Regular Car Reviews: 2006 Buell Ulysses XB12x

this is a Buell Ulysses X b12 and it's a failure they have you heard of a bike that is called to talk about Buell is to talk about the tragedy of death Buell is a motorcycle company that failed it's an American failure what what is a Buell it is a harley-davidson in most respects Erik Buell for those of you who know motorcycles you've heard the story number of times but this is a car show and some people don't know the story of Buell and it's a weird thing about cars because some people really like cars they don't care about motorcycles but Buell is a company worth talking about and it's a company worth remembering for what it tried to do and what it tried to do is inject a bit of sophistication into the Harley engine Harley Davidson what is Harley Davidson it's the most purest version of American exceptionalism rolling around in two wheels forget Hemi Cudas Harley's even the name is perfect Erik Buell was a racer who started building sports bikes using Sportster engines the advantage of using that if tuned correctly the pushrod Harley Davidson 1,200 CC v-twin engine makes tons of torque at low end and that does have racing applications if put in a proper frame so what Buell did was made very good handling frames it just happened to use a big low P American engine and later Harley Davidson liked the idea and throughout the 80s and 90s and early 2000s Eric was allowed to run his own division of harley-davidson I know it's much more complicated than that but we're keeping it simple for a simple review so what you have here is a harley-davidson that handles Buell's handle well now this is the Ulysses this is supposed to be a contender for the BMW GS 1200 doesn't really work Buell's while they're very good handling bikes don't stand up to abuse to neglect lots of plastic on these things and you can't build an off-road plastic bike so what this bike really is is a tour wearing the make up of a dual-sport yes there are people who take these off-road but bear in mind a lot of these little plastic bits are just for show Buhl is for someone who wants to ride a Harley but also has some very progressive opinions about gun control a Buell is for someone who wants a Harley but is also in favor of stricter bullying laws a Buell is for a motorcycle rider who would like to ride a Harley but rather would wear synthetic material instead of leather a Buell is for a guy who wants to ride a Harley but also likes full face helmets a Buell is for someone who doesn't believe in starting sentences with as an American I a Buell is for someone who wants a harley-davidson but also wants to commute every day and not worry about banging it up as evidenced by this rear tire I apologise neither the owner or myself realize that the rear tire was worn down to the cords but that's how it is when you commute on your bike every day man motorcycle tires really wear themselves down in the back now not like car tires they'll last I mean if you ride a lot they'll last a season maybe two and you can just wear those things you can square them right off heck I did it although that is a badge of pride for people who ride all the time wearing a tire right down to the cords there's no shame and squaring off a tire you're getting your mileage out and you're getting your hours in every time I get on a Buell I often wonder why I never bought one of these things they're a joy to turn over a little bit scary when you feel a big bike like this lean all the way over but your weight from the big Harley derived engine is down low so this is a touring bike that wants to lean over all the time and it does it wonderfully the only thing that lets you down is you get so much torque and so much pull right from about like 3000 rpm you think it's just gonna go and then you get up to five and then there's nothing it just you get work they're also very very good brakes one of the weird things about Buell's particularly about the lis Ulysses all the Lightning is even weirder or the Thunderbolt is that they have short short rakes you get on a Harley they have longer rakes okay rake is how far the forks stick out you see those old ones from the 70s oh they had huge rake that front tires away in front yeah sport bikes and you look at it's almost getting close to like GT bikes today way way and by GT bikes I mean race bikes like ama racers which Buell did participate in when you have a short rake those Forks are almost pointed straight down it's a tight tight bike and all it wants to do you hardly need much to turn you think and this thing turns over and you got the wide handlebars with the bark Buster's on it grant and I know they're plastic mules also have some very odd engineering they store their oil in the swingarm and the fuel is in the two big frame rails that go on either side that that tank in front yeah isn't a tank now your fuels and the rails on either side I want to like the Buell I want to like it but I can understand why it went under and it really has nothing to do with the build quality yeah some of the ones in the 80s were weird but the company was getting started the problem with Buell is that they never embraced their American heritage and I say this with sincerity if you're going to build an American motorcycle you have to wave the flag high and strong and big and Buell never did they were trying to make a very sophisticated motorcycle a libertarian motorcycle they didn't feel the need to parade patriotism around but if you want to sell a bike you have to make it damn obvious where this bike is coming from I mean look at Japanese bikes we like them because they're Japanese because they're not American we we want to wonder what it's like to be over there so you get on a katana I mean how patronizing is that we need to bike after a sword but people bought them that's why people buy Harley's they put it right who else could call a bike a Fat Boy dynaglide v-rod fothe tail 83 iron Road King elector Glide what does Buell call this the Ulysses an Irish novel good ones dream of consciousness it's pretty easy to understand once you get it but getting it's a bit hard and I'm aware what Stephen Fry said about it you can't teach Ulysses to high school kids because it's a novel about nothing and this is a bike about nothing it looks like it goes off-road but it doesn't it is a Harley but it isn't it's an American but it doesn't say it is except for here I wish you'll stuck around though but it's one of these things that I like in my head and I don't know if I'd ever put money behind it the blast was fun I didn't own one but I wrote it I love the blast the Thunderbolt was great the 1125 CR was a joy but if I want an American motorcycle I want to eat a double cheeseburger and just indulge in nationalism and the Buell's don't do that like the Pontiac Fiero Buell's are from an alternate America and when Buell finally was closed when the company shut down they went back to their dimension they came from I don't know call Rick maybe he can find a portal for us to go check it out later don't let your beauty harm ease this makes tons of torque and it has decent specs but its name like the dildo from masters of sex hey have you heard of a bike that is called the C's I roll the last one and now we're go it's got a nice engine but it's not about anything I American failures you

