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Radar detectors, anyone?

He said that it doesn't matter, I broke the law, I got a ticket.

First of all, that is what deffered adjudication or driving school is for. Never let a ticket go on your record.

For that matter if we all fought frivales tickets it would no longer be worth issueing them. The governments have a fairly hard problem, despite what they say, tickets are income. I personally think the new DD fees are going to cost them more money in people fighting convictions than they get in fines. They are making it more advantageous to roll the dice. And of course more people may just stop paying for their DL, and drive anyway. Which will of course cause other problems.

:tab This is what rubs me the wrong way. Speeding laws are what is known as "Strict liability". What this means is that intent or anything else that might justify speeding is no excuse. You speed, you break the law, period. That in an of itself is not so bad. What sucks is how it is not applied even handedly.

I have always done well with the general rule to be driving the ubiquitous vehicle. The BRG Sprint ST with 3 bags was by far the least "paid attention to" vehicle with 2 wheels I have ever riden where I have probably fractured more laws that any person should be able to get away with :-) . The second is my '95 Escort GT (green of course). For that matter I have gotten away with a fair bit in my green ranger as well.

I got pulled over a couple of times on my 'blue ZX9r, just because I was there.

The jurt is still out on the silver FJR, of course, I have yet to be pulled over on it either :-)

In other words, the flashy or the potentially unsafe looking vehicles are going to get the cops attention first. And it works for me.

cheers,
Tom
 
FLUFdriver said:

I would recomend against such mount unless you can get the radar detector perfectly parallel to the ground. You will receive radar signals from where you point the antena, if you point the antena at the ground, you will get all the radar comming from it :roll:

Radio waves (radar) will go through your clear wind screen. But, if you have a tinted screen, where the tinting has a metalic content, it might not. The signal may be attenuated and thus to may lead to a delayed warning.

I always laugh when I see a cage with a radar detector right behind a windshield wiper or at a 30 degree angle to the ground.

You may also have luck with the detector behind you fairing, but again, the paint attenuate the signal. But with the detector hidden, you may get a bit more grace from the officer.

cheers,
Tom
 
tom said:
In other words, the flashy or the potentially unsafe looking vehicles are going to get the cops attention first. And it works for me.
Tom

I worried about this, too, when I went from the stealthy black Sprint ST to the "Pure Pearl Red" VFR, but so far it's not been a problem.

But maybe it's the plain white helmet and kilimanjaro jacket. I'm sure a replica helmet and flashy jacket probably affect the % of stops you get, too.
 
brd said:
tom said:
In other words, the flashy or the potentially unsafe looking vehicles are going to get the cops attention first. And it works for me.
Tom

I worried about this, too, when I went from the stealthy black Sprint ST to the "Pure Pearl Red" VFR, but so far it's not been a problem.

But maybe it's the plain white helmet and kilimanjaro jacket. I'm sure a replica helmet and flashy jacket probably affect the % of stops you get, too.
Actually, when I wrote my post I was thinking of you and STeve. But then again, you guys usually have some ariety of luggage on the bike as well, which does differentiate yourselve from squid. I guess.

cheers,
Tom
 
I've been using Escorts since 1981. I have had almost every model. I currently own an 6500 & an 8500, and a Valentine 1. I use the 8500 with a H.A.R.D. on my VRF. I have used it about a year. Prior to that I used the 6500 with an ear phone. I use the Valentine with the Valkyrie because I can hear it and see the arrows. Using the arrows makes the Valentine the best, however it is very difficult to see on the VFR or the VTR. Bikes make such small targets that police radar can only pick them up at 600 feet (Car and Driver). The 6500 gives plenty of warning, but if you forget to unplug, you ruin the cord. I got tired of making and buying new cords for the ear phone so I switched to the H.A.R.D. It works, but you lose the auditory, which is very useful in differentiating false signals. The 8500 fits in the top of my tank bag. All radar detectors are only useful when there is other traffic. If you are all alone, you will get nailed with instant on radar. I have used a stem stand but I broke it switching between the VFR and the VTR, and I'm too cheap to buy another. Tank bag makes it not quite as obvious. Well that's my $0.02
 
Michael,

I have the same set you do, 8500, HARD and Stem Stand. I would recommend it. I am sure the Valentine is fine too. But I have used the 8500 for awile now and if I had to replace it I would buy another.

Bill
 
tom said:
I would recomend against such mount unless you can get the radar detector perfectly parallel to the ground. You will receive radar signals from where you point the antena...............Tom

I thought about that as well, but several vendors have told me they use it with a V1 and don't notice any problems. However, I'm not too sure I believe them completely.
I have a feeling the directional capability of the V1 will be severely reduced so I'm probably going to go with the remote mounted Whistler 3400. It does not perform like Valentine, Passport or Bell but on a bike with a small radar signature I really don't need it to. (The steath design of the Futura helps with that too. :wink:) I really prefer the clean look of a remote mounted unit anyways. No offense to those who use them but stem stands just aren't for me.
I allready have speakers in my helmet so I just need to split the audio input to the Chatterbox and I'll be set.

