| Author | Message | ||
     Electraglider_1997 |
I teach MSF at the local Air Force base and always ride my ULY to the book portion and range. No one ever comments on my bike and I figure that is so because it is never truly clean or because it is not covered in chrome. Most of these airmen want to buy a Harley or sport bike. None ever mention wanting an adventure type bike. I'm thinking only riders with many years and miles in the saddle finally gravitate toward our type of motorcycle. I've certainly changed in my bike tastes over the years and miles. Never again an overly heavy bike like my 97 Electraglide. I really love the look of the ULY. Do I need glasses or what? | ||
| Red450 |
I think it takes a certain personality type to appreciate the Uly's unique aesthetic qualities. I personally love the utilitarian and industrial look of it. I like to see the guts of my motorcycles. | ||
| Teeps |
Is ULY ugly to the uninitiated? No more so than a Shar Pei is to a non owner of said beast. And you are correct about tastes in motos changing with the passing of years and miles ridden. 30 years ago I probably would not have given a Uly a second look. But in 2005/6 the Uly caught my attention and the rest is history. Next bike will likely be a Griso. | ||
| Buewulf |
I love the look of Adventure bikes, but upon reflection I have to say I don't know if it is because I see them as things of beauty or if I admire the mission and riding culture that those designs represent. I am pretty sure it is the latter after think about it for a second. I suspect that most people who don't relate to wanderlust for the road less traveled probably don't see the beauty in these designs. I think most cruisers are ugly bikes. They just look goofy and useless to me. That is probably the case because I don't relate to the riding culture that these bikes represent. I used to think that sportbikes were kind of ho-hum with a few exceptions until I did my first track day. After that, I see them with awakened eyes and see magnificence in their designs. That may all be the case because I am a big function over form guy. Or maybe we just grow to love what we know or aspire to understand? In any case, you are right: I suspect most people think the Uly is an ugly or at least unspectacular bike. A friend of mine once told me how ugly the Uly was. I countered saying that he said that about ALL adventure bikes. He came back, "Yeah, but that bike is ugly even by adventure bike standards." To each his own! | ||
| Sagehawk |
Electraglider 1997 , do you still have that bike or did you move on? My 96 flhr was a 40 th birthday gift to my self 17 years ago. Back surgery in 06, started attitude change.for different style bikes and smaller bikes. | ||
| Rwcfrank |
Buewulf nailed it, its looks like what its designed for...Riding.. And that means quick, light, great handling and capable of lane splitting, hopping curbs, dirt-gravel-grass and long distance riding. Function over form. AND ITS BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!  (Message edited by rwcfrank on July 25, 2013) | ||
| Etennuly |
The first XB that I really looked at was a new Hero Blue '05 City-X. The dealer had it on one of those near vertical stands. I sat on the floor beside it for about twenty minutes studying the mechanical jewel and engineering marvel that was before me. I could not leave there without buying it. Then I found that I needed trunk space so I moved into my Uly shortly after they hit the market. Anyone calling the Uly an ugly machine would likely call the Apollo Saturn V ugly. That would prove they know nothing in my book.  | ||
| Fltwistygirl |
The short answer to op: yes. The uly is ugly to the uninitiated. Like eg I also ride my uly almost exclusively to my msf and sidecar trike classes. The only people that pay attention to the uly are dirtbikers or other buell riders. And occasionally another coach. If one of the buells is having maintenance done or otherwise is unavailable, I will take the beemer. Inevitably, that bike always draws attention. I agree buewulf nailed it. We uly riders tend to be function over form people not afraid to do a little swimming upstream. | ||
| Schwara |
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Stupid statement I know, but true never the less. If I could have five bikes I would have a sport touring / dual (Uly), a true sport bike (EBR), a cruiser (HD or other), a naked street bike (maybe Ducati just to mix things up), and a dirt bike. Sadly, at this point in my life finances and time allow for only one, so the Uly is by far the best option because she is a transformer in how she can cross roles ... naked/touring/dual sport. She looks a lot like a 2up Lighting today, but in the next week or so she will sport an adjustable shield and hard cases. There is no other option for me right now. Ironically, I had a spur of the moment business trip last week and should have taken the time to put on the MadStad flyscreen w adj brackets, touring shield, & cases but as I was home for < 72 hrs, mid week between trips, I just didn't feel like messing with it. I rode to Southern IN (Madison) and from there to Columbus IN for a week, with nothing but my Triple Tail backpack and a Nelson Rigg 350 ... no shield and no cases, just the built in Triple Tail to strap stuff to. It was manageable, but I kept thinking the whole time how much easier it would have been if I would have bolted on the other stuff. I've also never even tried out my Palmer Cruiser Peg kit ... probably would have worked out well. That being said, even without the other options mentioned Penny handled the trip just fine. What other sport/utility/dual/touring/race inspired bike can do the same? I am currently working out the details for another business trip to "The Motherland" ... for Penny. I have a potential customer to speak with and I would love to take the bike depending on weather and temp. I would definitely transform her for a real rode trip if I do that however ... ~6.5 hrs. Not my longest trip ever, but the longest one I've ever done for business ... on a bike. I would love getting reimbursed for those miles. It is so tempting based on the final location. We'll see. | ||
| Tootal |
BMW GS's are ugly!! I have always loved Buells. They were just too little for me to fit on. The Uly changed that problem so I finally got my Buell. I pretty much appreciate all types of bikes having owned something in each category over the years. I don't hate any of my old bikes, wish I could afford to keep them all! | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Sagehawk, I still have the 97' Electraglide. I have a tough time selling bikes that have given me so many good memories. It needs a battery though. So very different than the ULY. Heavy and sluggish in comparison to the Buell but out on the highway it moves right along. | ||
