In Southern CA we are seeing also Honda ST1300. I talked with LE and they said it had to do with ABS, more than anything else.

 

HD really misses the boat on ABS and quality brakes in general.....first generation ABS, yeah for Harley...BMW is on their 4th generation and they put the system on naked bikes. Let's face it HD brakes suck when compared to what is easily available inthe marketplace. How hard would it be for the greatest motor company in the world to just go to Teves or Bosch and say hey, build a superior ABS brake system for the HD. Love the HD, hate the brakes. Hoping Bryans 360 brake may be a great improvement but that system is so radical you have to be concerned about being an early adopter of that technology. PM brakes are a great improvment but HD could easily being offering what PM has as OEM.....................so HD has no EPA issues or other obstacles that are casuing them problems with the noise and emmsions on motor so why don't they offer us the BEST braking system a guy can buy....they would be able to put some marketing into this effort and sell even more motorcycles......instead we are left with only ABS for brakes for LEO and they take up half a saddle bag. ANd I have to swap my rotors on my SG so they don't squeal and the stopping power is only marginal when compared to what is available. Go test ride a beemer some day and forget the styling or dislike of the brand etc and just marvel at the INCREDIBLE brakes these bikes have....very, very confidence inspring regardless if they are ABS or not......they just work. HD went to porsche for the engine on the Vrod so they should hook up with one of the better vendors for brakes and lets make our machines the best they can be. Rant over

 

Note that the V-Rods have Brembo brakes and the Street Rod goes a step further with braided brake lines - ala BMW. So Harley is capable of putting current generation brakes on their bikes.

 

YOu mean HD is capable of putting decent brakes on A bike...the v-rod....the rest of the HD line gets crap brakes with crap rotors and calipers....HD can do much better , they just don't want to and it makes no sense

 

LAPD has gone to Harley after many years with the Kawasaki and tests of the BMW..I can say from experience the Harley ABS is great and I would gladly give up the saddlebag room to have it on my personal Road King. My only complaint is with the overheating issues

 

Harley, just like anyone else has access to Brembo Brakes, Sachs or Marzocchi forks, etc. On one hand, they'll sell all the old style bikes they can build without spending the extra. On the other hand, the target audience is the same ones who coined "electric leg" for the first EG. Resist change and keep the HD "unforeign" As far as the cop bikes, many different kinds around the world mit das beemers dominating. Here in the states back in '73, the CHP got tired of the shovelheads breaking and got bulletproof Moto Guzzi Ambassadors and Eldorados for their reliability. Once Kawasaki opened the Nebraska factory, Luigi was gone. Since a K1200GT beemer can do 240KPH, it makes a better pursuit bike for the fast-and-furious kids. Harleys got a resurgence when used ones sold for more than new, and the trend was middle-aged empty-nesters buying cruisers. Once the crotch-rockets really got serious, the cops had to adapt to compete. Just like Elliot Ness had to get tommy guns to compete with the Yooze Gize.

 

BMW has the contract in California (CHP) based on a couple things. First was the power, the BMW had higher top speed and better acceleration. HD then developed all the police bikes with the 103's out the door. HD brougth the bike to CHP and it still wasn't fast enough for there specs. so HD gave it more power and it failed the emission standards. So HD came back again and met both power and emisssions but then were slappped with the ABS questions. now they have ABS. So we'll see if they get the next contract. CHP wants the HD's but with how political the red tape gets they will get there PP slapped if they pick the "American" bike when it doesn't beat the standards of the BMW.

Plus all this fighting has made more power and and a better bike for all of us.

 

Why would anyone care what top speed is on a police bike? Most departments have a pretty strict no pursuit policy when it comes to motor officers and I can't see any reason why a motor officer would chase someone while riding. That is a recipe for disaster. We will be evaluating new bikes in another year or so and we will test the ST1300 and the BMW. I have already ridden the civilian models of both and while they are fine bikes they aren't what we NEED in a police motor. We do motorcycle rodeo's and competitions and I can tell you that nothing else on the market suffers less damage from low speed tip-overs like a Harley police bike. With the ST and the BMW you are looking at $$ everytime you have a training day because when we train, we usually end up with a scraped engine or bag guard at the least. With a BMW you are looking at replacing a mirror and with the ST you are looking at replacing the little plastic wings. Doesn't sound like much but it can add up pretty quick spread out across 5-6 bikes. So between that and the fact the general public prefers seeing us on Harley's I doubt we will switch to another brand. I roadrace jap bikes and have owned 30 plus jap or italian bikes and I know that they have their strong points, speed, acceleration, braking but so do Harley's. Harleys are cheaper/easier to maintain, crash better, better warranty, better resale and they look better. I prefer the HD for my job.

 

The majority of motor cops ride beemers and kawis around here.

 

From what I have read (and you have to take that for what is worth) Harley almost gives the bikes to the police depts. That in itself makes it a good deal for the Police. In my town they ride Road Kings but the did have some Kawasaki's (don't know if they still do or not). I talked to one of the officers one day and he said for in town work they liked the Roadkings the best but for highway work he perfered the Kawasaki. I've talked to some of the troopers in SC and they really like the BMW but then again they are for the most part doing highway work.