel base) larger fork tubes, imprved fork anti-dive, and increased turn angle from 54 deg to 74 deg. Joules ridin' ~jammer | ||
| Us_uly |
Steve, Great posts and it was a pleasure riding with you and your son. I'll add my 2 cents that Erik Buell and his company are outstanding people. I am proud to own a Buell! I'll share one additional story. As we were getting ready to leave for Uke's, I noticed a couple starting their bikes for the ride. The woman was on a Blast and was having a tough time getting it to run. Some of the guys from Buell took the bike into the factory and had it torn apart in a few minutes. They found a cracked part on the carb, found a replacement and got her back on the road! |
