Police and new RT,s

Just out of interest have any police fleets taken on the LC RT,s yet??
Wonder what they think of them As professional users.
I have seen a few on demo.

We are still on hex heads and twin cams. So I can't answer your question!

What I can tell you is that by and large, our camp is pretty split on the ability of the ('old') RT as Police bike.

It's pro points are that it's comfy, (ten hour shift sat on a bike it needs to be ..) it has excellent weather protection (probably the best on the market at the moment - certainly better than FJ's and GTR's), It's good in town (twin pick up, very good lock - and that's very relevant - u turns, filtering, tight manoeuvring .... a good steering lock is invaluable ..) and I like the riding position.

Against the RT is (in no particular order) It's slow, (think FJ, GTR) it's not been the most reliable of bikes and the paint is flaking on every bodies wheels and rear sub frame and the front end * on the factory job bike is way way too soft, (* Standard Police bike from BMW factory has no ESA - the only suspension adjustment I can make is the rear preload).

Personally (just my opinion) the old RT's are good work bike but theyre too slow.

I'd like to spend week or so on a WC - I'm sure that could make all the difference ....

The Met Special Escort Group now ride Hondas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmZ7hhREZhI

..... and their only real complaint is the steering lock. (not often they'll be sat on it for hours and hours ... )

Giles said:

Personally (just my opinion) the old RT's are good work bike but theyre too slow.

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130-ish top whack, out accelerating pretty much anything up to super-car status?

Have you heard the phrase that begins with "A bad workman......."



Piss taking aside Giles, surely if it gets to a point where you're maxing out on an RT, you probably shouldn't be chasing the geezer anyway?

Don't the big boys who have full licenses have things like M3s and so on to drive?
Our lads in Essex have some shit hot Scooby WRXs and (at least, a year back) at least one Porsche Panamera

Fanum said:

130-ish top whack, out accelerating pretty much anything up to super-car status?

Have you heard the phrase that begins with "A bad workman......."



Piss taking aside Giles, surely if it gets to a point where you're maxing out on an RT, you probably shouldn't be chasing the geezer anyway?

Don't the big boys who have full licenses have things like M3s and so on to drive?
Our lads in Essex have some shit hot Scooby WRXs and (at least, a year back) at least one Porsche Panamera

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But .... 130 top whack is exactly that ... Top whack. That means it's working its bollox off to maintain that. If you have a 155 mph bike, that in turn means that at 130, it's not working too hard. I've blown an RT up on the motorway before (Coming out of Dover on the A20 chasing a car that was making off .... ). The bike went bang at 130 and then the oil in the exhaust caught fire

I don't want to sound all macho and cuntish, but a good top end is necessary. Sometimes there are huge distances to cover and if yer running yer bike flat out, it's stressed, and it's going to go bang.

We had an excellent result a few months back where we had to be in Barking to stop a motor that was going to arrive imminently. GSXR, at 170 on the A2 and 150 round the A 13 got me there with ... literally minutes to spare. That resulted in 9 in custody from an East European gang that had been targeting the elderly. Theyve all pleaded guilty at crown court and are going down for a considerable amount of time

The RT would'nt have made it, and it would have (on that day ... ) not got us the result ...

Giles said:

I don't want to sound all macho and cuntish,

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Do you not want to keep that one to use as a New Year's resolution....?

It'll be third on the list .....

Don't you have working radios or cell phones in that area? Surely it would have been easier to get someone already in Barking to intercept the vehicle?

We get lectured all of the time about the danger of speed by police & road safety units yet going double the speed limit seems okay in some circumstances if you have a warrant card. Smacks of hypocrisy to me.

wessie said:

Don't you have working radios or cell phones in that area? Surely it would have been easier to get someone already in Barking to intercept the vehicle?

We get lectured all of the time about the danger of speed by police & road safety units yet going double the speed limit seems okay in some circumstances if you have a warrant card. Smacks of hypocrisy to me.

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Giles does have an exceedingly blue helmet though

To get back to the OP, I understand several Ambulance authorities are first on order, arriving shortly, & the first UK police bikes will be delivered "in the Spring".

Giles said:

I don't want to sound all macho and cuntish........We had an excellent result a few months back where we had to be in Barking to stop a motor that was going to arrive imminently. GSXR, at 170 on the A2 and 150 round the A 13 got me there with ... literally minutes to spare.

