Ducati GT 1000, Buell XB12x Ulysses, Triumph Bonneville
 

Today I ran down the hiway an hour south to mow my buddy Brian's grass

Brian was my buddy that died Sept 5th in an accident up in the mountains on one of our motard adventures.

I'm doing my part to take care of his wife, and that means yardwork and bike maint.

Brian has a BMW K1200RS and a 1960's something Honda 50 dream. PLUS while his neighbor was in Iraq Brian was babysitting/riding his neighbors Ducati GT 1000, Buell XB12x Ulysses &Triumph Bonneville.

So it's now MY job to keep them all running and charged till he gets back.

Tough job but someone has to do it ;)


So I try to crank the K1200RS......battery wilted! So I set it to charge while I take my inaugural ride on the Ducati.

Brian always commented that the Ducati was a LOT like his 916 and loved to wheelie…but I’ve NEVER been impressed with the LOOKS of a GT1000..until I rode it.

Holy BALLS is this bike a HOOT!!!

MAN this thing is PERFECT in every way. Ergonomics, weight, turn-in and transition all RAWK. Too bad it looks like SUCH a stuffed shirt..because it’s a dream to ride.

To ME….this is the PERFECT commuter bike where you intentionally take the long way home every day.

It would bring the front up in 1st easily…and if you shifted to 2nd aggressively, WHOO HOOO it was SKYHIGH

Next was the buell…..started it up and it LITERALLY shook itself across the shop. Rode it for a bit but HATED every second….MAN that thing was a rattle trap. No power , and I found no usefulness in the bike at all. Transitioning was OK, and it did have a snap shifting into second…but the ducati would wax it’s ass all day in every way.

Last was the Bonneville. Whatta BRICK…this bike HAD to weigh 600 pounds….HAD too. No personality at all…NONE.

To sum it up, if you strapped a BMX bike to a treadmill firmly, then set the treadmill to 20mph, then sat on the bike and tried to lean…THAT’S what riding a Bonneville would be like. Leaning the strapped BMX bike AND treadmill would be easier.

Would not get out of it’s own way.

Got the RS started and rode it…seemed like a limo compared to the rest…but made for an interesting afternoon.

LOVE me some GT1000 now…..DANG

Was there air in the Bonnie's tires?

damn lol we just left the local duc dealer too. spent almost all my time there drooling over a black with white stripey gt1000 just needs clubman bars and maybe some higher cans and that sucker could be my perfect commuter bike. Place was closing so they had some interesting deals going. 5000 off a new 1098s!

32/32 is what I put in them :idk:

To me....just had ZERO character and as much feedback as a jetway in the airport

Shame too, because I've always thought they looked so daggone cool


I've always walked RIGHT by the GT1000 before....thinking IT was kinda plain and didn't scream SEX like the 1098, streetfighter, hypermotard and SOMETIMES the monsters...but now.......WOW....I may HAVE one of those in the future :dthumb:

so did i until i saw a burn your eyes out orange one in the city a few months ago, followed by reading a comparo with the thruxton where it completely pantsed the brit and a youtube video where the guy couldnt keep it down. if i go overseas again i'll probably look to snag one

Boo on you. The Bonnie is a sweet bike.

I guess I appreciate it because I started out riding a 68.

Once you ride the original, the latest one kicks ass!..
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/108/2...bbe82cfe_o.jpg

Don't understand the "lack of power" comment about the Buell.

Considering the Buell is logging 103 to the Ducati's 91 and 84lbft of torque to the Ducati's 67, I'd think you'll find the Ducati working feverishly to catch up the Buell.


Now looks.......

Well if you go into it convinced of what you will find...

Shush - talking about a Uly vs a TLR is like comparing a paper airplane to a SST.

Does the Uly really rattle that much or did Troy encounter one that just isn't tuned all that well? I've heard nothing but good things about 'em. :(

The XB's WILL walk across smooth pavement at idle. Once moving there is very little rattle involved.

now that I think about the engine design I s'pose that makes sense... now about the "lack of power" thing...

I've never had issues with the XB's walking :idk: I personally believe because this bike was so TALL and the COG was over a foot higher made it more "paint shaker" than a regular XB

I LOVE a daggone XB and WILL OWN ONE

What about their engine design is so unusual? I thought it was just an ordinary twin.

The angle of the V. That and both sparkplugs fire at the same time. And it's a single throw crank.

Bounces around at idle because of the motor mounts. Once you get moving, everything is smooth..

and it's a crapload of hardware moving all around at once given the size of the engine


:whatwhat:

If I remember correctly the engine Buell used was a 45 degree twin which supposedly doesn't inherently cancel out vibrations like a 90 degree twin (Duc, TL, SV) does.

Well I had an Aprilia with a 60 degree twin, what about that?

What is the advantage of doing it that way? Don't most twins fire in opposing order?

I've never ridden the Uly, I'm not tall enough for that bad boy. I can only speak of the Firebolt, which I own, and the Lightning that I've rode. Oh, and the Blast, which I rode in the MSF and sounds like a go kart.

Aprilia uses a counterbalancer to offset the vibrations. I don't know if Buell did the same thing.

Dyna, maker of aftermarket ignitions, makes a single-fire ignition for Harley's, that helps with vibration at idle. It got a very good review in Motorcycle Consumer News some years ago. Here's an online review: http://www.harley-performance.com/si...-ignition.html.

My old Suzuki came with points/condenser ignition. Twenty-nine years ago, I installed a Dyna electronic ignition, Dyna coils, and solid-copper sparkplug wires. That damned thing starts instantly, every time.

Thanks for that. It's something worth looking into!