2009 Buell Ulysses XB12X

The 2009 Buell XB12X Ulysses Adventure Bike.
Its a fun little bike that gets a little hot on the right leg. Its a lot of fun having a Harley engine that can pop wheelies, and with a high level of confidence on dirt. A lot of people would argue that it wont do a lot of off roading, so just for fun I took it to the ATV park (and it survived).

So why the hell did I decide to get this bike?
We had just ridden our bikes from KC to Seattle when we noticed Fathom Events was going to have a 1 night showing of the Long Way Down at the AMC theaters. I had no idea about Long Way Round, hell I had no idea who Charley Boorman was or that Ewan McGregor even rode motorcycles. If you didn't know about this either then its about 2 guys who head out from the UK and head to New York heading EAST, then on the Second trip go from Scotland to South Africa. Between the 2 trips Charley Boorman tries the DAKAR and I read his book Race To Dakar (after reading this book I have sort of became a fan of Charlie Boorman). So I went from not know about these movies/books to owning/watching/reading all of them. The idea of taking a bike across America was a ton of fun, and these movies introduced me into the concept of Adventure bikes or duel sports where you can take a touring motorcycle down dirt roads or of roads entirely, thusly not limiting where you want to go. For example have you ever seen something off in the distance and wonder "what they hell is that" or go where roads are not the best, then Adventure bikes are what you want - it allows you to go off the tarmac. So pretty much by the end of the movie both John and I decided to go get Adventure bikes and head out. I thought BMW R 1200 GS Adventure but John said Buell and at that time the Buell's made a lot of sense. So of course we bought a couple of Ulysses and rode them to Canada to go off road about 12 months later. I am making plans to take the bike to Alaska and Mexico. But you do not have to be that extreme. I also have plans to leverage the adventure bike to retrace the Santa Fe Trail (which is mostly paved roads) but I want to use the adventure bike so that I might be able to find some of the original markers.

However back to the point about the bike.
Its a very low maintenance bike, belt drive, air cooled, hydraulic adjusters, etc.. means all you have to do is put gas in it and check the oil. However there are a few "upgrades" you should consider if your taking the bike off the pavement and or planning on riding the bike anywhere the weather is above freezing (Kansas gets well above 100 degrees in July and August).

Ruggedized Modifications:
Touratech Protector for Oil Filter Buell XB12X Ulysses
Touratech Forward Engine Guard Buell XB12X Ulysses
Touratech Lower Engine Guard Buell XB12X Ulysses
Touratech Oil Cooler Protection Buell XB12X Ulysses

Heat Reduction Modifications:
American Sport Bike 5015 - Ceramic Coated Exhaust Header
DEI Black Pipe Wrap Kit with Black Silicon spray
Ulysses® Rider Comfort Kits
Tall Seat for Ulysses® Model - Black
Uly maximum seat barrier (2-piece)

Long distance Modifications:
Buell Ulysses® Tall Windscreen and or MadStad Adjustable Windshield Mount for the Buell Ulysses
Buell Stow-N-Go Bag
Buell® Ulysses® Outdoorsman® Top and Side Cases
Buell Deluxe Tank Bag
Buell Adventure Jacket with Switchback Technology
Buell Adventure Pant with Switchback Technology
Fox Pawtector Gloves
Buell Tool Kit
Stop & Go - Pocket Tire Plugger plus CO2 Inflation
Chatter Box FRS system
Garmin Zumo 450
Kaoko Throttle Control for Buell Ulysses
Camelbak UnBottle 100oz (3l) bottle with extended drink tube
Kuryakyn CrampBuster Cruise Assist

The following are some of the pictures of the bike in its current state:

Buell "Tall" windshield compared to MadStad	Custom Painted fly Screen

Touratech Oil Chiller protector	Touratech lower, New rider comfort kit, and wrapped pipes

Riding the air cooled bike across Kansas (diagonally the long way) in JULY and then back (800 hot miles)

The Davis Building at Friends University Wichita	Greensburg KS Post EF5 Tornado

Windmills outside of Dodge City	An old train where I was attacked by mosquitoes

There are several "centers" of the USA. There is exact center, population distribution center, diagonal center, ect... I personally like this "Historic" Center of the Continental USA where on a train ride from New York to San Francisco this "Midway USA" places you in Kinsley Kansas exactly 1,561 miles from each city.

The Future of Buell? (Should I personally ever purchase another HD product?) Shortly after getting my Buell, Harley-Davidson announced they were shutting down Buell; Something that did not make the news was that Harley also closed several "satellite dealerships". So my local dealership had to shut the doors and Buell had to shut the doors. This was a double whammy due to the mis-management by Harley-Davidson Executives. Glad I am not a shareholder and it makes me think Harley has lost their way. I am going to keep my bikes but may start buying BMW's in the future - or any bike company that actually cares about its customers and employees more than executives that can not even attend their own board meetings. I travel some for my job and was able to drop by Buell before they shut down but was not able to do a factory tour.

Korbin and I road testing the right side intake	The Buell drive sign

Buell HQ	The very last production Buell

So of the 3 bikes I am very happy with the Buell Ulysses because it is the most fun. Each bike has its own unique qualities and uses. The Softail never gets hot with its old EVO motor but is hard to ride further than 60 miles. The Ultra has been all over the USA is comfortable and has a radio but can not get off smooth pavement. The Buell is like a shark that needs to keep moving to be happy. Keep it moving and keep air flowing and you can ride anywhere you need to go. Why 3 bikes? Well they are each very different, all the wheels are different sizes, the engines are different sizes (80, 96, 74) there are different cams (1, 2, 4) the suspension across them is significantly different. The amount of gas and luggage on each bike is different. With the additional of the Buell I do find myself riding the Softail less and less but I just can not get rid of the old guy. I don't think any FY10 Ulysses were made so I might have one of the last ones ever made, and it really is a fun bike - How I have managed to keep from loosing my license with this thing is beyond me (that's how fun it is). Its so fun we are planning a 1,000 mile run in 24 hours to get IRON BUTT Ceritifed.