Motorcycle cops drop Harley – but for the right reasons?

[Bob]

When the Colorado Springs Police force came to renew their bike fleet, a decision was made to move away from their traditional Harley-Davidsons and on to Honda ST1300s.

Nothing unusual in that – the same force switched to Kawasaki in the 1980s, before that company withdrew from the police bike business. But the reason given by Sgt Mark Comte shows a worrying concept of his new machines: "The younger officers would rather be on the Honda," Comte said. "It's faster, sleeker and more of a cafe-racing style of bike."

A café-racer ST1300? Now that we’d like to see!

[yod]

"The younger officers would rather be on the Honda," Comte said. "It's faster, sleeker and more of a cafe-racing style of bike."

and probably 10 times more reliable....

[Bob]

and probably 10 times more reliable....

Funny you should say that... they said the H-Ds were reliable, but given that they're being asked to do a lot of higher-speed pursuits these days, riding a Harley at 100mph (160kph?) or over... and possibly for miles on long-distance chases... wasn't a nice experience!

This from Colorado Springs bike cop Lee Daffin:

“It’s the best bike we’ve ever had, hands down. It’s like the difference between a Cessna and an F-15 jet. The Harley was made for cruising. I remember on some of the presidential escorts we’d be going 100 mph and the bike would just be shaking underneath me.”

This 'reliable' thing is a bit of an old chestnut these days. A couple of years back, I had to research recall notices put out by manufacturers. Highest number came from 'Oh, they're the most reliable bikes' manufacturer Honda.

Guess who did not have a need to issue a single recall notice? Yup 'You'll be lucky if you ride it off the forecourt before it breaks down' Harley-Davidson.

[yod]

Funny you should say that... they said the H-Ds were reliable, but given that they're being asked to do a lot of higher-speed pursuits these days, riding a Harley at 100mph (160kph?) or over... and possibly for miles on long-distance chases... wasn't a nice experience!

This from Colorado Springs bike cop Lee Daffin:

“It’s the best bike we’ve ever had, hands down. It’s like the difference between a Cessna and an F-15 jet. The Harley was made for cruising. I remember on some of the presidential escorts we’d be going 100 mph and the bike would just be shaking underneath me.”

This 'reliable' thing is a bit of an old chestnut these days. A couple of years back, I had to research recall notices put out by manufacturers. Highest number came from 'Oh, they're the most reliable bikes' manufacturer Honda.

Guess who did not have a need to issue a single recall notice? Yup 'You'll be lucky if you ride it off the forecourt before it breaks down' Harley-Davidson.

yeah im just looking for bites mate ....i had a flatmate years ago and his old harleys were shocking, oil leaks everywhere (which was a bit of a pain when he insisted on keeping it in the living room!) but after they brought the evos out, they seemed to get their shit together

i was just getting a dig in on behalf of all honda riders we put up with enough shit round here

[xwhatsit]

Funny you should say that... they said the H-Ds were reliable, but given that they're being asked to do a lot of higher-speed pursuits these days, riding a Harley at 100mph (160kph?) or over... and possibly for miles on long-distance chases... wasn't a nice experience!

This from Colorado Springs bike cop Lee Daffin:

“It’s the best bike we’ve ever had, hands down. It’s like the difference between a Cessna and an F-15 jet. The Harley was made for cruising. I remember on some of the presidential escorts we’d be going 100 mph and the bike would just be shaking underneath me.”

This 'reliable' thing is a bit of an old chestnut these days. A couple of years back, I had to research recall notices put out by manufacturers. Highest number came from 'Oh, they're the most reliable bikes' manufacturer Honda.

Guess who did not have a need to issue a single recall notice? Yup 'You'll be lucky if you ride it off the forecourt before it breaks down' Harley-Davidson.

Recalls doesn't mean lack of reliability. It means their engineers are finding problems, then fixing them. HD didn't have a single recall -- fine, but I bet there's more than a few cases where they would probably send one out if they had a more Honda-like culture. I'd prefer to ride a bike where the engineers have an on-going examination to assess faults and then fix them, rather than having my bike completely ignored the moment it's released.

Kind of like having Windows and never doing any security updates. Trouble.

[Bob]

I just get driven mad by these urban myths! "It's a Honda, it is reliable" "It's a Harley, they all fall apart" "It's a Yamaha, they've all got bad finish" and so forth.

There used to be a TV show here, where someone wrote in and said they were looking for a type of bike. And the show would then find them some different bikes that (often quite loosely) fitted the bill.

The person would then take them for a (short) test ride. And then award them points out of 10 on a range of categories.

The one that had me screaming at the TV screen? Reliability!

Every time they did this, as soon as a Honda was ridden "Oh, 10 out of 10, it IS a Honda".

HOW CAN YOU TELL RELIABILITY (WHICH IS A LONG TERM THING) FROM ONE RIDE!

Admittedly, if it broke down on the test ride, then it isn't reliable!

I used to own a Yamaha Fazer 600 (one of the original ones) - a bike which was slated for the quality of it's finish. When I sold my one, the dealer (who is trying to knock the price down, remember) commented on how good it's condition was! And I'm not one of those people that cleans his bike after every ride...

[Colapop]

Never had a problem with my Suzuki... 'cept the car stopping in front of me...

[Grahameeboy]

Never had a problem with my Suzuki... 'cept the car stopping in front of me...

BRAKES!............................

[NordieBoy]

Maybe the cops think they're getting THIS ONE?

240hp of goodness

[Macktheknife]

You think thats wierd, look at this idea...
http://thekneeslider.com/archives/20...n-motorcycles/

[sunhuntin]

harleys are the wrong type of bike for high speed chases, and jap bikes are generally smaller and faster. easier to throw around. harleys are good for looking big and strong, but totally wrong for police work, specially with all the extra equipment which would weight them down more.

having played pillion on numerous harleys, and ridden my own suzukis and yamaha, id have to say the suzukis come last in reliability.

the oldest harley i was on was a 65, and aside from a slight speed wobble, she was great. the wobble was due to an accident that nearly killed my partner and destroyed the bike. luckily, he was able to get her back together.
next oldest was a shovel. 10 out 10 again. then evos... same again.
86 suzi... numerous problems with the carby getting blocked, losing power, then clearing and throwing the front wheel up without warning. 06 suzi... too many faults to list.
98 yammy.... 10 out of 10.

[Baldyheed]

Must admit, my Honda's have always been reliable.

[Jantar]

..having played pillion on numerous harleys, and ridden my own suzukis and yamaha, id have to say the suzukis come last in reliability..

My experience is totally different. Having owned over 20 different Suzukis and a smaller number of Hondas and Kawasakis the most unreliable bike I've ever had was a 1973 CB500 Honda. The only unreliable Suzuki I've ever owned was a 1972 GT250R, but it did get thrashed.

In general I've found Suzukis to be the most reliable of all the makes, and among the easiest to maintain. They are my make of choice for reliability and endurance rides. My current VStrom has over 24000 km on it in only 10 months with just normal servicing and consumables (tyres, chain etc).

[Baldyheed]

My experience is totally different. Having owned over 20 different Suzukis and a smaller number of Hondas and Kawasakis the most unreliable bike I've ever had was a 1973 CB500 Honda. The only unreliable Suzuki I've ever owned was a 1972 GT250R, but it did get thrashed.

In general I've found Suzukis to be the most reliable of all the makes, and among the easiest to maintain. They are my make of choice for reliability and endurance rides. My current VStrom has over 24000 km on it in only 10 months with just normal servicing and consumables (tyres, chain etc).

The GT250R, now that WAS a bike made to be thrashed. Brings back fond memories thinking of those.