Street Riding , I am DONE !
 

I think I am done riding on the streets ! I pulled out of my subdivision accelerated out on to Georgia Hwy20 (55 mph zone) started going through the gears about the time I got into 4th I look up and notice Georgia state patrol coming the other way . Yeah I was going a little faster than the flow of traffic but not flying . So I think nothing of it and proceed to take a right on one of my favorite roads . I maybe get 2 miles down it and glance in the mirror and I see Gsp flying up on me ! At first I think he couldn't possibly be after me ! Sure enough he gets right up my ass with his lights on, so at this point I know its me he is after . I put my left hand up & turn on the blinker so he knows I am going to pull over ( nothing but gravel driveways and drainage ditches for a mile) I eventually find a decent area to pull over , turn the key off and hold it up so he can see it . Pull my helmet off and wait . He comes up and the first thing he says " you weren't trying to evade me were you ? I said no sir , I had no idea you were even after me . The he asked the usual " Where are you headed ?" I said to the motorcycle shop . He replies " well your sure aren't going the right way to the motorcycle shop this way " I respond " Depends on which shop you are talking about , I am going to the one in Griffin ! He responds " well I clocked you at 74 in 55 " , and when I passed you going the opposite way " I saw you turn on your right blinker " I said yeah , I was about to make a right turn ! He goes back to the patrol car and is in there for a few minutes . The whole time I am thinking he is about arrest me for evading a police officer ! Well THIS SUCKS ! Eventually He came back with a nice ticket for me autograph , And gave the mandatory " sportbikes are dangerous speech and sent me on my way . So to summarize , my trip to motorcycle shop 5 miles from my house to get $4.00 worth of parts turned out to probably end up costing me $150 (at least) ! That could have been a trackday at Lil Talladega ! And not to mention I could be sitting in jail right now if he would decided I was running from him ! I am thinking TRACK DAYS ONLY at this point !

The old holier than thou "sportbikes are dangerous" bit is the cherry on the sundae. The worst part is that cops are, in my opinion and based on hundreds of thousands of miles of drivivng/riding, typically teh worst drivers on the roadway (in other words, hypocricy is in no danger of disappearirng anytime soon). The day I have no alternative but to ride a cruiser (the ideal scenario in the eyes of many ill-informed "experts" I am sure) I'll stop riding.

That sucks, dealing with the less intelligent members of the Law Enforcement community is never fun.

That sucks, but if it makes you feel any better I got pulled over this afternoon too. I was headed home and noticed a county LEO tagging along rather closely behind. I pulled up to a stop sign at some rail road tracks. I made sure I came to a complete stop, looked both ways and then proceeded to pull away from the stop sign. No sooner had I crossed the tracks he lights me up. I pulled over in a driveway, shut the bike down, removed my helmet and gloves and got the license and registration out before he walked up. First words out of his mouth were "Do you know why I stopped you"? He got the response of no, why did you stop me? I wasn't speeding, I didn't run the stop sign so I have no idea why you pulled me over. Then I get the story abot motorcycles running from te LEO's in the area. He runs everything then comes back and say's have a nice day. Gotta love sterotyping.

You should have asked him if he was aware that his tailgating was putting your life in danger (in addition to being an offense)....

Seemed he was having a bad day and I didn't want to make his or mine any worse. Beginning of the conversation he was a dick and by the end not so much.

See ya tommorow Chris ! Maybe Ill ride on the street just one more day ! We just have to do the speedlimit ( until we get to the track at least ) :nana: BTW check your P.M's over at the GSB forums ...

I hear ya, getting pulled over, justified or not, ruins the day. Sounds to me like the cop misinterpreted your signal (maybe because he's got an attitude about bikes) and wouldn't accept your rational explanation.

As for riding on the track only, you wouldn't be the only one to make that decision - cops being just one reason to avoid 'em.

What do you say we challenge the Iroc cars to a friendly race?:crackup:

Other than the fact they outweigh us and could put us in the wall and kill us , Im game ! I have actually been around the track before on the Hawk . Didnt have the ballz to go over 140'ish . The grain of the track sucks for motorcycles ! Its that graded texture that has the bike wandering all over the place ! But hey , at least I wont get a ticket !

hrcvt1000 sorry to hear that, yea the GSP are never fun to play with. the cops in my area have no respect for your life when they tail gate you. it pisses me off some much.

Yep , you live up real close too the funzone ,180,129/60 and a few others I wont mention at the risk of exposing the not so heavily patroled roads . I have had a couple of close calls the with LEO's up there ! If I lived up where you live , I would be lucky to still have a license ! :rotf:

4th gear, 74 mph...

Should have been honest with him lol.

Normally coming out of 3rd I'm doing around 100

Get a helmet cam, record everything, then fight the ticket and show the tape.. :D

as far as the evading thing you should say "no sir, if I was running you wouldn't have to ask me if I was."

I got pulled over once on my BMW R100RS after doing about 90 through some wide sweepers on La Costa Ave in North San Diego County. The street is very wide and was empty midday on a weekday. By the time the cop caught up with me I was turning into the parking of our condo, and he came screeching around the corner a block away, lights flashing.

Long story short, he said he had no idea how fast I was going since he couldn't get close enough to clock me. With his partner watching, he asked me three times "Why were you going so fast?".

