Upgrading to a Valentine 1?

[Niehart]

Damn you Wendy, you are costing me money I don't have.

Having tried to keep up followed AuburnFJR a few times, I do think that is the best setup.

 

[fljab]

Wendy,

I'm late to this - I haven't been keeping up! Tony told me about this last Saturday.

I have a V1 and keep mine in the Legal Speeding box linked above. It is mounted on my N/Line dash top right. I know you got rid of your J&M (it's on my VStrom!), but that's how I have it coming to my right ear in the helmet.

You already know this, but the J&M setup sucks; no volume control so construction zones can drive you crazy! I tried to splice into the cable to be able to mute with no success, so ended up putting the V1 remote volume gizmo. It doesn't control volume with the J&M cable, but it will turn it off, so that's what I do when I'm in a area it gets annoying.

There's a legitimate argument on V1 vs Escort. The main advantage of V1 is the feature of letting you know where the radar is coming from. I don't know if the Escort is better or worse; others can express that opinion.

It does need to be line of sight, and even then I wouldn't rely on it. I got a performance award in Montana this yr during ITU (on I-15 just north of Helena). My V1 never went off that I know; if it did I missed it.

The time before that I got pulled over was in Georgia in 2010 on I-75. The county deputy never radared me, he fell in behind and paced for 5 miles or so. My V1 didn't ever go off and no one on the CB said anything about it. He was in a SUV so I just thought it was someone that was following at the, er, advanced travel! Lucky on that one, he didn't give me a ticket (it helps to be humble sometimes!). Big lesson that........

If there is anything else I can help/pics/whatever, let me know!

 

[puppychow]

Wendy,
I'm late to this - I haven't been keeping up! Tony told me about this last Saturday.

I have a V1 and keep mine in the Legal Speeding box linked above. It is mounted on my N/Line dash top right. I know you got rid of your J&M (it's on my VStrom!), but that's how I have it coming to my right ear in the helmet.

You already know this, but the J&M setup sucks; no volume control so construction zones can drive you crazy! I tried to splice into the cable to be able to mute with no success, so ended up putting the V1 remote volume gizmo. It doesn't control volume with the J&M cable, but it will turn it off, so that's what I do when I'm in a area it gets annoying.

There's a legitimate argument on V1 vs Escort. The main advantage of V1 is the feature of letting you know where the radar is coming from. I don't know if the Escort is better or worse; others can express that opinion.

It does need to be line of sight, and even then I wouldn't rely on it. I got a performance award in Montana this yr during ITU (on I-15 just north of Helena). My V1 never went off that I know; if it did I missed it.

The time before that I got pulled over was in Georgia in 2010 on I-75. The county deputy never radared me, he fell in behind and paced for 5 miles or so. My V1 didn't ever go off and no one on the CB said anything about it. He was in a SUV so I just thought it was someone that was following at the, er, advanced travel! Lucky on that one, he didn't give me a ticket (it helps to be humble sometimes!). Big lesson that........

If there is anything else I can help/pics/whatever, let me know!

Didn't you get a ticket on I-15 when you were coming into a town? LEO might have been masking his radar signature by hiding in a radar polluted zone, as is common when coming into a town, and he might not have been using Ka band. although Ka band pollution is also becoming more and more common these days. Also, I remember several times in Idaho, I got hit by K-band from local Sheriffs. State Highway Patrol in most states has almost always been Ka or Laser.

 

[HotRodZilla]

Remember this: RADAR companies like Kustom advance their tech and then a couple years later, sell it to the detector companies. When I was in traffic, I was a huge producer, so I always had new equipment. I wrote tons of tickets to guys whose detectors never went off. I was on them, but their equipment couldn't read mine. I also used stopwatch, pacing and LASER...I have written RADAR tickets to people using Valntines, Escorts, Bels, Cobras, Passports, RADAR and LASER detecting devices, you name it.

Remember, detectors are tools. Use them as such, along with your vision and common sense. Sometimes that 'gut' feeling is right on the money, so don't just blow if off.

