General Cycling Discussion - What kind(s) of bikes do cops ride?

I mean, professionally? Just curious...

The Rock Island, IL officers ride Giant MTB's

Various kinds. In my town they mostly ride Litespeeds but they also have a few police bikes sold by "Smith and Wesson" and they have a couple of Cannondales.

Fuji Police or Trek Police around here... they're basically hardtail MTBs with racks, LX components and such.

Yeah, pretty much hardtails but sometimes they come with shimano silent clutch rear hubs. Make no noise when they coast (I have one).

They also have a silent hub system so they do not click when they freewheel

They also have a silent hub system so they do not click when they freewheel
The silent clutch hubs are sorta cool, but isn't that a bit silly? I mean, the click of the freewheel is not very loud in my opinion. Even with slicks, the tire noise seems greater if you're coasting at >10 mph.

Norco Kokanee I believe. A more entry level MTB hard tail.

custom steel condor cycles frames built up with shamino xt and quality hoops/bars/pedals/etc(no pics though)

http://www.condorcycles.com/pages/about.htm

Been doing bike patrol (besides being the primary mechanic and setup guy) for about 10 years. Our "fleet" consists of Trek police service MTBs, and Smith & Wesson police bikes. The Treks are far and away the most popular in the area (ST. Louis) and have been superbly reliable and durable. The Smiths (a generic Taiwan-made frame with various bits bolted on) are a mixed bag. I have two older steel-frame jobs (made by KTM in Austria) with straight XT and LX components. They are excellent. The new ones come in several grades, and the cheapies are junk. Sub-standard components. (They sell a better one)

We set 'em up with a rack, a bag (with "police" on the side) tailight, headlight (Niterider Classic), and street tires. Usually, I end up putting riser bars and a "comfort" saddle on these, the guys prefer an upright position for hours of slow cruising.

Around here, I've also seen the Fuji and Giant police bikes, and one Raleigh. The guy that runs the Police Cyclist course at the local police academy told us that two guys from one of the municipal departments showed up with Huffys! The police bikes were on order, but hadn't arrived yet. So, a quick trip to Wal-Mart...

Kleins in my neighborhood.
And get this...some of them don't wear helmets.
Is that part of the DARE program?!!!!
go figure.

Ours ride Trek MTB's in a special police package.

Easy to outrun.

Trek around here. Haven't noticed the silent hub...

I saw a couple of Linwood NJ cops when I was at the LBS and they were rolling out Mercedes Benz mountain bikes.

Harley-Davidson, Honda and BMW.

oh, wait.

i think the airport cops ride Smith & Wesson, not sure about the city cops. i'm curious though; how many different modes of transportation do your local police use? ours must be a nightmare to co-ordinate - there's the bike patrol, foot patrol, foot patrol "flying squad," the usual assortment of cruisers and motorcycles, the mounted patrol (horses), at least one each helicopter and airplane, jet skis, airboats, humvees, motor coaches (buses), and an M113 apc... i'd hate to be a mechanic for the CPD.

oh yeah, and you can see the chief on roller skates most weeks too...

Raleigh F700's and other MTB's loaded with police stuff.Riding would be a compliment, not sure being on the sidewalk 99.9% of the time counts.

In VA Bch, VA I see mostly Trek police or MTB. The rescue squad uses Treks and Cannondales.

The silent clutch hubs are sorta cool, but isn't that a bit silly? I mean, the click of the freewheel is not very loud in my opinion. Even with slicks, the tire noise seems greater if you're coasting at >10 mph.

To sneak up on suspects at night, a slight click to a bicycle sabby suspect can set them off... bike officers use silence and access as their biggest weapons.

Outruning a bike cop is a function of fitness, not the bike. Have you ever seena bike cop go 26 - 29 on a Trek hardtail... I have because I am that person... well I am not a cop but for 2 years I was a bike security officer. I have chased down my fair share of people on bikes, a few of them stealing stiff... adrenaline can makes you go very very fast...

Here in Sydney, Australia they ride nice high end hartail MTB's with all the fruit - hydraulic disc brakes, high end Shimano components, etc. My LBS has the contract to supply and maintain them for the entire state, next time I'm in there I'll ask them about it.

I read in the paper that they recently set up a dedicated training facility for velocops at the state's police training center in Goulburn. Looks basically like an awesome urban hucking environment.

To sneak up on suspects at night, a slight click to a bicycle sabby suspect can set them off... bike officers use silence and access as their biggest weapons.

Outruning a bike cop is a function of fitness, not the bike. Have you ever seena bike cop go 26 - 29 on a Trek hardtail... I have because I am that person... well I am not a cop but for 2 years I was a bike security officer. I have chased down my fair share of people on bikes, a few of them stealing stiff... adrenaline can makes you go very very fast...
A couple of years ago I was in Europe visiting my sister who lives in Belgium, and we eventually made our way down to Paris to do some sight seeing. We were standing under the Eiffel Tower as peddlers were walking up and down the lines trying to sell us stuff, when out of nowhere we hear a whistle, followed by a few dozen cops running and on bikes speeding towards them! Most of them somehow picked up all their merchandise (on blankets) and sprinted the hell out of there across the street, to wait for the cops to leave. One of the cops actually jumped off his bike while he was sprinting and landed on a perp's back! :D

And 5 minutes later, they were all back, trying to sell us stuff.

Probably the funniest thing I've ever seen!

Just about all the cops in the downtown area here ride the Trek police series bikes.

Aquila mountain bikes. Made in Ontario, so maybe someone gives them a good deal.

Why do they use MTBs? I would think speed would be an important factor. Or do they go do offroad law enforcement too?

Why do they use MTBs? I would think speed would be an important factor. Or do they go do offroad law enforcement too?