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If you are riding at those sort of speeds on public roads then you are a twat (now tell me what a good advanced Police rider you are). Would it not have been easier, safer and more sensible to get the Met to have made the arrests for you? I wonder what a court would have made of it had you taken out another motorist at those speeds?

polecat said:

If you are riding at those sort of speeds on public roads then you are a twat (now tell me what a good advanced Police rider you are). Would it not have been easier, safer and more sensible to get the Met to have made the arrests for you? I wonder what a court would have made of it had you taken out another motorist at those speeds?

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I think the point is that he didn't have an incident. Don't forget these chaps have a dual profession, Police and Motorcycle riders. I commend Giles for putting such comments on a web forum, the real Twat's are bikers who think they can do these speeds after wrapping their bikes up for winter.

One point to note: Most people want to leave Barking at those speeds... It's a Southern Shithole.

Whatever Giles says on here , He is going to have the naysayers,,,,,, Get over it ,,,,,,He has a job to do like the rest of us.
Every profession has there good guys and knobs,

polecat said:

If you are riding at those sort of speeds on public roads then you are a twat (now tell me what a good advanced Police rider you are).

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I couldn't agree more. No one should filter that slowly.

I'm pretty sure our Amb Service will have some on order but not for the top end speed! In fact it is quite rare for any of our vehicles to run flat out (and that includes the X5) due to the fact that if we had a smash we could end up in court!

Our Service recommends no more than 30mph above the statutory speed limit and even then we have to be prepared to justify it. Ok so that's just a recommendation and we can and do go faster at times but that's down to the driver on the day.

The main reason is for, as has been said, filtering, agility, turning circle, weather protection, load capacity and torc, etc, etc.

Like wise if a bike has a greater top end it probably has a better low end acceleration thro all its gears.

I take my hat off to Giles and his colleagues who work on the bikes on a daily basis.

I wouldn't but, oh man, I wish I could

polecat said:

If you are riding at those sort of speeds .....

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wessie said:

Don't you have working radios or cell phones in that area?......

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The people working on these sorts of teams, are consummately professional. I know I know I know I come on here and have a laugh, take the piss and add smileys and maybe make it all sound a bit blasé .... but in many ways the forum is my way of relaxing and unwinding after what can sometimes be a bloody stressful day.
There is a job to be done, and my God .... you think it doesn't play on peoples minds the consequences of getting it wrong? If a copper tells you that pursuits are a hoot and a laugh, then they have little experience in the matter. They're mostly terrifying for all the reasons that you allude to.
The drivers and riders on these specialist teams are highly trained, and I'm not talking 'reactions', 'car control' , I'm talking attitude and professionalism, decision making, being calm under pressure - red mist versus cancelling. So please don't think that travelling in such a manner is 'having a good old spank and being paid for it'. It has to be proportionate.

There are some teams out there that do genuinely need to get the job done, and that getting the job done is constantly risk assessed and judged.

If for example, a surveillance team are working on a subject and he gets on a train to Leeds ..... that's what the bike is for, and that's why they'll ride Hayabusa's and K1300 and the like. That operative needs to be at the train station before the train gets in. If that rider missed the train, lost the subject, and returned to the office saying something along the lines 'well it was a nice clear motorway, the weather was good but I didn't want to go any faster than double the motorway speed limit cos .... well you know how it is ... it wouldn't have looked to good would it ...? ' Then he'd frankly be no good to the team. They need a professional rider who can assess, self manage, and justify his actions; 'It wasn't safe here, it was busy, and there wasn't the justification or the necessity' .... or ..... 'It was safe here, it was quiet, there were four lanes, and I was able to make up some time at a speed that was appropriate'.

The trip to Barking? A team we'd been working on for weeks. Stealing what amounted to thousands and thousands from the elderly (your Mum in her 80's ...). Phoning through to another county and asking if they could park up a suitably trained car and wait for a vehicle that's likely to be on a particular road any time in the next ten minutes?? Do you realise how ragged the service is being run at the moment? The phone call itself would have probably taken ten minutes .....

I accept the criticism for sounding lairy (It's unwinding ... ), but I don't accept the criticism that it's irresponsible. The peepes are utterly professional, are constantly under the spotlight of justification, and will do their job to the very best of their abilities putting the public first ....