I haven't seen an X band RADAR in years...Probably 15 or more. Maybe some small town is still using one, but that's a big maybe. Most use K band and the better equipment uses Ka. My Ka RADARs were always awesome. Great range and very little falsing.

 

[101stpathfinder]

Do not want to go too far off topic but,

AJ- from your experience what would you consider to be the tolerance level for exceeding the limit? And is there a human factor when pulling someone over that has no detector as to someone who has one, with determining whether a ticket will be issued? Are quotas and revenue the main motivation?

 

[Bounce]

1. "Tolerance levels" are an unanswerable question as it's location and officer specific. Technically, you have to assume zero tolerance. I've been popped for +2.

2. HRZ is 100% on the money in that none of these tools is a cloak of invisibility. It's part of a total awareness package.

 

[HotRodZilla]

Do not want to go too far off topic but,AJ- from your experience what would you consider to be the tolerance level for exceeding the limit? And is there a human factor when pulling someone over that has no detector as to someone who has one, with determining whether a ticket will be issued? Are quotas and revenue the main motivation?

I have never seen quotas or revenue as reasons any of us write ticktes. Here in the western side of the US, unless a city is writing citations under city code, the money for citations goes to the state. I think my agency gets something like $.75 for each citation issued and the citatons cost something like $.50 to $.60 each to have printed. BUT...With the time we get paid overtime for going to court and pretrials and the small fines imposed by judges, I would bet the state is in the hole if they are depending on that for revenue gathering.

Quotas are illegal country wide. I have seen departments try to force their guys to write tickets because some administrators are idiots and think ticket writing is a basis for how productive we are...That's not the case, but it is what it is. They try to call them "performance standards" but everyone knows what they really are and fights back. Every time I have seen some agency try to pull that stunt, the guys get pissed off and write their quota in warnings. Remember we are nearly all type-A ******** and don't like being forced to do stupid ****. Trying to force cops to write tickets is like hitting yourself in the finger with a hammer and forcing it not to hurt. So, the cops write a **** ton of warnings, which is technically writing a ticket, but with negative revenue generation. It pisses those admin guys off, and we don't care. I have never worked for a department that tried that.

The eastern US is somewhat different, but I have friends all over the place and the consensus is the same. We don't give a **** about the state's money problems. There are other ways to balance the budget.

As far as the allowable tolerance for speeding...Usually no more than 10 over. I put that in italics, because that really depends. Some guys will write for 5 over, and I had a buddy that would't write for less than 15. It also depends on location. If it's a constructon zone with workers, or a school zone, and I stop you, 6 over will get you a ticket. AND...even with those rules, not everyone writes tickets. On my previous squad, I had one guy that consistently wrote 120 cites a month...120 cites, zero warnings. I had another guy that wrote 100 a month...All warnings. Used to be that 99% of the cars I stopped were getting citations and 1% got off with a warning. Now it's closer to 60/40. It depends, but that's what you get with people in the mix.

 

[mdisher]

Also late to the discussion but...

I keep mine mounted on the right handlebar/ram-mount, short ram-ball thingy. (the magnetic mount with a velcro strap over it just for the added safety factor).

In a drizzle, I do absolutely nothing, it's actually pretty protected.

If it looks like rain, then I have a bunch of heavy duty sandwich bags in my top case and I slide one over it. I've ridden in from frog stranglers that way, no issues.

If I'm riding in the rain ALL damn day, at some point I'll just take it off and toss it in a side case. Generally I'm not running much over the limit in the rain, and rarely do I ever see cops running radar in the rain. I'm sure it happens but that's been my experience. But it's not permanently mounted either.

-MD

 

[gixxerjasen]

Thanks for the insight HRZ.

 

[gixxerjasen]

Also, at least in the city, don't discount waze. It's a slick little app for your phone that lets you and others report various things like accidents, traffic jams, road hazards, and cops. Shows them all on a map to alert you in advance of things coming up.

 

[Chuck35]

While we are mentioning alternate warning devices...I have a POI file on my 665 that gives me a little ding when I am approaching an LEO enforcement hangout.

Of course this doesn't tell me if they are there or not, it's just a reminder to check / adjust my speed.