| Turf_moor |
A non-riding designer friend of mine saw my Uly and said it was a design classic. He really thought it looked good. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Without luggage, I think a Uly really is an attractive bike. Especially in black. With luggage, well, it's really practical.  | ||
| Schwara |
Reep is much more to the point than me. I love the look of the Lightning but the Uly is practical and versatile. So I have striven to get my Uly looking like a Lightning for day to day, but I know that when I need it she can do more. She's not quite as sexy then, but I don't know of any other naked street bikes with luggage that looks better. | ||
| Trevd |
I love my Uly, but I am under no illusions... it is one hell of an ugly bike!! But I'm OK with that. I like ugly things that work. | ||
| Uly_man |
The bikes looks are not ugly just unusual but that, to some, can be ugly. It has nothing to do with how long or how many bikes you have rode, in that respect, but if you have you should know what a good bike is. And given what a good Uly can do it is the best bike I have ever had. I came to the Uly from a Yamaha XTZ750 Super Ten. With some mods it was a great road bike and I only sold it because it was worn out at 70k mikes and not worth repairing anymore due to parts and fuel costs. "finally gravitate toward our type of motorcycle." Some people have done this due to the fashion caused by that "long ride" thing. Many others, or at least me, have found that the cost and single use, more or less, of pure sports and cruiser type bikes a problem. A Uly can, apart from serious off roading, do everything 10/10. It is also and maybe its "Ace in the Hole" very well suited to todays modern roads IE Bad in many cases. The Uly is probably as close to the perfect utility bike as it is possible to get if you need that frame size. Also you can change many things around to make it look like what you want and at little cost. It just needs a little thought and imagination. Something that can be short in supply today. | ||
| Sagehawk |
Electraglider 1997: last time I had flhr out on road, never had a lot of noise, but did not run right. Got home, drained oil and it was ok. Pulled filter and had a bit of metal in it. Tired of 25, 000 mile lifter, cam bearing issues. Hadn't even pulled it apart to see exactly what's wrong yet. Just disappointing when you keep a bike long enough that you can damn near pinpoint when a failure will show up in that timing chest. | ||
| Mark_weiss |
At the nearby AFB training site, questions sometimes. Not often. As noted, most interest seems to be for H-D and sport bikes. At the Army installations. No questions from novices, ever. Very experienced riders, more likely. Usually from the sport tourer crowd. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Yeah, I didn't buy the Uly because it was an adventure bike... they built the Uly because I wanted a big vtwin naked standard with good luggage capability and great handling. I have a KDX-200 next to it in the garage. I know what a dirt bike is, and do NOT want to use one as a street bike. I enjoyed watching the long way round, but wanted a BMW or KTM even less after watching than I did before. They should have been riding DR350's or something. | ||
| Skifastbadly |
Ugly is in the eye of the beholder. So is "adventure".  | ||
| Uly_man |
"I teach MSF at the local Air Force base and always ride my ULY to the book portion and range. No one ever comments on my bike and I figure that is so because it is never truly clean or because it is not covered in chrome." EG what is it that you think these people, who are doing training, are thinking about? Maybe they were thinking more about the training rather than your bike. | ||
| Desertjeff |
I over heard a kid in the parking lot of Home Depot say to his father. Look dad its like a Bat Man motorcycle. I sounded like he though it was cool looking. Good enough for me. | ||
| Pkforbes87 |
I started riding at 20 - learned on a Blast then quickly moved to an X1. All I used the X1 for was sport touring. Bought my XT on 16 October 2009 at age 22. (they were cheap that day) It's the greatest motorcycle I can imagine owning, and I've ridden quite a few bikes that look "better" on paper. And yes - it's one hideous machine, but I can't see most of it from the cockpit. | ||
| Dmcutter |
My grandkids thought mine looks like a Batman bike, too...I think it looks much better without the bags, but I can't see it when I'm riding it. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Ulyman, Don't over analyze what I've observed over the past 5 years of MSF teaching. I can remember only one guy taking an interest in the ULY and to me that speaks volumes about what is attractive to new bike riders. There is hope though. Yesterday my wife and I rode our bikes out to a local state park and this guy actually went gaga over the ULY. He wasn't interested at all in my wife's Sportster. Definitely an anomaly. Way out about 6 sigma. There are a few of us around I guess and we are the ones on ULY's. | ||
| Nallac |
There is hope though. Yesterday my wife and I rode our bikes out to a local state park and this guy actually went gaga over the ULY. He wasn't interested at all in my wife's Sportster. Definitely an anomaly... I have that most of the time i ride with friends with mega $$$$ harleys (well compared to what the Uly's Worth), people wade thru the Harleys to check out the Uly. It pisses them off when kids come up and say i love your bike, they're like what about mine ...  | ||
| Etennuly |
 I get that all of the time also. HD advertises that you should 'stand out in a crowd'.....two million of the chrome sameness should do it!  | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Nallac, Your profile photo of the Buell tuber is a real looker. I fell for the Buells years ago when I demo'd them at the Kansas City, Missouri Harley-Davidson Manufacturing Facility open house event. That was when they were still tube frame. I had never before ridden a bike with such torque and it made me vow to own one. No regrets after buying my ULY once I got the windshield sorted out. | ||
| Teeps |
Etennuly Posted on Sunday, July 28, 2013 HD advertises that you should 'stand out in a crowd'.....two million of the chrome sameness should do it! That's hilarious! Most times when I stop at the Rock Store. My Uly is the only Buell, in a sea of H-Ds, BMWs and Ducatis. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Buells are a collectors item already. Those that sell them will regret it. Doc Greg is probably weeping over giving his away. |
