Was trying not to have a street bike after owning many fast ones. Always kept and eye open for a good deal on the wierd but cool Buell Ulysses cuz I think they are weird and wonderful. Buddy bought a Multistrada to replace his Buell and made me an absolutely smoking deal. I almost feel bad, like I stole it.
Buddy Ed bought the Buell after reading all the love for them. Kinda hated it. EFI sucked and he had some issues. farted around with it and after 300 miles decided he wanted a Multistrada. Bought a nice one. Then decided he would have a local ADV forum dude who knew Buells come over to remap the EFI in an attempt to make it run better for sale. I see it is for sale and ask Ed about it. He sends me an Email talking me out of it or so he thought. Then I see the CL ad and good price. Contact Ed again about it. Funny thing is I guess the remap did wonders for the bike and now he is not sure the Multistrada is better!!! He offers the Buell to me at an amazing price and we met yesterday for a 100 rip on the two bikes. I fell in love with the Buell and bought it.
Here is what I like about it after 2 rides and about 150 miles.
Motor:
Vibrates to much at idle. Has some special Buell isolated mounting and it is very smooth underway. Remapped EFI is very good. Bike has gobs of bottom, nice mid and no top. Everything happens between 2500-4500 RPM. Short shift and grunt it around. Has a remapped EBR ECM and some special gutted stock muffler. Is semi loud but a very pleasing Harley like rumble that is fun to listen to. Passing cars at speed with zero shifting is EZ. After getting used to it I really like the motor. Its slightly rough and snotty in town and at slow speeds but after about 30 MPH it is blissful and fun. Likes to cruise about 70 and blips to 100 with a flick of the wrist. Oh, bike shifts very smooth and EZ, was not expecting this from a "harley" motor.
The Multistrada in comparison, is much smoother down low but its "low" is 2500 RPM higher. IT makes slightly less bottom, good mid and way more top end. what I did not like about the Duc is it has a weird vibration about cruising speed. IT is smoother than the Uly for the most part but where you hang out most the day rev wise the Uly is smoother, feels better and has a lovable vib to it. Seem they would be close in a race but hard to tell. The Duc for sure is more modern and spunky feeling. The Uly is more visceral and bad ass feeling.
Frame / handling:
Both bike have brand new michelin radial pilots on them. The Buell is crazy neutral. Super planted, ignores road irregularities, handles amazing (does not drop in or stand up just goes exactly where you ask it to). I love the handling.
Suspension:
The Uly has amazing suspension. Showa inverted forks and shock. Forks have external preload, rebound and compression. Shock had a cool knob to twist for the preload and reb/comp. Fully adjustable top notch components. These great suspenders and the amazing frame and geometry speak to me. Unaffected by nasty back roads it eats up chop and and stays on line. For the failing mountain back roads I rode it is excellent.
The Duc to me had inferior suspension feel but I did not adjust either of them so who knows.
Brakes:
This to me is a semi low point on this bike but know from the rave reviews on the brakes can be addressed. Front has a shimmy (warped rotor?) but works well and has lots of power. Rear works fine but has crap feel like pushing on a hunk of wood. Both are fine as is but could be improved which I will look into.
Ergonomics:
This is the Uly so as such has a very upright and comfortable sitting arrangement. Almost dirt bike like and fits me perfect. Seat is very big and wide and nice. Duc's seat was no where as good to me.
Cool stuff:
- Buddy Ed hooked me up. Gave me software and a cable to remap and do anything I want to the EFI and ignition timing. WOW, how cool. Also included 2 ECM's so i can map and swap them out as I like. How cool is that!!!
- Rear rack thing is cool. Three position, forward for a tail bag fit over the passenger seat, upright for passenger backrest or backwards for larger cargo. How freaking nice, well designed and useful.
- Belt drive. Super smooth and quiet, no adjustment, virtually lasts forever.
- Underseat storage and power outlets. LArge area under the EZ to release seat is very nice and the addition of a power port is awesome. I can charge my phone or whatever while going down the road. also has a power port on the dash. Very nice.
- Fuel in the frame, oil in the swingarm. Forward thinking and seems to work well.
- Hydro lifters, no valve adjustment ever. This and the air cooling and belt drive mean change the oil and ride. Spin on oil filter means super EZ changes.
- Factory cylinder fan and oil cooler. Nice additions and attention to details.
- Came with really nice side bags which I ripped off first thing as I don't plan any long trips but cool to have.
