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Who Needs Six Speeds to Go 30 MPH?

I took a Buell Ulysses for a test ride last week. Didn’t need no stinkin’ sixth gear, ‘cause we played "follow the leader" through a residential neighborhood in first and second gears. Couldn’t talk him into cutting loose on some nearby twisty back roads.

Man, those Harley dealers really know how to show off a bike!

At least the chick behind the counter in the "boutique" section of the showroom was flaunting some cleavage, so the trip wasn’t a total loss…

 

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I got mine!

I got the bag! It's nice, well put together, and looks cool, but danged if I can figure out how to use it.

Bill's Law: "You have to be ten percent smarter than anything you hope to operate sucessfully."

Outsmarted by a courier bag - DRAT!

 

[35377]

Having a K-Paul Moment

Gabe, I read your excellent review when it came out, and reading it again was a nice refresher. But I already have the cool new Buell bag, so I don’t need to comparison shop. What I need to know is how the heck to use it. You didn’t explain it, and neither did the manufacturers web pages linked in your article.

I assume no explanation was needed because the proper use of this type off bag should be intuitively obvious to even the most casual observer. Be that as it may. . . .

From the pictures I’ve seen, the main strap goes over one shoulder and under the other arm, with the bag resting squarely against the flat of the lower back. So far, so good. On the Buell bag, with the shoulder strap adjusted as short as possible, the bottom of the bag hangs right to the middle of my arse (I’m six feet tall with a 32 inch inseam). This seems a little low, but doesn’t interfere when hunched over on my VTR-1000.

The Buell bag has an interesting feature not shown on the bags you reviewed – an adjustable waist strap. This looks like a handy feature to keep the bag securely in place at "spirited" riding speeds. But when I cinch the waist strap around my waist, it hikes the bag up so the top of it is about even with the top of the crack my arse. This position feels better to me, but it leaves about four inches of slack in the shoulder strap.

Now, I have all the equipment I need to turn a long shoulder strap into a short shoulder strap, but given my history of regretting permanent fixes sprung from a fountain of ignorance, I thought that it might be prudent to ask around before I whipped out the shears.

Can somebody help me on this? Hey, would it be that bad if you had to go down and test ride a Buell to score a bag for evaluation?