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08 Specialized Langster

Well, it's gone back to the seller for a refund; Maz took a look at it, and reckoned £2500-£3000 to put it back into decent shape, depending on what he found when he started stripping it down, and the seller just hadn't got anywhere near that kind of profit in it. Apart from the ECU (£400 ) and the rear header (£300), the rear wheel bearings needed replacing, the Free Spirit chain tensioner was incorrectly installed, and he was pretty sure both the front wheel and the steering head bearings would need replacing as well.

The fault? The ECU was toast - some thick-fingered numpty had omitted to replace the post that stops the seat pressing on it at some point, with the inevitable result. The reason the light only came on above 3000 rpm was because the ECU is in closed loop up to those revs, and 'sees' only the lambda sensors, and they were fine.

The exhaust leak was because the rear lambda sensor had blown right out of the header; the welding had failed on the mounting collar. He'd never seen that before, and reckoned it must have been running hellish hot on the rear cylinder due to the ECU problem.

Basically, it's a money pit. I don't need a money pit bike; I have cars for that... I replaced it with a Yamaha BT1100 and an FJR 1300; they're both pretty well bombproof, and the Uly just isn't.

It was nice, but now it's over, so farewell, and good wishes to you all. And a big 'thank you' to Maz, who is a star. If only the Ulysses was...

Sorry to hear your woes and understand, should have bought a tuber (potentially good X1 for sale on here at good money) instead of the Yamaha (My friend has a highly tuned MT01 and it works hard to keep with my M2 on the roads).`

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Today my pet mouse Elvis died ..................He was caught in a trap
There are two types of people in this world, those that can extrapolate

Thanks Graeme. The problem with tubers is that I need the 'relaxed' riding position that a tourer or an Adventure-styled bike offers.

The Bulldog suits my riding fine; I don't corner hard much. It's slower than the Uly, but I can live with that. If I need to go fast, there's the FJR1300 I just bought. It's very heavy, but you don't notice that on the move, and like the Buell, it has a lazy engine with bags of torque. Power wheelies are not a problem (so I'm told; I would never do that...).

If I need to go seriously fast, there's my 520bhp E55K AMG...

All's well that ends well; I'm out, probably for good.

My OH has an FJR1300. As you say they are heavy bikes, but they are very reliable, surprisingly nimble and quick once rolling and the only issues we have had in 56,000 miles is two headlamp bulbs and a battery. Obviously we have needed new tyres over that time but nothing else so far. A great touring bike.

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Valencia Orange XB12Scg - serviced by Maz 2018
Black P3 Blast - serviced by Maz and fixed by Maz in 2019

must be really good on fuel then and have one hell of a service distance before oil changes

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Buell Ulysses XB12X 06/08

Lol. I assumed everyone had their bike serviced as a matter of course every year which would include oil, filters, plugs, brake pads etc.

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Valencia Orange XB12Scg - serviced by Maz 2018
Black P3 Blast - serviced by Maz and fixed by Maz in 2019