Archive for December 2019

How I Ended Up on a Buell Ulysses

2019-12-16 by Andrew Holmes, tagged as buell ulysses

In my late 30's I decided that two week long trips around the South Island of New Zealand were starting to get a bit much on my ZXR750R as I was getting a sore back and wrists over time, so I changed it up and moved on to a cafe racer style with a Moto Guzzi V7 II. This was a great little bike, comfortable over distance and able to carry panniers for luggage, though it did get a bit breathless when revved out. I really liked the style of this bike - it looked like a bike should, a visible engine with cooling fins, simple single light with a clean and clear instrument cluster. Eventually my wife wanted to come out on day trips with me, which turned into overnight trips, and the little V7 didn't cut it any more as two up it just felt a bit much like hard work. So I traded the Italian Stallion in for an ADV bike - I was originally looking at an airhead R1200 GS (as I love air cooled engines for no reason I can discern) but they are pretty expensive here in NZ, even for an old one, so after looking around at what was out there I settled on something a bit different in the end - a Buell Ulysses!

This bike ticked a lot of boxes for me - it still had a rumbling air-cooled V-twin motor like my old Guzzi but this one had over 100hp and gobs of torque so could happily cruise with me, my wife and all our luggage loaded up with enough poke to easily overtake if required. It is also genuinely a lot of fun to hustle one up - it is relatively light for a large ADV bike at 192kg (dry)* and is quite capable on the many gravel roads we have here in New Zealand. I certainly wouldn't take it single tracking or anything like that but for long distance mixed tarmac and easy dirt roads it is a comfortable, fast cruiser, and fitted with some Continental TKC80 tyres is surprisingly sure footed on the loose stuff.

Buell riding Waikaremoana

So what's next? I've had the Buell for a little over two years and I'm still really enjoying it. I would like to get into some more serious off road riding though, and have secured a DRZ 250 on long term loan off a friend (needs a bit of work before it runs) to see how much I'd actually use something like that. Who knows, I might end up downsizing in the future to something smaller and lighter...

* I've since discovered that H-D must have removed the battery, all oil (including fork oil!), and probably even the tyres to get to that dry weight as the actually measured weight is 223kg ready to ride, or closer to 228kg in my case with the luggage racks and driving lights added. Still lighter than an Africa Twin though!

Welcome!

2019-12-16 by Andrew Holmes

Welcome to honu.nz, my space on the internet to write about all things motorcycles and related topics. I'm a 40 something year old Kiwi bloke who loves to ride. I commute year round by motorbike and try and get away on 2~3 good long rides per year. I've gone through many motorcycle generes over the years, cutting my teeth on two stroke Japanese sports bikes (TV200, NSR250 MC18) before moving on to larger 4 strokes (FZR400, ZX6R, ZXR750R) and then as I got older going to more upright (read comfortable!) bikes (Moto Guzzi V7II, Buell Ulysses). I'm currently really into ADV riding - long trips away with luggage, gravel roads and remote camping spots, so I'm sure I'll end up getting a smaller more dirt capable bike sometime in the future.

Anyway - that's a bit about me, I'll try and add to this blog over time with some of my thoughts on things like tyres, bike sizes etc. Lets see if I actually manage to update it as frequently as I'd like ;-)