First off, let me just say, Sorry for not posting for a while! I took a longer than anticipated Christmas break.

So, back to the bike story. The dealership discovered that the engine would have to be completely rebuilt, essentially, which was an expensive job. But, since the issue never should have happened in the first place, they thought that the Uly would be a good candidate to ask H-D to pay for the repairs, even though the bike was well out of warranty (over 50,000 miles…).

While at the dealership for the 1125R test drive, we saw another ‘06 Uly that had been traded in, that they were selling, with 40,000 fewer miles on it. Making a mental note, we headed back to wait.

And wait we did! It was weeks before we finally learned that H-D would cover the repairs. As soon as we heard it, Jim decided to ask if he could trade the bike in on another. He wound up trading it in on the ‘06 Uly we had seen. So, with that and a few thousand dollars changing hands, he managed to remove 40,000 miles from his bike, and we could ride again.

Unfortunately, the wait for the new bike happened to be during the last of the really nice fall riding weather. Therefore, we haven’t been out recently as much as we would like. But… I got heated pants and chaps for Christmas! We might just get a bit of riding in after all!

So there is Jim, stranded on the side of the road. He wound up having to call AAA and have them trailer the bike back home, about 50 miles. It ruined his whole planned bike trip, of course.

So he had Ray Price Harley come out and pick up the bike at his house. It’s a busy shop, and they didn’t have time to thoroughly look the bike over for a couple of days. When they did, they told Jim they would have to open up the engine in order to see the extent of the problem, which would cost a fair amount of money.

But, as everyone at Ray Price knows Jim, they decided to see what they could do to get Harley to do the repair for free, since it was obviously a mechanical defect on the bike. Even though it had 50,000+ miles on it, there was no other reason for the engine to fail.

When they did open up the engine, they found this:

Rear cylinder on the bike, with the piston removed.

The exhaust valve had broken and dropped into the cylinder, contacting the piston and shearing off metal fragments. Of course, this wrecked both the front and rear cylinders.

Broken valve spring

Damage to the front cylinder from metal debris

Fortunately, Harley was convinced to do the repairs gratis due to the obvious mechanical issues. But Jim decided, the bike had just become too unreliable for both of us to do the long rides we enjoy. So he started looking for another one.

The process up to this point had taken about 2 weeks. While Jim does also have a Buell Blast that he was able to ride, I hadn’t been on a bike, and we hadn’t been on a ride together, in that time. He had always wanted to try out an 1125R, though, one of two SportBikes in the 2009 Buell lineup. If you know anything about sport bikes, they are not meant for passengers. But, being game for just about anything involving riding with Jim, we hopped on for a test drive of the 1125R.

Almost the instant we headed out of the driveway at Ray Price, I knew this was not the bike I wanted to ride. Take a look at the specs from Buell. See the pointy end at the seat? That’s where I was sitting. Not the most comfortable place in the world – especially on a 146Hp bike with a V-twin. Now, Jim is a great bike driver. He’s careful, pays attention, and doesn’t take too many chances. But on that bike, I felt constantly like I was just going to fall right off the back of that pointy seat. It was precarious, painful, and downright unpleasant.

When we returned to the dealership (after about 20 excruciating minutes), I told Jim I didn’t think it was the right bike for a passenger. I assured him, however, that should he choose to buy a new bike, he should get the one HE wants and not one that will be the most comfortable for me as a passenger. Because, at the end of the day, it is his bike, and his ride.

He agreed, though, and said there was no way he could ride a bike like that on the 1,000 mile trips that we do every few months. And he wanted something comfortable for both of us.

Next: A goodbye and a hello.

Jim enjoys nothing more than a good problem to fix, so he was looking forward to getting his hands dirty with the bike. I was there to document the process, as well as lend a hand when needed.

He started by checking the 77 connector – this is a frequent point of failure on Buell Ulysses motorcycles. His was fine.

Buell Ulysses 77 Connector

On to checking under the primary inspection cover. This is where he found the problem.

Buell Ulysses Clutch Adjustment

Rotor and clutch basket with cover off

This picture shows the rotor on the left and clutch basket on the right. The gears on the left perform the same function as an alternator on a car. The only difference is that on a bike, the rotor is on the outside and stator is on the inside. There is a great picture of this here.

The inside of the left wheel has magnets glued on the inside – extremely strong magnets. These rotate around the assembly of copper wires called the stator. One of the wires in the stator had shorted out, and the battery was no longer charging because of it. That’s why the bike had died in the driveway.

Since the stator problem usually takes out the voltage regulator too, Jim replaced all of it at once. That got it running fine again. The weekend after Suches, Jim was planning to do some riding out near Asheville, which is about a 2 and a half hour drive, up in the mountains.

Halfway there, somewhere outside Greensboro, Jim heard an odd noise from the engine, like something breaking. Then, the bike cut out.

Next: Bigger problems… the Uly goes into the shop.