Last year Buell came out with the Ulysses XB12X to resounding acclaim in motorcycle magazines worldwide. Dual-sport touring with large displacement street bikes given more suspension travel and dual-purpose tires is popular in Europe where riders go on adventure tours to places with marginal roads. This will probably catch on in America as soon as there's a magazine devoted to it listing interesting trails and enumerating the best modifications, etc.

I finally got to test ride a Ulysses and was pleasantly surprised. The bike is very fast and very responsive. With only 425 pounds to move around, the 103-horsepower and 84-foot pounds of torque make for ultra-quick acceleration. This makes for a hell of an in-town bike and will be much more reliable than a similarly tuned big twin. To make a 625-pound big twin move like this, you would need close to 150 horsepower. Imagine riding a 150-horsepower custom; now imagine getting the same experience for only $11,495 MSRP (they're on sale at Barnett H-D for $9,999).

The only thing Buells have really lacked is killer looks. But the aluminum frame iterations have fixed that problem. Plus, they finally lengthened the bikes so they fit tall people better and are more stable riding. Both the Ulysses and the XB12SS Lightning have two-inch longer wheelbase and a more relaxed steering angle. I'm six-foot-one and the Ulysses didn't feel short-coupled for me.

Another observation was that the steering was excellent and confidence inspiring. My test route has two extremely fast sweepers and a fast u-turn. The Buell hit the same mid-corner speeds as the Ducatis, MV Augustas, Aprilias and other exotica I've previously tested. Even the tires worked fairly well with a tread pattern that looks like a flat-track tire to me. the perimeter front brake on the Buell is very strong, but the back brake is just ornamental, possible a holdover from Eric Buell's racing days. You don't want a strong rear brake on the track, but a little more for the street would be nice. The suspension was super plush. i was looking over my shoulder to change lanes on the freeway and when I looked back there was a huge tire chunk right in my path. It made a loud sound as I ran over it, but the bike didn't jerk or wobble; it just soaked it up. Even the mirrors worked well. At idle, even though the motor was shaking around on its rubber mounts, the images were clear. going down the highway you could tell police cars from civilians, which was great because i forgot to carry my dealer tag. Overall, I think the Ulysses is a good value and riders looking for a super fun, point-to-point city bike could do a lot worse.

Now, why is Barnett's featuring a sport/standard/dual sport/adventure touring bike in a custom bike magazine? That's where the top photo comes into play. This is a highly modified Buell that, to me, says, "Confederate." It looks like a killer streetfighter but has the high torque, fun Sportster motor. This is one of the best looking modified Buells I've ever seen and you can get all the ingredients to make one for under $10K. And this brown Rick's custom shows you what they can look like with a bit of imagination.

-Mark Barnett

Photo courtesy of Harley-Davidson Photography & Imaging