Rickster.
Some great observations you made. It looks like they allowed you to take the Uly on an extended ride other than a perfect square five minute preview ride.
Was the bike you rode on '07? More on that in a minute.
Just an observation. The wiggle you had at 70 mph+. Mine did when I first took delivery. The bike would oscillate, but still felt planted. It was a weird sensation. However, I had asked my salesman to set the SAG to my weight before I took delivery of my bike. He told me no problem. Apparently all he did was crank the pre-load to the stops. When I went back and checked his work a week later, because of a comment he made when he turned the bike over to me, I found that nothing had been done. I reset the suspension to my specs, and the oscillation at speed by and large went away.
When I say by and large, what is left over is what others are telling me is the crappy tires the '06's had. The Dunlop 616's are apparently a pretty crappy tire, and once I switch over to a Pirelli Scorpion Synch' I'm told what's left of the wiggle will go away. I'm not sure if what I just described to you in the last two paragraphs is what you experienced, but it seems like my first impressions also.
That being said, if you rode on '07 it should have had the Pirelli's on it, so the shake may come down to the suspension being properly set.
I've found the Buell is very very touchy when it comes to suspension settings.
Another of your observations that caught my eye and made me be interested to find out if you rode on '07, was the comment of smooth down low in the rpm band.
Mine is awful, if not downright unsafe, in low rpms in first or second gear. Setting up for a slow corner has not been an easy transition. Granted, I adapted quickly, my left hand becomes it's own de facto slipper clutch, but I really shouldn't have to IMHO. I have to get real creative on my approaches to slow corners.
Thanks for the honest opinion of the Uly. By and large indirectly, you influenced my decision on this purchase with your endorsement of Harley service last year.
Don't get my comments above wrong. These niggling problems should be an easy fix. To be fair, I called the dealership looking for an '07 for a reason. The salesman assured me the bike they had was on '07. I called him out on it after the demo ride. However, I worked a deal on the '06 for 8K plus taxes. I got a set of Hard bags for under cost also so I was under 9K otd. I weighed that against the $7995 I could've got the V-Strom 1000 across the street for, and went for the Uly.