Has anyone bought a police bike and have anything to say regarding performance/price/deals or whatever? Thanks.[8D]

 

My friend at work did, he bought one that was NEW though, it was never taken by the police dept who ordered it for some reason. He says he would never buy one again, there are too many non-standard parts on it, and he has trouble finding replacements or mods that work for it. Not sure if that applies to all police bikes, but..

As for MY opinion, I would probably avoid a used one as well.. My local dealer had a bunch of bikes come in recently from the Milwaukee Police Dept, they looked like they had been beaten pretty hard.. Unless you are very good mechnically and get it for a great deal, I would avoid it from a purely mechanical perspective.. I don't think government employees care how hard they ride their bikes. The prices they were asking for these bikes seem WAY too high to me for the risk involved.

 

I bought two ex-police bikes over the years. The first was a 1988 FXRP that had been issued to me for a few years; I had an advantage because when it finally came out of service and went to the dealer I knew the history of the bike. Mine had been treated fairly well because I was older when I took it over and I knew that if I broke it I'd be going back into a car. Some of the others that were traded were beaters.

My second was a 2002 FLHPI that I got from a dealer. It had 4k on it and came from a small town- had been treated fairly well.

My advice would be to first of all find out where the bike was in service. A big city bike is probably beaten. I've seen motor officers from a big city ( I won't mention which one, but the current World Champion baseball team is from there) park their bikes in front of a station and leave them idling out there for an hour or so. Sometimes they're used as motocross type bikes and ridden up and down stairs in parks, etc

Usually bigger cities will have their own maintainance by less than motivated garage attendants(not mechanics) Ever hear of a wall job? That's where a lazy mechanic parks a bike over by the wall and leaves it there for a day before putting it back in service with a clean bill of health and all maintainance done. At least on paper. Stay away from trade-ins from big cities!

Bikes from smaller towns are probably not ridden full time. Exceptions to this rule are out there but in the majority of towns the guy gets to use them for parades or special events, and then they get parked. Usually smaller towns will not have a mechanic who "knows all about motorsickles" and will take them to the dealer or a local non dealer shop for maintainance, where it probably will be done right.

Ask the dealer where the bike came from and stop by the department and try to speak to the cop that rode it. Most of them are bike enthusiasts off duty as well and will give you an honest appraisal of the condition of the bike. If the dealer won't tell you where the bike was in service, walk away from it.

Hope this helps.

 

As I was in the market recently.. I was looking into getting a 2004 FLHTPI (I think).. The nice thing is one of the stealers here in town had like 3-4 of them with less than 1k on them.. But.. I ended up buying for nastalgia instead.. Not too sure that was wise.. But I'm happy!!

 

mine is called Booger,

she is painted pearl Yellow .. can you tell <grin>

I love the bike, but it is my first HD so whats not to like.

the dealer was terrible and actually got the wrong bike from what I was supposed to get.

these were leased bikes so very low miles, 1052 on mine.

My thinking was simple.. (yes.. simple minded) its was a few thousand less then the standard glide. It was past the break in period. I figured I put 100,000 k on it and see what happened. I think that is very do able with good service.

Where my thinking was way off.. was the dealer would service it and send it out the door as "almost new".
Now that this forum has openned my eyes to how to service the bike myself I still think I got a good deal.

If I was to do over again, I'd buy a Road Glide, I really like the shark nose now paint it yellow.. and belly of the beast I think is the same.

small things I like, the hockey puck saddle bags are great.. yes they have the hinges on them but the function is great one handed openning.,. I can get stuff from them at lights.
the radio is not in it, so I use that as a place to put my smokes and my glasses.

to me it all boils down to how much do you want to spend. I tried to cut some corners by buying a used bike.

I saved a little. now I'll spend that putting things on I want.. so what.. I'm happy with it.

I would suggest a Mustang seat.. get the dealer to check your tires <grin> and make sure they have serviced at 1000k and 5k if its over that.

warrenty is still on mine, my right rear shock is blown.. I have oil shooting up my back seat. not a big deal.

its not new.. but looks it.

 

mine is a police model, i love it. especially the bags, much easier to open!!