Get POI files Here

 

[Bounce]

HRZ's comments about quotas matches what friends have told me. But some of them bitch about being told they have to make "x contacts per shift" (as a way to justify their jobs). The only way to document that is with tickets and/or warnings. Even if it's not called a quota, the end result is the same.

It's like counting service call tickets and telling someone doing more difficult tasks (network, servers, etc.) that require research and detailed resolutions that they are less productive than another employee taking low hanging fruit like password resets and telling the first person they are "under performing".

 

[gixxerjasen]

Agreed Bounce. I hate using statistics to monitor whether someone is doing a good job or not.

All that said, and this is getting a smidge off topic here, but as far as I can see, all money coming or going from a government body, has to be included in a budget somewhere. If ticket revenue is in the budget, someone is going to get upset if the budgeted revenue isn't coming in, thus there's still somewhat of a quota out there.

I often wonder, if the money went to a charity or somewhere else, how much of a focus tickets would be on a police departments daily work. HRZ says that not a lot of money is made by the city. I think things must be different in Texas. City of Mesquite has guys out daily on 635. That officer was super efficient with his time and it took less than five minutes for my ticket from him pulling off the median to back on the median running radar/laser and they got $250 from me for flowing with traffic (literally, car in front of me, behind me and next to me). Literally, he'd gotten back on the highway and was set up before I could gear back up and get on the bike again. I can't help but see that there's a budget getting fattened up there somewhere.

 

[HotRodZilla]

Agreed Bounce. I hate using statistics to monitor whether someone is doing a good job or not.
All that said, and this is getting a smidge off topic here, but as far as I can see, all money coming or going from a government body, has to be included in a budget somewhere. If ticket revenue is in the budget, someone is going to get upset if the budgeted revenue isn't coming in, thus there's still somewhat of a quota out there.

I often wonder, if the money went to a charity or somewhere else, how much of a focus tickets would be on a police departments daily work. HRZ says that not a lot of money is made by the city. I think things must be different in Texas. City of Mesquite has guys out daily on 635. That officer was super efficient with his time and it took less than five minutes for my ticket from him pulling off the median to back on the median running radar/laser and they got $250 from me for flowing with traffic (literally, car in front of me, behind me and next to me). Literally, he'd gotten back on the highway and was set up before I could gear back up and get on the bike again. I can't help but see that there's a budget getting fattened up there somewhere.

Do you like your job?? Maybe that guy just likes writing tickets. I loved it...Actually still do. When I was in traffic and had no other responsibilities besides traffic related stuff, I could write almost 50 tickets in 8 hours. Had nothing to do with a quota, I was just hunting, and the warning not to speed was posted up on those big black and white signs.

 

[gixxerjasen]

I dunno, kind of why it confuses me. One of the draws of police work seems like it would be the constant change, no two days the same, always something coming up that you haven't seen before. But cranking out tickets seems like it would be mind numbing...at least to me. I guess it could be someone's cup of tea but I could never see myself doing that day in and day out.

 

[Bionic Pelvis]

The FarkleBar is interesting, but I'm more of a Techmount girl myself. I find the Ram Mount balls get dry rotted, deformed, and stop doing their job very well. Looks like Velcro on the old dash may be the only solution.

Oh, and so sorry about the forced wallet drain Niehart

 

[fljab]

HRZ, that is some good info. Some of it I've heard before - but I like the story of issuing warnings when a "quota" is given to officers.

I'm usually a 5-8 over guy on the interstate, some US 4 lane roads between towns, and some state highways under the right conditions. In a small town on the road (or even local) I'm always strict to the speed limit because they seem to be the worst. It just depends. I've been all over the country and not gotten a ticket for 8 over on the interstate and some of that was in very strict enforcement zones (I'm not talking about construction zones).

The ticket in Montana was me not paying attention to my speed coming down that long grade into Helena. I was already trimming speed and was @ 81 on the gps when I first saw him - which was right when he started to cross the grass median to follow. I still don't think my radar went off - and there were no other signals, so HRZs tale of stopping guys and their radar not going off makes sense. That was a MSP that go me.

