San Luis Obispo Motorcycle Cops Get New Bikes...

It saves you from the "low-side"

How is this better than the "lease HD police bikes for $1 per year" I hear about?



Do you mean the state leases the bikes and then puts the dealer charge in the budget....NO.

Excellent Choice

Have to say even though the ST is old design it looks very modern compared to Harley or BMW. Probably handles much better than both of them. Nice attractive and effective vehicle. If Honda was smart they would give these suckers away. Bet CHP and WSP would quickly convert and never go back.. Good job Honda and SLO PD well worth the extra cost

Back when I was in England 6 years ago I think I saw the police riding these.. I didn't ride back then so I wasn't up to speed on motorcycle brands and models

These bikes, the Hondas, are probably safer and more effective.. I still don't understand some cops fascination with Harleys...If it was me I would want the F-16 vs the Piper Cub (Harley).

P.S. Modern bike but same old terrible obsolete helmet and gear.

My bad, I knew something was odd looking. Boy that uniform and helmet is totally worthless. I saw some cool looking mesh police gear on the net the other day and a flip up helmet. "Hey SLO PD get some new gear! Have you heard of this thing called the internet"

What part of a motorcycle cop's mission makes an F-16 preferable to a Piper Cub?

Re: P.S. Modern bike but same old terrible obsolete helmet and gear.

New gear!? Outrageous I say, outrageous! Besides that would take funds away from the gel seats, heated handgrips and the coffee cup holders. ;-)

You can change the motorcycle under the cop, but not the cop in the uniform. Anyhow, if they went Joe Rocket, ICON or some such they'd look like rejects from the set of Judge Dredd -- not sure they want that. Personally, I think they like the old school '1960s-70s moto cop motif even if it is dated.

I vote for a vintage PBY, FW-190 or Spitfire if we're going the airplane metaphor. I'd take any of 'em over an F-16 or Piper Cub for patrol duty... even though they leak oil like a mother. Besides their cannons would be great on red light runners.

"Nice ride: SLO police officers get new wheels"

If they're SLO why didn't they go with the Road King? or even better, the Sportster 883 Police bike!.

They are just the ST1300P models. have been around for years in Europe, and used in other parts of the US. The ST1100P is still being used in the UK and Australia, just can't kill them. The police base model is about the same as the normal civilian one, as all the extra gear is added after purchase.



The ST13P has had some bad press because of a possible high speed instability problem. Due to the weight carried on the P version. AS Honda will not warrant the bike as good for high speed with all the extra gear on, this has hurt sales. If you are still running harley cop bikes in the US I suppose high speeds are not much of an issue!!

But..but..but..how do you "lay it down" to "prevent" an accident?

Thanks for mentioning the instability issue - STP's will be no match for most 600 sport bikes once the "ton is topped" in a chase.

San Luis Obispo squids rejoice!

Perfect! The photo even shows the cop doing what he does best.... revenue generation. Forget all the rapes, murders and child molestations going on.



$28K with the computer gear, eh? Gonna take a lot of forfeitures to keep the SLO police dept in operation.



Does the bike have any handy donut storage?

PBY! It doesn't have in-flight refueling capability. However it doesn't need in-flight refueling capability.



Lots of donut storage capability also. Plenty of room for rubber hosing suspects. What's not to like?

Good Point.

Sweet facts/data.

You stack them on the nightstick, jeez.

Mmmmm, Catalina. What a beautiful aircraft. I wonder why there are no seaplanes anymore.



--Foxy

"What part of a motorcycle cop's mission makes an F-16 preferable to a Piper Cub?"

The Cannon and Missiles, Yeah Baby!!

Yes, but this will cost the taxpayers also due to the fact that the Police have ordered special reduced-circumference nightsticks to fit the diameter of the donut hole. The other option is to order special Police model donuts that are larger and have an increased-circumference hole.



I bet they go for option 2.