Turns out they had no Ulysses on the showroom floor, so the dealer hooked me up with a XB12STT, which is more sporty in configuration.
I had expected a dealer-escort along a four mile course. Instead, the kid handed us the keys, and told us not to be out too much past 4. It was 2:45. He pointed us toward a twisty road and said have fun.
Keep in mind this is my first experience with a sport riding position. Firing up the Buell, the mirrors start to shake. Plenty of power right down low on the tach. There was a brief moment where I had that panicked sensation of not being able to find the footpegs, after which I found the pegs and had no problems in that department.
The bike has the tiniest shifter peg and brake pedal I have ever seen, I spent the next half-hour hunting for the shifter lever.
The horrible shaking is really only noticeable at idle, and the bike has plenty of torque, of course. Plenty of power on tap, I couldn't lug it low enough for it to complain, and it surged happily forward like a quarter horse at about 5 grand on the tach. I could almost do this, I thought.
But I could not abide the riding position. This is not a knock against the bike; but rather reflects that I am not accustomed to a sportbike seating position.
I really felt like I was going to pitch over the handlebars. In an aggressive stop I really felt that the rear wheel would loft. I imagine my impressions would be different if I'd ever ridden a sport bike of any stripe before.
We rode for about 45 minutes out of town up an old twisty road. My wife took a turn riding the Buell. Her report:
"This thing has plenty of power to spare, just twist the grip and it goes." She had that devlish gleem in her eye. I was so surprised. I figured my dear cruiser girl would never go for anything like that.
What she said was true; especially compared to the cruisers we had ridden, the Buell was sporty and fun.
"What about the seating position?" I asked. That was what bothered me the most.
"It's okay, I got used to it." she replied.
I was totally surprised.
Back to the dealer, they asked us our impressions. I described my wife's devilish grin, and how much fun it was to ride.
"So you liked it?" they asked.
"Not particularly..." I shrugged. It was an interesting ride, and a fun one, but the negatives outweighed the positives. Perhaps I'd feel differently with a different seating position. If I ever get a chance to ride the Ulysses, I'm still interested.
...
This post was taken from a longer one, which included other bike reviews, and an account of getting to and from the dealership.
No comments:
Post a Comment