Y'all one thing I found I love about scoots is that you almost never get pulled over by no cops on no scooter! I mean damn, I've blown by cops at probably 55-60 MPH in a 40 MPH zone on my Elite, and they always look the other way! Today I rode my dad's Gixxer 1000 and we rode all the way to Pinnacles State Park and I'll tell you no matter what them cops is ALWAYS watchin your every move! I bet if I went by one at 65 in a 55 he'd get me! That bike is just TOO fast! Things like sitting on top a rocket with 2 wheels! I ain't really never rode no crotch rocket much, but I'll tell you this thing is fun! Its more comfortable than I expected, at the end of the ride I really got sore though. Not really my style bike, I'm a Cruiser guy, but I gotta admit the things a blast, specially in them twisties! And takin off fast is SO fun! Almost scary when you start gittin near the powerband. One cop even just about pulled me over for 60 in a 55 zone 2, but right as he had pulled me over he decided to go after the guy in front of us. I was like really 60 in a 55? He had me to the side of the rode and he is stopped but then he said screw it and he pulled over the guy up in front. First off I thought they has to give you like 5 MPH for speedo error except for resindial areas like say 30 in a 25 they is getting you sometimes. Guess not. But on the scoot I ain't never got pulled over. They'll be embarresed to, talkin to their buddies one says I pulled over a group of hells angles got some drugs and 80 in a 55, the other a Ninja 1400 for 120 in a 65, then the cop he pulled you over says well I pulled over a young guy on a scooter for 55 in a 50. Man he must be a big bad cop huh? I think of this as an advantage! Some will git you but not very often. I'd be pissed if I got a ticket, tickes piss me off man insurence and just $200+ out of your pocket. Even on my Shadow the cops keep an eye on you but the scoot is usually under the radar.
I've never been pulled over on my scooter for speeding... and in my car, I've only gotten one ticket in the ten years I've been driving (48 in a 30, if I recall). I did get flashed once while riding my Elite 150 at 50 in a 40, but the cop didn't bother pulling me over. I should mention, the police around here are not nearly as vigilant as they are in other areas... getting a ticket for 8 or less over the limit is very rare, and there is one highway with a 55mph limit that people regularly do 75-80 on without getting pulled over... so I guess it all depends on where you live.
I was pulled over on my elite110 over the summer. Didn't get a ticket but got lots of attitude from the cop..he had to assert his authority! Over a month ago got a red light ticket on my elite110. Am about to fight that in the coming month.
German cops like to pull out fast scoots. Fast = probably illegally modified = probably without sufficient driving license = offence. How can an officer catch criminals (=collect many points for his account) more easily?
a few years ago a friend of mine was on the highway riding his Helix. He said he was doing 70. the speed limit was 55. a cop hit the siren and parked behind him on the shoulder. cop walks up, pauses, and sez "what, this is a motorscooter!" the cop then tells my friend that the radar gun clocked him at 70 and goes on to say it has to have read him wrong. cop tells my friend to just go on and be sure to ride safely.
LOL! Now, the cop clocked the Helix at 70, so, he was actually doing 70, but one thing to keep in mind, is that most scooters' speedometers are optimistic. So, when blastin' past that copy at 60 in a 45, you migh only be doing 50. The speedo on my Kymco People S 250 reads about 10-12% too high, so indicated 60 is about 50. This is quite common with most brands of scooters. I actually determined this with one of those radar operated "you are going this fast" signs. This is a good thing to know, so that when you're in traffic, you don't wonder why people are crawlin' up your a**, because you're doing 10 MPH less than you think you are.
Every one should check out their scooter speedometer. Your S250 is off more than normal for them. My S 250 is only off by 5%..Now the People 150 I had was off by 10%
I used my GPS to check mine, and it appears my Helix is always 2mph optimistic. Exactly. My car, on the other hand? About 2-3MPH. Go figure.
Yes, mine is off more than most. I few reviews I've read on the S 250 all stated that the review bike's speedo was off by 5%. Needless to say, it was an eye opener to check it, because I had been riding around assuming it was off by 5%.
A buddy of mine, who rides a '66 Bajaj Chetak (Vespa VBB clone), almost had the whole goddamn book thrown at him by a jerk cop a couple weeks ago. He only got ticketed for the speeding, though. The claims were: -65 in a 35 -Illegal lack of turnsignals -Illegal lack of mirrors -Incorrect use of collector's vehicle plate (technically, only allowed for riding to and from shows/events) -Incorrect plate for vehicle -Possibly illegally imported vehicle Now, a couple of these are ridiculous. The cop said he followed my buddy from the Interstate onto a surface street, though my buddy had not been on the Interstate. His scooter cannot do 65 - even though it's kitted, it's really only capable of about 55 (thus why he wasn't on the Interstate!). It's all in the gearing. Turn signals were never equipped on this vehicle. And neither were mirrors. Bajaj didn't come up as a make in the officer's ticket system, and he had never heard of it, so he threatened that the vehicle may not even be legal. The Collector's Vehicle plate, available in WA with permanent registration (no annual tabs) for vehicles 25+ years old, is technically only issued for vehicles which will only be driven to and from shows and events. In practice, though, this is not enforced, and there are a ton of older bikes and cars with these plates on the road every day. The cop did turn out to be correct about the plate being wrong for the vehicle, which he didn't ticket for, and my friend fixed that. I know most scooterists aren't riding always-works-in-progress vintage Indian clones of Italian scooters and won't have to worry about all of this. But I think it certainly serves as an informative horror story... some cops really notice scooters. And don't know all the laws. And are jerks.