The V1? No way I rely on it; I agree, it's a tool and maybe not the best one out there. I use it more to "keep me honest" and it has helped many times on the road, mostly coming into small towns that use K or Ka. Georgia state boys like to use laser and I've been hit with that many times at the 5-8 over and never been pulled over. Ditto South Carolina (I think those are the strictest enforcement). Most times with laser I don't see the source.

My opinion is high speed doesn't pay, esp in the east. Out west there are more places with scarce enforcement, but all it takes is one time traffic stop running 50 over to make a believer out of you; it would be easy to get in the habit of running big speeds tho, I understand that. I don't have that temptation here because I know it's likely on any speeding bit to be picked up, and a detector on the shelf is likely to NOT grant any leniency.

Oh, PS, on X band. Yes 99%+ it's something else - automatic doors, construction signs, etc - but I was somewhere this yr, and I think it might of been on my Alaska run while I was in Canada, but there was a small town cop using X band. So, ya just never know!

Dang I hate gettin' old, this CRS is bad sometimes! Where in the heck was I??? Shoot, where am I now?? better go ask the wife..........

 

[ionbeam]

...One of the draws of police work seems like it would be the constant change, no two days the same, always something coming up that you haven't seen before...

My brother the LEO says as a patrol officer you never talk to anyone that is having a good day.

His captain says to him, "Officer Smith, have you lost your citation pad?" My brother responds that in all his recent traffic stops he never felt that a ticket wouldn't have made a difference in the outcome. Wrong answer... he was told that there is an expectation that he will write no less than 10 tickets per week (and get going because he was behind for the week).

Riding with my brother, he would call out a vehicle speed, shoot them with his radar gun and usually he was +/- 2 mph worst case. The radar gun is just to document the infraction.

...Looks like Velcro on the old dash may be the only solution...

I put down a thin patch of sticky-back furniture padding on a metal plate to reduce harsh vibrations, then cut windows in the padding and inserted Velcro hooks. I put corresponding Velcro loops on the bottom of the radar detector so it wouldn't hook the padding. I have run that setup for years with no problems.

Shepherd 4-1/2 in. x 6 in. Surface Gard Medium-Duty Self-Adhesive Felt Blankets 2 Pack

 

[Bionic Pelvis]

I don't know how I missed the entire second page before my last post, but this conversation has certainly gotten fun! I am not much of a speeder - I was actually complimented by one of the Big People after this year's IBR that every time they checked, I was running consistently +6mph, which made me very happy. (+7 was one of those magic numbers I heard long ago at which point writing a ticket is no longer optional, so that's generally the top of the range where my wrist likes to hang out.) I go for consistency rather than speed.

In probably 75k miles of rally riding and over 300k total miles just on the two primary bikes I own now, I've only received one ticket. Just like Gixxerjasen, right with the flow of traffic (behind a big rig!!), but it was NOT quick (long, kinda funny story) it cost me a bonus, and the TPX didn't tell me about it until I was passing the cop. They made it super easy for me to plead the ticket down to a parking ticket, pay the fine & avoid any points without having to travel all the way back to NY from CA. Did a little research and the consensus was that speeding ticket money goes primarily to the state while parking ticket money goes primarily to the principality. To me that certainly seems more like fundraising vs. keeping our roads safe, which is why I like to have a little heads up.

 

[gixxerjasen]

I've tried to verify, but around here if you take Deferred Adjudication then it doesn't go on your record if you keep clean for x amount of time. They push that one pretty hard when you go in which makes me wonder. If the local county/city doesn't report it, do they get to keep the fine? I've no idea where the money goes but they always seem to push DA which has made me wonder.

I'm pretty much an 80mph guy where safe. Car or bike. Heck, even on our 85mph road I was doing 80mph a few weeks ago. It just feels right for me. Probably one of the reasons I don't see too big of a deal on the 2013 cruise control. I can't think of a time when I've wanted to set a cruise control to triple digits. I do think it's silly for them to program an arbitrary limit, but it wouldn't affect me much.