Hopefully someday soon they'll have a radar detector that will link to a helmet heads up display with Bluetooth and I can get rid of all these **** wires. :mrgreen: http://www.motionresearch.com/products.htm
 
FLUFdriver said:
No offense to those who use them but stem stands just aren't for me.

I agree with the stem stand. Personally I think it would have me focusing my eyes on an object far too close to me, and I would think it would be far too visible for a cop to see the radar detector. And from what I understand cops do not take kindly to them.

cheers,
Tom
 
tom said:
And from what I understand cops do not take kindly to them.

I have only heard a couple of guys say anything negative about them. Mostly we make fun of the $$$$ people put out for these things. Naturally I would not make fun of anyone, at least not in uniform :angel:

All joking aside do you guys get stopped/or do stuff that could get you stopped that much???? I've put in thousands of miles on different bikes, from sportbikes to cruisers and I have YET to be stopped. I'm no Ricky Racer but the odds should be about the same............
 
10-95,

:tab I really think it depends on what groups you ride with. Personally, I try to keep the speeds to within about 10mph of the limit. Most places significantly up the fine once you go above 10 over. Yes, I do ocassionally have a moment or two where I might run it up, but it is never sustained and only out in the middle of nowhere. When I traffic, I generally move about 5 mph faster than the flow as we mentioned ealier in the thread. The problem with that is often the flow on I-45 is moving at about 85mph in a 70mph! I tend to stay with the flow in that case. For me, a detector would not be for speeding all the time, it would be more of a safety net against the accidental zing. Let's face it, sometimes you might be going a little fast, or not realize the limit is about to drop, etc,... and there is an LEO sitting there waiting for you. You don't even have to be goofing off or anything. It really sucks to get a ticket in that situation. I mean it sucks when you get one for goofing off, but at least then there really isn't much issue about whether or not you deserve the ticket ;-) I am fortunate that I have only been ticket once on the bike and it was in a well known speed trap area in Northern New Mexico, well known to everyone but me that is... :roll:

:tab Then there are the riders that go out to road race effectively and are just trying not to get busted. I can't really relate to that kind of behavior. :shrug:

Adios,
 
Radar Detectors

Thanks for the info guys, am looking into this myself. Thinking of the Solo2 cordless (wear around my neck or tank bag) and still use it for the car.

Thanks for the 411,

Paul
 
I have finally gotten accustomed to the audio signals from my S2 so I run it in dark mode (no backlight or display). You don't get any visual cues but the batteries last alot longer.
 
10-95 said:
tom said:
And from what I understand cops do not take kindly to them.

I have only heard a couple of guys say anything negative about them. Mostly we make fun of the $$$$ people put out for these things. Naturally I would not make fun of anyone, at least not in uniform :angel:

All joking aside do you guys get stopped/or do stuff that could get you stopped that much???? I've put in thousands of miles on different bikes, from sportbikes to cruisers and I have YET to be stopped. I'm no Ricky Racer but the odds should be about the same............

I can tell you that I get stopped on the average about once a year. Sure, the V1 didn't help that one time, but the other 99 times it saved my bacon. Need to get a laser jammer now though. The way I look at it, 1 or 2 tickets a year I can live with, it's a speeding tax. deferred or defensive driving keeps them off my record. The city/county is happy they got some money from me so it's all good.
 
ZapataZR7,

If you buy a detector I would recommend only 2 brands, Valentine or Escort. I have tried some of the less expensive cordless models in the past and I have sent them back. Sensitivity with a cordless is less than a hardwired dectector. Avoid bargins in brain surgery, brakes, parachutes, dental work, and radar detectors.

If you want cordless and earphone go with the Escort Solo 2. The original solo did not have good enough sensitivity. If you can mount it where you can see it easily, go with the Valentine One(seeing the arrows is vital), if you can't see it easily go with an Escort 8500.
 
HARD in a group?

Has anyone ridden with a HARD wired rider and you just having the receiver in your helmet? I wonder what the effective distance is.

I personally use the screamer and I also have a Chatterbox. The screamer goes off and the vox on the chatterbox does really well at warning the others that the radar detector is going off. Even nonradio riders can hear my screamer going off. I ride with a V1 and a stem stand system. I love it and will not ride without it, going on 4 years now. Yes, it has saved me too many times to count and yes I have gotten a ticket (2 to be exact) being the only vehicle on the road.

I have thought about mounting a blinking led on the rear of my bike that will alert others behind me that the V1 is going off. I already have a led mounted on the dash and so I might just run a wire and a couple of blinking led's to the rear of the bike. Sounds like a project....
 
FWIW

FWIW ---As I ride through Walker County (Huntsville area) , I have noticed that all their school buses emit K-Band radar signals. My 8500 picks them up , I slow down , look for the man , and there is the big yellow bus! That's ok in my book , as it's an added safety factor for the kiddies. So if you are ridin and get a radar hit , the reasons to slow down are more than one.
 
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