The third time I answered him, "You don't ride a motorcycle do you? Because it's fun.". ;) Then I got to spend a Saturday at traffic school.

no reason to stop riding in my opinion. it would take two permanently crippled arms and legs to keep me from riding forever.

exactly! I did 20 years long haul trucking and I like to go fast, so I met a lot of cops over the years.

when a cop starts giving me the little kids lecture, I say, excuse me, are you going to give me a ticket? if he says no, I'll listen respectfully to the lecture. If he says yes, i say, then skip the lecture and write the ticket so I can be on my way. I ain't takin both if I can avoid it, and usually I only get one or the other.

I was just lightly going through the gears , not really trying to wind it out ! Just getting up to speed . So I could get ahead of a car so I could get over to turn . Yes , I knew I was speeding but not really paying attention to the speedo . I also believe that if I was in my car or a cruiser doing the same speed he wouldn't have even been concerned with me . Everyone does 70mph + on that road , its just that sport-bikes tend to draw attention .

I didn't even know I was being chased ! Also if I was trying to get away I sure as hell wouldn't have used my blinker. And if I wanted to I could have got away from HIM on that road for sure ! I just wouldn't have outrun his Motorola ! LOL

I am not done riding , I just think I am going to stick to the track . I have come to the conclusion that anytime I ride on the street , that tickets (among other things) are definite possibilities ! Its just a game that I am tired of playing .

That's exactly the same as my pull over 12 years ago. When I pulled into the covered parking he thought I was ditching him. I told him "I live here".

My last two pull overs were stereo-types. I wasn't really doing anything wrong other than riding a RED sportbike. I take off my helmet and they see the.. um... "bald spot" then I hand over my license and the Cop see's I've had my MC endorsement longer than they've been on this Earth. I got a warning both times. sigh

I'll admit, i've been lucky then. My last two pull-overs, I've gotten warnings. My friend was riding wheelies late at night. The LEO pulled us over, asked the normal questions, ran our licenses, told us to slow down a little and make it home safe.

Time before that, my buddy and I were riding home around Midnight, it was threatening to rain again, we were doing about 80. Spot light comes on from the middle of the interstate, he pulls out, flashes his reds and blues. Ask us where we're headed, "home", asked we were trying to get home before the rain, "Yes", runs our licenses, tells us to be safe.

Lucky I guess, knock on wood.

I got hit with the ol' "were you trying to run?" lecture one day. It took everything I had to not come back with "well I'm here talking to you so I obviously did not try to run." :rolleyes:

now that's funny. that's like saying "I don't like people who breath." FTP!

So let me get this straight.. you got pulled over for speeding, got a ticket for speeding, a lecture for speeding...

How is that the cops fault? Maybe you should stop riding on the streets if you expect to break the rules without ever paying the piper.

I don't like cops or tickets either, but he didn't cite you for anything you didn't do.

"Yes sir I tried to run! But unfortunately my 160mph bike got stuck in 1st gear, its your lucky day officer."

I think the cops are just hoping and praying you run just so they have some action in their otherwise boring uneventful day.

Uh, thats kinda what I said , more exactly what I said isnt it......

I will just have my fun at the track from now on ! BTW , I got a dollar amount on the fine today . $200 :eek: Hell, I could have done another trackday at Barber for that !:draggin:

Both of my stops last year were by the stern looking cop. The first was right after my winter rebuild of my Superhawk which included a gear change. I'm out on a four lane with a wide grassy median. I clear a hilltop and I had been testing the acceleration of the bike with the new gears. It's early in the morning and there was nobody there but him and me. He he comes bounding through the median like a puppy released from his kennel. As I pull over I can hear him screaming instructions but hey, those new Jardines have a new purpose in life. I shut off the bike and dismount. He says, "No, no, no! I said stay on the bike." So I sit back down. This guy is small - maybe 125 or so and wearing white gloves. I'm thinking "Oh, God! Am I going to get a ticket or a procto?" I take off my helmet and he immediately stands down. Takes my documents back to the cruiser. I had explained to him that I had done a gear change and I was just checking out the bike. He comes back to the bike and says, "Please don't use the public highways as your testing ground. Have a good day!" Turns and walks back to the cruiser.

Second time was with the TxDPS. They tend to be tougher than the locals. I'm leaving the bank and as I get up into the middle turn lane this fat sack of shit in a 4-door Buick tried to keep me down. Well I open the chutes on the Interceptor and left this pig in the dust. As I turn to check traffic in front after clearing the Buick I realize I am face to face with the trooper. As I approach the corner to turn back to the office I look back a see the trooper pulling a U-turn. Part of me thought he would chase the asshole but then I remember I'm on a bike. So I pull over and put the stand down. I pull my helmet off as he rounds the corner. First thing he says, "When you turned I thought you were going to run. Thanks for not doing that!" I explained the traffic situation and his response was, "You were both speeding. You were faster." He checked my documents and handed them back to me. Turns out two of my customers are his bosses. We chatted a while and he bid me a good day and I returned the courtesy. As I pulled my gear on he pulled out.

In both instances the book never came out. A couple reasons: courtesy and respect are paramount and a little salt & pepper.

For those of you who don't have the hair or lack of it, you have to really ramp up the c & r. If he turns and follows you don't let him force you into a mistake. Take the first action. Signal, pull over and dismount. Most of them will drive by especially if you haven't done anything. If he does follow you to the side keep your cool even if you have to listen to a tirade. If you're young carry your doc's in a front pocket not under the seat which takes important minutes to access. Never carry them in a back pocket because he doesn't know what you're reaching for.

If he thinks it looks like you have prepared for a stop he'll repond much better to you.