View Single Post
Old 08-21-07, 09:30 AM
  #17  
Allen
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 4,697
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 6 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 10 Times in 9 Posts
Not necessarily the snazziest bike, but one appropriate for the job at hand.
And I agree that the shortsightedness of bureaucrats is astounding.
Originally Posted by Paul B
...one or 2 bikes are always out of service for something
That's equipment that is obviously not able to withstand the rigors of the modern urban crime environment (thanks William F. Zorzi for that line).

I put a lot of miles on my bikes, more than the local PD and on par with most metropolitan departments and beat the living **** out of my bikes. One can be put together that has yearly maintenance issues of fixing the occasional flats, keeping the tires topped off, oiling the chain, and nothing more. Chains lasting 10,000 miles is common with internal hubs, and poor shifter performance becomes a thing of the past as well. Since police bikes are sold as complete bikes and are not frame-set and component packages, when you fold a bike the entire bike gets trashed and replaced with a new one. Where replacing just the frame would cost half of what the current line of police bikes does, and would keep you in far superior equipment. The initial cost would be closer to $1,500 than it would be to $999, but the cost in maintenance and keeping officers on the street would more than make up for it in a year. How much did the S&W bikes end up costing after having all their bits replaced? A good bike would be less than your laptops and when the laptop breaks it doesn't have the potential to take your clavicle down with it.

The local department uses S&W bikes, they are utter junk. If the rest of your equipment is as poorly designed I would hope your union rep is down at the court house right now raising cain. I guess what I'm saying is I wish y'all had access to better equipment especially since the bicycle industry is capable of producing a far better product, at a price a bean counter should find reasonable (you listening QBP?), than what is currently being shilled.

{edit} Oh, and I'm standing my ground on the Brooks saddles. They are made of thick hardened leather (much tougher stuff than boots), and would stand up for much longer than a season, they should go for years in fact. Sharing bikes would be an issue, but they won't rip to shreds as soon as they hit the pavement.

Last edited by Allen; 08-21-07 at 11:00 AM.
Allen is offline