Total Motorcycle Community Forums

congrats on the new street glide coming in!!! I am hoping to get a new FLHTC next year....if the job and everything thing holds true!!!

I know the guy who helps make the decisions on these matters, and I can tell you a few things. First, I think they are going to keep the Beemers on the freeways. Second, they are having a huge -- and a potential deal breaker -- problem with a hi-speed wooble with the Harleys. And it is not going away.

What sort of speeds are they talking about with the wobble? I have never heard of either the road king or electra glide having any kind of headshake issues at less than triple digit speeds. Unless the police models are different from the standard production models (which I doubt)

figure they would be equiped with steering dampners

interesting. no steering dampaners are fitted. This must be at very high speeds. (read my previous email about what can be done with HD touring frames) If you actually took a close look at the triple tree arangement behind the fairings, you will see that the fork tubes are behind the steering head. most bikes they are ahead or slightly forward of the steering head. HD touring models are the only ones im aware of that do this. They call it something like self centering steering because it will. This was invented and patented by Erik Buell when he was in HD engineering in the early to mid eighties, if i remember correctly.

jmillheiser wrote:What sort of speeds are they talking about with the wobble? I have never heard of either the road king or electra glide having any kind of headshake issues at less than triple digit speeds. Unless the police models are different from the standard production models (which I doubt)

The only thing that might be different...is that on the Road King Police...for 05 HD had rear anti locking brakes....which are not yet on productions HD bikes to the public.

In North America the four most commonly used brands for police services are Harley Davidson, Kawasaki, BMW and Honda. The Kawasaki 1000 is being phased out as the company stopped production on that model. Most services that used Kawasaki are switching to the Honda ST1300-P or BMW R1200RT-P. HD does have some very attractive leasing options that may influence some services.

The reason CHP went to the BMW R1100 and then R1150RT-P's was ABS brakes. Harley didn't have them, CHP wanted ABS. Harley has since introduced ABS for the police models so they are again being considered by CHP with encouragement from the current state administration who seem to have an affection for HD.

I've read a lot of back and forth on whether HD will eventually get the contract. The BMW has a better fairing, runs quieter, I think the brakes are better (servo assisted, semi-linked, ABS), is lighter but it's definitely not made in America.

Time will tell.

Here in Colorado Springs, the south and central parts of the city just switched to Honda ST1300s this summer, but the north part is still using Road Kings like they always have... It's kinda weird though that the Road Kings have better 0-30 acceleration, but lack severely in comparison in the 0-60. It's also ironic that the place they should be using the Hondas are still being patroled by the Road Kings, as all of the rich newbs on literbikes are up there racing (literally) around, as are all of the tuner cars and nice oldschool muscle cars. Eh, that's our city for ya!
Wrider

Nothing wrong with a mixed fleet. It allows organizations to try out different technology and promotes competition. It also exposes the general public to different versions of authority motorcycles.

Crash wrote:In North America the four most commonly used brands for police services are Harley Davidson, Kawasaki, BMW and Honda. The Kawasaki 1000 is being phased out as the company stopped production on that model. Most services that used Kawasaki are switching to the Honda ST1300-P or BMW R1200RT-P. HD does have some very attractive leasing options that may influence some services.

The reason CHP went to the BMW R1100 and then R1150RT-P's was ABS brakes. Harley didn't have them, CHP wanted ABS. Harley has since introduced ABS for the police models so they are again being considered by CHP with encouragement from the current state administration who seem to have an affection for HD.

I've read a lot of back and forth on whether HD will eventually get the contract. The BMW has a better fairing, runs quieter, I think the brakes are better (servo assisted, semi-linked, ABS), is lighter but it's definitely not made in America.

Time will tell.

It was reported earlier this year in "Thunder Press" magazine that Santa Cruz HD got the contract for 400 units this year "2006". I can personally tell you that CHP has been testing HD a lot this year. Since I work at a buidling next to the academy where they train.