Should be fun. Hope to hammer out some miles here shortly.
6 foot 6 Ed...
before i removed the bags...
Buddy Ed bought the Buell after reading all the love for them. Kinda hated it. EFI sucked and he had some issues. farted around with it and after 300 miles decided he wanted a Multistrada. Bought a nice one. Then decided he would have a local ADV forum dude who knew Buells come over to remap the EFI in an attempt to make it run better for sale. I see it is for sale and ask Ed about it. He sends me an Email talking me out of it or so he thought. Then I see the CL ad and good price. Contact Ed again about it. Funny thing is I guess the remap did wonders for the bike and now he is not sure the Multistrada is better!!! He offers the Buell to me at an amazing price and we met yesterday for a 100 rip on the two bikes. I fell in love with the Buell and bought it.
Here is what I like about it after 2 rides and about 150 miles.
Motor:
Vibrates to much at idle. Has some special Buell isolated mounting and it is very smooth underway. Remapped EFI is very good. Bike has gobs of bottom, nice mid and no top. Everything happens between 2500-4500 RPM. Short shift and grunt it around. Has a remapped EBR ECM and some special gutted stock muffler. Is semi loud but a very pleasing Harley like rumble that is fun to listen to. Passing cars at speed with zero shifting is EZ. After getting used to it I really like the motor. Its slightly rough and snotty in town and at slow speeds but after about 30 MPH it is blissful and fun. Likes to cruise about 70 and blips to 100 with a flick of the wrist. Oh, bike shifts very smooth and EZ, was not expecting this from a "harley" motor.
The Multistrada in comparison, is much smoother down low but its "low" is 2500 RPM higher. IT makes slightly less bottom, good mid and way more top end. what I did not like about the Duc is it has a weird vibration about cruising speed. IT is smoother than the Uly for the most part but where you hang out most the day rev wise the Uly is smoother, feels better and has a lovable vib to it. Seem they would be close in a race but hard to tell. The Duc for sure is more modern and spunky feeling. The Uly is more visceral and bad ass feeling.
Frame / handling:
Both bike have brand new michelin radial pilots on them. The Buell is crazy neutral. Super planted, ignores road irregularities, handles amazing (does not drop in or stand up just goes exactly where you ask it to). I love the handling.
Suspension:
The Uly has amazing suspension. Showa inverted forks and shock. Forks have external preload, rebound and compression. Shock had a cool knob to twist for the preload and reb/comp. Fully adjustable top notch components. These great suspenders and the amazing frame and geometry speak to me. Unaffected by nasty back roads it eats up chop and and stays on line. For the failing mountain back roads I rode it is excellent.
The Duc to me had inferior suspension feel but I did not adjust either of them so who knows.
Brakes:
This to me is a semi low point on this bike but know from the rave reviews on the brakes can be addressed. Front has a shimmy (warped rotor?) but works well and has lots of power. Rear works fine but has crap feel like pushing on a hunk of wood. Both are fine as is but could be improved which I will look into.
Ergonomics:
This is the Uly so as such has a very upright and comfortable sitting arrangement. Almost dirt bike like and fits me perfect. Seat is very big and wide and nice. Duc's seat was no where as good to me.
Cool stuff:
- Buddy Ed hooked me up. Gave me software and a cable to remap and do anything I want to the EFI and ignition timing. WOW, how cool. Also included 2 ECM's so i can map and swap them out as I like. How cool is that!!!
- Rear rack thing is cool. Three position, forward for a tail bag fit over the passenger seat, upright for passenger backrest or backwards for larger cargo. How freaking nice, well designed and useful.
- Belt drive. Super smooth and quiet, no adjustment, virtually lasts forever.
- Underseat storage and power outlets. LArge area under the EZ to release seat is very nice and the addition of a power port is awesome. I can charge my phone or whatever while going down the road. also has a power port on the dash. Very nice.
- Fuel in the frame, oil in the swingarm. Forward thinking and seems to work well.
- Hydro lifters, no valve adjustment ever. This and the air cooling and belt drive mean change the oil and ride. Spin on oil filter means super EZ changes.
- Factory cylinder fan and oil cooler. Nice additions and attention to details.
- Came with really nice side bags which I ripped off first thing as I don't plan any long trips but cool to have.
Should be fun. Hope to hammer out some miles here shortly.
6 foot 6 Ed...
before i removed the bags...
Man that thing had some vibes.
