| Author | Message | ||
     Hunn |
Has anybody tried to swap out the front fork on the Ulysses to a more offroad worthy upside -down fork to take advantage of an increased tire size and an more conventional brake set up ? Has anybody tried to relocate or change the under slung muffler setup to give the beast more ground clearance? Took my Uly through some soft stuff and the 17 inch front tire is just awful. It gives absolutely no stability there and forget to get out of a rut with it. I do not intend to take my Uly off road racing, but I do run forest and fire roads with deep gravel and mud and encounter deep sand on the coast once in a while and that head shaking and wobbling is not confidence inspiring. My XT600 used to just fly over that stuff without a second thought, on the Ulysses I'm almost wetting myself.  | ||
| Whisperstealth |
That's why I kept my KLR650. KTM is the better dirt bike, Uly the street machine. Kinda taking away part of it's soul me moving the muffler. | ||
| Bzrider |
never sit down the bike will shake its head in the loose stuff if you sit.we have lots of sand in florida even clay roads are sandy in spots its amazing the difference in handling | ||
| Pso |
I was on a dirt road two weeks ago, ran into deep sandy stuff and front end washed out immediatly. didn't even have a chance to enjoy the fall just happened so fast. does well on hard pack and gravel, but sand not for me. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Leave the muffler, it's a great skidplate. | ||
| Hughlysses |
The 17 inch front wheel is definitely NOT confidence inspiring in sand. I once rode through about 1-1/2 miles of loose river sand (at the end of an otherwise hard-packed dirt road) and I was having sphincter cramps by the time I got back to pavement. Bzrider- I'll try your advice if I get in that situation again. Hunn- I'm sure you can improve the handling in the loose stuff with a larger diameter front wheel, but it seems you're going to compromise the Uly's prowess in the twisties by a similar amount. If that's what you want- go for it. I don't want to give up any of my Uly's pavement abilities. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
BTW, The forks are already "inverted". also known as "male slider" | ||
| Ejc |
How about lowering tire pressure for off road? | ||
| Terrible1one3 |
Probably would be cheaper and easier to just get a used KLR650 for days like that. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
If you're getting a separate bike for the heavy stuff, I would suggest something 250-450cc I used to blast through sandpits all the time on my 1989 KLR250. Drove it on the highway at its top speed all the time too. I beat on that thing like an inflatable clown punching bag! | ||
| Bzrider |
you really have to counter balance,seer only with your feet.i have seen guys on klr650 have problems in loose stuff .big bikes have to have body english put in loose on he bars weieght the inside peg to start a turn then counterbalance to the outside peg if the bike washes out your not balanced .duell sport rider.com has a video that helps a bunch on technique | ||
| Uly_dude |
I like the way you think Hunn. What you need up front is a skinnier tire. I've driven light weight KTM motard bikes in the sand with the same results. Those fat slicks just don't cut it. A thinner tire with deeper, aggressive thread would work wonders. And some of those aren't too bad on the twisties either(not race quality, but not bad). The forks are actually nice units, comparable to some dirt bikes. The exhaust is something I'd been pondering to. I figure a straight pipe from the collector back, then get it around the swingarm somehow to a muffler. Or if you really had the bucks, custom build your own headers to sweep the pipes up and back - maybe. Not alot of room to get through the midsection though and the heat would get even worse. Hey, it's fun to daydream. |
