Why so few motorcycles in today's emergency services?

[rastuscat]

Keep up your campaign, it makes sense.

I'll start campaigning closer to the election.

DOH !! Which campaign are you talking about?

The one I have to make bikers safer? The one to keep Popo bikes on the road? The one to keep my 13 year old in check? The one to have everybody wear seatbelts?

No wonder I'm confused.

[willytheekid]

There are others too. Guzzi does one, and obviously Harley. Can you see us ever riding Harleys?

....Hmmm but a Guzzi ....well....as long as they came with a copy of Guzziology and a good set of road tools....you'd be fine!

Mind you, I'd LOVE to get a go on one of those BMW's, seem to be a very nicely sorted bike....and the guys usually riding them around Chch seem to be enjoying themselves most of the time.
I always give them a friendly biker Nod or wave when I see them out and about, they always happily wave back.....Just another Biker out enjoying the ride to me

....you ride the cop bikes rastuscat?, are they nice to ride?, any difference compared to the civy model? (whats your opinion of them)

[Jack Miller]

I agree there's a place for bikes in traffic enforcement but the case seems even stronger for emergency situations, like when people are bleeding and / or being attacked. In those situations a bike arriving so much sooner than a cage could really save lives - and show bikers as heroes (in contrast to the popular, biased, ill informed view that we're all mayhem on two wheels.) And they'd be a lot cheaper than helicopters, which is about all that could get there quicker.

Although, small, cheap helicopters maybe ...? A mosquito could carry a decent first aid kit for the ambo service, and a machine gun for the armed offenders squad.
http://www.innovator.mosquito.net.nz/mbbs2/index.asp

[Parlane]

rastuscat,

Do you have access to a patrol car as well as a bike?

Like if the weather is absolutely terrible can you just grab a car, or are you stuck on the bike?

If you're stuck on the bike, what did you do during the snow and grit storms?

[davereid]

The issue for the Police seems to be the specification. Mind you it does give them nice bikes. But IMHO lots of smaller quick little bikes would be ideal, especially for Urban Patrols.

I had a Kawasaki ER6F for a while, and it was a great bike.

Quick enough to catch any realistic car in an urban environment, and still pretty quick on the open road.

Amazing fuel economy and easy on tyres and chains.

The old days when bikes needed extra batteries for radios, sirens lights etc are pretty much gone.

LED Lights and electronic sirens draw under an amp, radios fit on belts, and really the bikes need minimal storage.

I guess in the modern world fitting a set of panniers to carry a ticket book and a laser gun would require hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of testing to ensure they didn't change stability at speed etc etc.

Even if charging systems proved a little marginal its a very easy fix - simply rewire so that the bike runs day running lamps at 3 watts instead of a 55 watt headlight and the job is done.

[Parlane]

The issue for the Police seems to be the specification. Mind you it does give them nice bikes. But IMHO lots of smaller quick little bikes would be ideal, especially for Urban Patrols.

I had a Kawasaki ER6F for a while, and it was a great bike.

Quick enough to catch any realistic car in an urban environment, and still pretty quick on the open road.

Amazing fuel economy and easy on tyres and chains.

The old days when bikes needed extra batteries for radios, sirens lights etc are pretty much gone.

LED Lights and electronic sirens draw under an amp, radios fit on belts, and really the bikes need minimal storage.

I guess in the modern world fitting a set of panniers to carry a ticket book and a laser gun would require hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of testing to ensure they didn't change stability at speed etc etc.

Even if charging systems proved a little marginal its a very easy fix - simply rewire so that the bike runs day running lamps at 3 watts instead of a 55 watt headlight and the job is done.

While the bikes might be more economical, what is the distance you can get out of a 1200 anyway? I assume it is still less than a car? The tank can only be so big on a bike.

[wysper]

i think its just auckland, wellington and christchurch that have bike cops, rotorua had a bike that was shared but apparently each bike counts as a vehicle on paper which means why have a bike that costs more to buy that a holden and carries less crap = sell bike.

Pretty sure I saw a cop bike in the 'tron the other day. Bloody good to see. Almost stopped just to say hello!

[Renegade]

and with training like this it could be considered a dream job!!

http://www.policeone.com/Motorcycle-...b_ref=homepage

sorry if its a repost, but this dudes draggin frame yeah!!

