The clutch is good with low lever effort, but engages late in its travel. Slow progress through town is hindered as the gearing is tall; especially first gear which requires a good slip of the clutch to get rolling. The engine creates a good bit of heat on the right side; especially as outside temps get above 80 degrees. When you’re moving, the heat is much less of an issue, but if you spend time idling in slowly moving traffic, this may concern you. Riding pants seem to ease it, and it is hotter through jeans…but this is a bike you will not ride in shorts (not that I ever recommend riding in shorts). Supposedly, the heat reduces with synthetic oil and a few thousand miles…so we’ll keep you posted.

The wide handlebars offer ample leverage, and the seating position leaves the rider just slightly canted over towards the bars. The foot pegs are a bit farther aft than on other adventure bikes, which makes adding a bit of body English while cornering very comfortable. For me, however, riding to, say above 90%, will take more practice as there is a slight tendency for the bike to stand up during trail braking, a technique with which I definitely need more instruction and practice. The Uly made me realize how dependent I had become on the engine braking, and has forced me to smooth out my throttle to brake to throttle transitions as a result. I am still working on it, but for guys who have cut their teeth on a track, or a riding bit closer to the edge this should be less of an issue.

The transmission shifts smoothly, and even through break-in it never missed a shift. It’s not as user friendly as, say, a Honda transmission (primarily due to a longer throw), but shifts are clean, low effort, and predictable regardless of engine speed and load. Upshifts and downshifts are met with an audible “clunk” that lets you know you’re there.

Thus far, it has been a good companion. This motorcycle seems to engage the rider on all fronts, and makes power comfortably above 3,500 rpm’s with no dips, spikes, or otherwise. Buell seems to have sharpened the street edge of the adventure touring spectrum; kudos to Buell for not short changing the quality of the suspension to save a few bucks as many manufacturers seem to do in this tight market segment. 

The bike sits with a few ticks over 2,000 miles on it in just under 2 weeks, and there have been a few very minor surprises. As the odometer rolled 81 miles, the check engine light came on, just as my brother looked over at me from his new Yamaha FJR1300. Kind of embarrassing….but we pulled off the road, tightened the battery cables, double checked all of the electrical connections, and headed for home. Another 10-15 miles on the road, and the light went off. Turns out, it was throwing a low voltage code, apparently due to the battery terminals being too loose from the dealer. Since then, the light has never returned, even when running the heated grips, heated vest and hi-beam.

There was also slight weeping from one of the oil cooler feed lines, but a quick ¼ turn of the nut that connects the lines to the cooler and it dried right up. These seem to be pre-delivery inspection issues, not indicative of Buell engineering, and neither were cause for alarm and were easily resolved with out returning to the dealer. 

During the first 700 miles, the Uly burned, or pumped into the airbox, about 5 ounces of oil. That seems reasonable for an air cooled engine that is seating all of it bits and pieces, and as it has worn in, it looks to have improved. Oil in the air box seems worse during high load/high RPM running as on my 1,200 mile slab trip she only lost 2-3 ounces of H-D 20-50wt. Running through the mountains, however, leaves visible residue on the inside of the airbox as oil enters through the breather hoses and gets blown around in there. A Buell tech I contacted said a quart every 5,000 miles is within spec, and for now, I am within those limits. Reportedly, it gets better with miles…Next change I am going to synthetic, so I’ll monitor it, and keep you posted.

Future long term updates will focus on maintenance procedures, upgrades, and accessories that can sharpen the purpose of this motorcycle that attacks a sect of bikes known for their versatility and utility. We’ll take her off road, some 2-up riding, and explore the Uly as a touring rig, commuter, etc….

I have a set of Buell hard bags, triple tail back pack, tall windscreen, some crash protection, and a whole lot of trips and miles to share…so keep you eyes on this space for updates.

Check out our 2008 Buell Ulysses forum for more info and to ask Dean questions. Also read the opinion of Kenn Stamp on the bike after he rode it for a weekend.

For more information on Buell head on over to Buell's website.