Thursday October 18, 2007

2008 Buell Ulysses

Even since Buell announced the Ulysses, its been a bike that's really caught my eye. When I was much, much younger, I rode a Suzuki DS80 dirt bike. The idea of having something that would be at home on highways, but wasn't afraid of getting dirty, sounded fun.

Several weeks back, a friend in Ames gave me a gift certificate to Zylstra Harley-Davidson/Buell in Ames for my birthday, and when I stopped by there to use it, I noticed that they had a 2006 Ulysses sitting on their floor. I sat on it, started at it, and went on my way.

The following week, I stopped back - this time, with my helmet in the car, and talked to another sales guy and asked if I could take it our for a test ride. They agreed, I was thrilled, and afterwards, the willpower to resist buying one was nearly gone. After leaving the dealer, I stopped at a local Des Moines Suzuki/etc. dealer, and tried out several other dirt bikes, dual sports, and such. No other brand I tried out felt as good as the Ulysses did when I took it out on the interstate. A few days later, I called the sales guy back, and told them to order a 2008, in barricade orange. Projected delivery date: January at the best. I was seriously disappointed.

Well, the second sales guy left the dealer in the meantime, and the third one, Mike, called me last week to let me know that not only did Buell have the bike I wanted, it would be on a truck and delivered this week! Their Thursday delivery rolled in, and this afternoon I received a call that it was ready for me to pick up. During what's been one of the rainest weeks of this year. This month, 5.26 inches, today, just under half an inch.

Despite the bad weather, a friend and I headed up to Ames, I had my rain gear and waterproof gloves (that I just bought a couple weeks ago), and picked up the bike. It poured on the way back, but I was relatively dry, and thanks to the heated grips, my hands were extremely warm.

And here's the new addition to the garage (along with me, extremely wet):

I can't wait to get it out on a nice fall day. Even in the pouring rain, with brand new (slick) tires, the bike handed incredibly well.