[GrayWolf]

Save money... stick the on Scorpio's ... Jokes aside they would work really well in rush hour traffic and around towns (save heaps on the cops budget)... and be of little use on the open road

That isnt as daft as it sounds, back in the 1970's the UK brighton Police had the venerable Honda CB175, and 200's as 'city patrol bikes'... I think they also used them for initial training of Police riders. Those little 175's were bloody good in traffic conditions.
Other thing I find a little strange here is that they only have one car in the fleet. maybe as there is much less traffic, agreed. But for city, town centre and local patrol cars, again the UK used small engine cars, like Ford Escort 1300 back then, and the 'big cars' were reserved for the traffic division who were the fully trained pursuit drivers. TD cars were obvious by being white not blue, and had the twin blue lights, or the light bar on the roof. I wonder how much fuel the NZ police could save by adopting a similar vehicle policy.

[baptist]

That isnt as daft as it sounds, back in the 1970's the UK brighton Police had the venerable Honda CB175, and 200's as 'city patrol bikes'... I think they also used them for initial training of Police riders. Those little 175's were bloody good in traffic conditions.
Other thing I find a little strange here is that they only have one car in the fleet. maybe as there is much less traffic, agreed. But for city, town centre and local patrol cars, again the UK used small engine cars, like Ford Escort 1300 back then, and the 'big cars' were reserved for the traffic division who were the fully trained pursuit drivers. TD cars were obvious by being white not blue, and had the twin blue lights, or the light bar on the roof. I wonder how much fuel the NZ police could save by adopting a similar vehicle policy.

100% !!!! I remember the cops on little bikes (just) and the Panda cars (Austin Alegros of all things)... you are so right, why do you need big Holdens to police city streets...

[baptist]

Itz cos their dangerous innit?

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/north...2703-23898769/

Read the second page, that's one of the reasons the Chief Constable gave for getting rid of his bike cops... short sighted or what!!!!!!

[rastuscat]

....you ride the cop bikes rastuscat?, are they nice to ride?, any difference compared to the civy model? (whats your opinion of them)

I'm da boss on the section the bikes are attached to, and I'm a trained rider. I only get to ride when my full time riders are on leave, but I love it when I can.

I've never ridden a civvy model, but I can say that the ones we have are gems to ride. When they were new they were identical, but before long they did the BMW thing, and each developed their own personalities. I liked them both, but each of my three full time riders had their own favourite.

One of the bikes is broken just now, so we're down to one. Bugger.

Donuts.

[Parlane]

I'm da boss on the section the bikes are attached to, and I'm a trained rider. I only get to ride when my full time riders are on leave, but I love it when I can.

I've never ridden a civvy model, but I can say that the ones we have are gems to ride. When they were new they were identical, but before long they did the BMW thing, and each developed their own personalities. I liked them both, but each of my three full time riders had their own favourite.

One of the bikes is broken just now, so we're down to one. Bugger.

Donuts.

Bring it over, we can fix it together. Should be a good time.

[rastuscat]

rastuscat,

Do you have access to a patrol car as well as a bike?

Like if the weather is absolutely terrible can you just grab a car, or are you stuck on the bike?

If you're stuck on the bike, what did you do during the snow and grit storms?

Funny thing. One of my riders jumps off the bike when a cloud comes east of Arthurs Pass. The other two are hard core, and would ride in any weather if I let them. We have okay wet weather gear, but no amount of gear keeps you dry for a 10 hour shift.

I did the grit storms just after the quakes. Would have liked a GS instead of an RT, but did it anyway. It was surreal, riding a bike after the quakes. You could access places the cars couldn't. One of my guys worked the whole quake operation (like, right through the weeks of disaster) on one of our bikes. Legend.

I always give my troops the option to hop in a car if it's too shitty. Basically they can't do paperwork etc in the rain anyway, and attending crashes in the rain is just a bloody misery.

I don't let them out in the snow, coz it's bloody dangerous.

As stated elsewhere, I'm a qualified rider, but coz I'm da bwana I only get a bike when my permanent riders aren't using them. I get out as often as I can, but not as often as I'd like. My three riders are damn fine Popos, so I want them loose as often as possible.

Over and under.

[rastuscat]

Bring it over, we can fix it together. Should be a good time.

God, if only it were that simple.

It's a wrestle between us, the fix it guys and the maintenace contract company. It's been going on for weeks, and we've had a loan 1150RT-P until the last few days. Now we're back to one steed.