While she was 'flying' down the road yesterday, a woman passed over a bridge only to find a cop with a radar gun on the other side lying in wait. The cop pulled her over, walked up to the car, with that classic patronizing smirk we all know and love, asked, 'What's your hurry?' To which she replied, 'I'm late for work.' 'Oh yeah,' said the cop, 'what do you do?' 'I'm a rectum stretcher,' she responded. The cop stammered, 'A what? A rectum stretcher? And just what does a rectum stretcher do?' 'Well,' she said, 'I start by inserting one finger, then work my way up to two fingers, then three, then four, then with my whole hand in. I work from side to side until I can get both hands in, and then I slowly but surely stretch it, until it's about 6 feet wide.' 'And just what the hell do you do with a 6 foot *******? ' he asked. 'You give him a radar gun and park him behind a bridge...' Traffic Ticket - $95.00 Court Costs - $45.00 Look on the Cop's Face........ .......PRICELESS
Yea it happens but not much around here. As for optimistic speedos, they just plain SUCK. There isn't a lot you can do, other than duck tape a cheap GPS to your dash. And USUALLY the odometers are not inaccurate just the speedo, but not ALWAYS sometimes they's optimistic as well. One easy fix is this here: http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=GPS+speedo&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&prmd=imvns&biw=1024&bih=624&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=11063605319307981167&sa=X&ei=QlDUTofxOsqaiAK1waSwDg&ved=0CHMQ8wIwAQ#ps-sellers Cheap fix you'll need to by some kinda antina or somin but thats an easy accurate speedo. Theres other speedos availible as well. If its an anolog hire a guy that knows math or sometin and you can recalibrate the speedo numbers to what they actually are. BTW those signs are often inaccurate. Sometimes they don't go gettin no calibrated, espically that there one on them poles they don't go calibrated them often the trailor one is usually accurate but not always but usually. I know one in my town on a pole its been WAY off for years it reads at least 10 MPH lower or so.
The one I referred to in my post, above, was one of the trailer ones. My Guzzi's speedo agreed with the sign, and my car's speedo was about 2% optimistic, which is also is, as compared with my GPS.
There are also Speedohealers, which let you recalibrate your speedometer more easily, and non-GPS aftermarket options like the TrailTech Vapor (which I replaced my stock gauges with)... or just a bicycle speedometer. They function based on counting wheel rotations (with magnets) and wheel circumference. I trust my Vapor more than I'd just a consumer GPS, especially in Seattle... where a GPS connection can be ruined by heavy cloud cover and tall buildings.
Yea usually their pretty accurate on trailers cause they get calibrated more and don't get forgotted so much. Strange that your speedos off more than the usual 250 though.:huh seraph yea but for a lazy ass like me I don't like calibrating those things, its pretty simple but I ain't no good at no math. Even my motorized bicycle I had a speedo on it and it sure was not never accurate! Always followed them directions but its too much work for me! But yea those work well too a little pricy but worth it if its 10% and over optimistic. Only advantage is less tickets!
I would fight it. Never like the cops in wa they always give out tickets. I think wa made the list for one of the top places for speed traps etc. I ve got tickets there. but just paid because it would have cost more to go to fight it then not. The highway patrol always at night weaves in and out of the trafic looking for rigs doing more then 3 miles per hour above the limbet just to bust.
What's worse isn't so much getting pulled over for an offense, it's getting pulled over and being asked "what is it?" "where'd ya get it?" "how much does one of those go for" "you gotta have a license for that?" "how fast can it go?" "really it's a 250cc?" "how far can you go?" "how much gas does it carry?" "What's the MPG?" "Must save a lot on gas, huh?" "where can I buy one of those?" not that I don't mind answering questions about it, but when I have a 25 minute ride to work and 30 minutes to get there, sort of p's me off to no end, as if I got a ticket at least I would have proof of why I was late showing up at work. plus now the new policy for being late is dock it from your vacation time, not let you stay the 15 or 20 minutes later in the evening to make it up.
I've been pulled over twice on my 400 Burgman. Stop sign violation and speeding,69mph in a 55mph zone, let off with a warning both times.
