For the model year 2006, the Buell Motorcycle Company came across an unfamiliar fork in the road. Tossing conventional wisdom aside, its designers and engineers decided to jump on a path they had never been down before. Anyone familiar with Buell motorcycles knows that they are race born and bred.
Beginning with the very first motorcycle built by now-Chairman and Chief Technical Officer Erik Buell, it has always been about racing. Each new model produced by the company (a subsidiary of Harley-Davidson) is designed to build on previously gained knowledge, centered around making Buell's bikes handle better while getting the most out of every last bit of power, resulting in a faster motorcycle. It sounds simple enough, but as with most things, life has a tendency to toss a few roadblocks in the way. Erik sees these as nothing more than challenges to overcome. His engineering background brings him back to the table time after time with new ideas, and one objective in mind-building better motorcycles.
In a departure from manufacturing bikes built to do nothing but win at the track (and give street riders gobs of pure power and a stout chassis that makes tossing the bike from side to side nothing short of exhilarating), Buell has entered the world of adventure touring with the new Ulysses XB12X.
For those not familiar with "adventure touring," take one part sport bike and one part dirt bike, mix well, and check out the results. In Buell's case, the Ulysses is designed to be 90-percent street bike and 10-percent dirt bike. It's not a dirt bike in the true sense of the word, but more of a bike designed to get off the asphalt and out on unpaved roads and packed surfaces. In the past few years the adventure touring market has exploded. Every day more and more riders are discovering the excitement that comes with riding 'til the pavement ends, then getting out and discovering previously unexplored territory. Depending on where you get your facts, somewhere in the vicinity of 90 to 95 percent of all the roads on earth are unpaved. While this number might be a bit high for the USA, suffice it to say that there are countless thousands of miles of unpaved roads to explore, with many very close to home.
If you're dyed-in-the wool Harley purists who would never think of tossing a leg over a bike such as the Ulysses, think again. The bike is based around the heart and soul of Harley's philosophy: a really strong, torquey V-Twin designed to afford the rider the ability to roll on the throttle and accelerate with ease at almost any rpm range.
As with all other '06 Buells, the Ulysses was designed around what Erik Buell calls a "trilogy of technology" principles, including frame rigidity, mass centralization, and low unsprung weight. When combined, these principles work together, resulting in a better motorcycle.