Channel: RegularCars

Views: 303,958

Rating: 4.6979761 out of 5

Keywords: Regular Car Reviews, Buell Motorcycle Company (Business Operation), 2006 Buell Ulysses XB12x, Buell Ulysses, Buell Ulysses Review, Review (Media Genre)

Id: gU1NJWbzJpA

Length: 8min 24sec (504 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 02 2015

Reddit Comments

[u/msnyder622]

I love the Blast

Whao whoa whoa wait what?

[u/jwd0310]

His take on Buell is interesting. I never thought of them as a Harley company. I always saw it as Erik needed some money and Harley had it. All Harley ever did was make life harder for him, enforcing silly rules about their engines and stuff. Then, when they were in a crisis, they killed him. He didn't fail, Harley killed him. Cycleworld did an excellent write up on this when it happened. I can't find it online now though.

[u/roma258]

Buells representing an alternate America was their strong suit, not their downfall. They offered American bikes that could actually go around a corner. The downfall was they were sold through Harley dealerships that (for the most part) hated the brand and wanted nothing to do with it.

[u/godofleet]

<3 R&M reference.

[u/[deleted]]

I've never had the opportunity to ride a Ulysses, but the XB12R is fun/scary as hell. Crazy torque all throughout the RPM range, and corners like it's on rails. He's right though, the main issue was that Buells weren't very attractive from a marketing perspective.

[u/good_morning_magpie]

I love my Uly. Just as capable navigating city traffic on my daily commute as it is on a 600 mile tour loaded up with bags and a big windshield. And the wheelies, oh the wheelies, they come so easily with all that torque. Honestly, this is my seventh bike, and I'm going to be keeping it for a long time. It just does so many things that I need it to in a great way. The only downside I've had to deal with so far is that the engine gets HOT in traffic being air cooled, but it is manageable and has never presented any real issues past minor discomfort. I love my Uly <3

[u/Eyehavenoidea]

Surprised he never went on about how ugly all buells are. Every.single.piece. if matieral in those bikes was designed to be "basic" it looks like. Remember those vhs tapes they showed you in shop of a 3d cutaway engine in motion? That thing came to life

[u/thenewwazoo]

Proud to ride on a square tire? Man, you've got to get out of the flatlands, Mr. Regular. They're called "chicken strips" for a reason. :)

[u/TotesMessenger]

I'm a bot, bleep, bloop. Someone has linked to this thread from another place on reddit:

• [/r/rickandmorty] x/post from r/motorcycles shoutout to Rick at the end of this hilariously mundane review for the Buell Ulysses.

^{If you follow any of the above links, please respect the rules of reddit and don't vote in the other threads. (Info / Contact)}