BMW lands NZ police deal

[Lou Girardin]

They don't have to be fast to enforce the law and do traffic control, they got the R 1s comming for that (whoop's said too much already!!!)

Are these being ordered along with the 6.0 litre HSV's for HP use?

[vifferman]

No idea where I spotted this - I have a bundle of news 'engines' I use each day... and it turned up on one of those yesterday.

Not being "on the spot" as it were, I'm normally none too sure of when exactly these things happened, unless the report specifically mentions it.

No offense, Bob, but your 'news engines' are typically at least a week behind a lot of the online M/C sites, and when you post NZ news it's a few days behind the papers and TV here.

I'll see if I can dig it out (unless Bob has it) but there was a very interesting article somewhere about a guy in the UK who cheekily asked if he could ride a police bike, and ended up not only being allowed to, but being kitted out like a cop and participating in everything the bike cops did (for a week, IIRC) apart from writing out tickets.

[Bob]

No offense, Bob, but your 'news engines' are typically at least a week behind a lot of the online M/C sites, and when you post NZ news it's a few days behind the papers and TV here.

I'll say it again (if there was a video camera on me, I would now be blue in the face)...

As NZ news takes ages to reach me - WHY DO YOU NOT PUT IT ON HERE, IF YOU ARE SO FAR AHEAD OF ME?

It is ALWAYS much easier to criticise than to get off your backside and do something constructive yourself, isn't it?

This is a deliberately open news forum - so if someone finds a piece of news and it isn't on here, then feel free to post it yourself! But... as I always say, don't cut and paste as in the world of news articles etc, they're usually copyright in their original form.

And as for "It is on the TV and in the papers a few days before" - no offense either, but do you honestly think that news appears instantly everywhere? NZ news is not going to leap up the instant it happens, all over the world. There is a trail - TV, which IS instant, gets hold of it. Then the papers report the next day. Then if (and that is IF) the papers put it on their sites, it will quite possibly be the next day. Three days down the line already. So now I do my daily searches and it appears. And if it is interesting and I find it, I put it here... only to be told "This happened days ago". Well durr....

I will also ask a question... as my finding of NZ news is SO far behind you (despite no evidence to your having ever found anything to write about in your life) - then should I stop reporting it here? And leave it up to other people like you to report... oh look, I can't see any items appearing from you...

Yes, I am FUCKED OFF WITH THIS. YOU try putting in the hours, finding things that people will hopefully find interesting, just to get "Please Sir, look at me Sir, I am so clever as I knew about that AGES ago..."

Violet Elisabeth Bott you are not...

[NordieBoy]

Snigger!
He said Bott!

[NordieBoy]

Keep up the good work Bob.
I don't read the mainstream press over here and I've never seen a bike cop in my life.
If I could find articles of interest I would put them up but my typing skills don't allow for this, I would get RSI in both fingers and I would rather read about things than write.

Some people see things as news and others just go "meh, I knew that" and unfortunatly it's the meh brigade that is more likely to respond by posting.

I've got to go and have a finger massage now.

[froggyfrenchman]

On the weekend I saw an example of what Bob was talking about. A police rider with sirens blairing filtering around cars from peg to peg ( no knee down bullshit either !) in a busy area near Harriods. I've didn't believe this type of riding on a tourer was possible. No slowing down by the rider either , excellent riding and quick , very smooth. A Police van followed about 1 minute after , it occured to me how quickly the police here can responed on bikes compared to cars.

Have the oppisite here in Hawkes Bay. Have 2 cop bikes (Late model beemers). Having riden these bikes before i know they a a threat to the rest of us on the road. HOWEVER... the cop piolets in HB cant ride for shit. I outran one on a very tight windy single lane road (admitidally i know it like the back of my hand) Last year saw the 2 bikes at amp show. Both had serious faring and light damage from being repeatabully dropped!

[Bob]

Don't know about the standards of training in NZ, but in the UK they are seriously good. I mentioned their abilities above, but I just read a comparative test in a UK bike mag that showed their abilities.

Test was between a reader, bike cop and a club racer (New Era series, which is pretty tasty). Two tests run; accelleration and a circuit lap. To use a control factor, they used a Daytona 650, as none of the three had ridden one before.

Accelleration test saw the cop ROAST the racer! 0.03 secs faster at 0-60, over a SECOND faster at 0-100 and about 0.10 seconds up at 1/4 mile.

The lap of the circuit (2.5 miles) saw the racer come in 4 seconds faster - but remember the racer is used to riding a circuit... and the really telling thing was the comment made in the article "You could see (the racer) was pushing really hard, where (the cop) was relaxed all the way round".

So you might get a bit of a head start, but you're working at your limits, while they're coming along a bit slower... but relaxed and taking it relatively easy, while you are getting tired, ragged and... oh look, they've caught you.

The magazine summed up the skill levels of the UK bike cops "To try to get away from the law, you're either very stupid or very desperate".

[texmo]

Was this a random cop? or did the police select one for the trial?

[Lou Girardin]

Keep posting your stuff Bob, some of us enjoy it.
All UK bike cops are good texmo, otherwise they wouldn't be bike cops. Much higher standards than here, for car drivers too.
They actually train them at high speed on real roads.

[Rincewind]

oooh, where'd ya hear that?

Twas a joke mate

[Squiggles]

Twas a joke mate

awww, here was me getting all my hopes up

[inlinefour]

BMW has won the contract to supply between 35 to 40 'authority specification' R1150 RT-P motorcycles to the New Zealand police.

The bikes will feature special wiring looms, equipment panniers and reinforced frames, as well as ABS brakes.

BMW will also kit out the police from its range of riding equipment and protection, including thermal riding suits.

The new bikes will be patrolling the greater Auckland area, Hawkes Bay, Waikato and Wellington regions.

The Naki is still safe then

[Da Bird]

Seen my first one today in chch! ermm it looked comfy and practical, that’s something I guess lol

I wonder if any of them police riders are lurking on here?

Yip, often lurking around here....

Would love to know when the R1's are coming... think that is someone's wild fantasy.

BC.