Because often times they are chasing people down stairs, on grass, up and down curbs, a road bike would be ouchies.

Why do they use MTBs? I would think speed would be an important factor. Or do they go do offroad law enforcement too?

Ours need the MTB's to go off-road, on the beach, jump curbs, go down stairs etc. They couldn't begin to do that on a road bike. If someone is outrunning them, they just make a radio call for backup.

Why do they use MTBs? I would think speed would be an important factor. Or do they go do offroad law enforcement too?
In my opinion, a MTB is sturdier than a roadie, and they seem to be less persnickity when it comes to maintenance. Plus, Trek makes Police bikes and Lance rides a Trek!

. . . ouchies.

That's a technical term, right?

That's a technical term, right?

If you want it to be.

In training, we're taught to throw 'em down, do half-spins, go up and down stairs, all that sort of thing. The average roadster wouldn't be the best for this.
Consider the position as well. We're not concerned about being "aero", we're supposed to be looking for stuff, not 20 feet down the road.
We have a couple of bikes with the clutch hubs, but I can hardly tell the difference. People tend to ignore you anyway if you're on a bike.

No Helmet? Hehe- "Though shalt not ride thy bike without thine helmet". Engraved in stone in our General Orders.

San Jose was mostly canondales, with the silent hub.

The thing with a silent hub is in a quiet street, that hub noise can really carry. I found my old diamondback, which had a super quiet hub, was very noisy in some sections of town...the more concrete around me, the louder it seemed.

Ya I tortured my patrol bike, going up 3 steps at a time, flying down stairs at speed, power slides, grass, gravel, dirt, etc.

All skills that have carried over to racing... just have not mastered the bunny hop though!

A comment to those juicy lads who say, "you can outrun the bike cops"....Well, duh.

My bike weighs about 30 pounds with all the gear, and I'm carrying 12-14 pounds of police gear as well. Not exactly up for out-sprinting kiddies many years my junior.

That's not what it's all about. The primary function of bike patrol is to be able to get into and around areas that are congested and difficult for cars, while being much faster than foot officers.
There's also a strong PR component. Every department that's embraced "Community Policing" has a bike squad as part of the program. "Officer Friendly", if you will.

Works, too.

To do a bunny hop, imagine jumping up. Bring the handlebars up as you do, then press down on them. The back wheel should lift up due to leverage if you do it right.

I can't hop very good, about 8-10 inches, but I can do it if necessary.

As for bike cop speed....heh they are carrying all kinds of crap...speed racer they are not.

However it is cool seeing bike cops around...and it might just be me and my biases, but the bike cops seem more laid back than their car-driving counterparts.

I bunny-hop the speed bumps around here all the time, even with all the weight. Technique and timing.

I mean, professionally? Just curious...

My town they ride Kona's, I was in Skagway, Alaska last week and the police there were riding a hardtail labelled Smith & Wesson.

In victoria bc they ride Rockymountain hammers. And they are always new, since they lease them from a local store. Pretty good. New hammers are 2000 cnd, now.

If you live in victoria and want a cheap year old hammer, just go ryder's cycle, they resell the cops' bikes.

We just got in a shipment of 5 police bikes, at the shop I work in today. The were all Treks, but all they said was police bike, no other labels as to which Trek they were. They were all full suspension, and actually pretty nice bikes, but no silent hub or anything.

We also had a little on going joke, where we put a pig bell(head of a pig, squeeze and makes a sound like a dog toy.) on and I will post pictures(to see the bikes of course :-) ) if I get one.

We just had a little festival here called "Feather-Fest", this area being big in poultry production. Street vendors, carnival rides, live music...you get the idea. Big street party. They block off several blocks of the downtown area and a good time is had by all. The police and fire departments were there too, on Cannondales. I don't know the model, but they were nice bikes. Silent hubs? Dunno, couldn't hear them over Molly Hatchet and Foghat. Richocet was there Friday night, and they make a lot of noise too!

Heh, I know a guy who put one of those on a cop bike as a joke...the part that was truly funny was the cop decided he liked it and I saw him with it even a year later :D


Imainge taking a guy with a squeeky pig on their handlebars seriously :p

I think you can just pack extra grease into most freewheels and make them silent, and yes it does make a difference. Sneaking around silently at night is kind of cool!

Heh, I know a guy who put one of those on a cop bike as a joke...the part that was truly funny was the cop decided he liked it and I saw him with it even a year later :D


Imainge taking a guy with a squeeky pig on their handlebars seriously :p

You'd be surprised how far something like that goes when it comes to public relations. Good conversation piece, for kids and adults. Makes him approachable. Lot's of folks don't like cops and sure, some of them are a**holes. Every profession has some. Sounds to me like this guy is doing everything he can to help set people at ease.

My wife bought me one of those "dragon" rubber squeeze-horns for a joke. I put it on the police bike and got lots of comments! Believe me, I know any number of guys who'd be glad to get their hands on a "piggie" horn.

In Pinellas County I've seen Treks and Crack-n-fails in Clearwater. I wasn't able to catch the make of the rigs they use down around BayWalk (Downtown St. Pete) this was largely due to being late for a movie on the way in and having a decent buzz on the way out. A couple of "Call a Cabs" from Wet Willies (http://www.wetwillies.com/happen_view.cfm?id=7) will do that

To sneak up on suspects at night, a slight click to a bicycle sabby suspect can set them off... bike officers use silence and access as their biggest weapons.

Outruning a bike cop is a function of fitness, not the bike. Have you ever seena bike cop go 26 - 29 on a Trek hardtail... I have because I am that person... well I am not a cop but for 2 years I was a bike security officer. I have chased down my fair share of people on bikes, a few of them stealing stiff... adrenaline can makes you go very very fast...

Yeah, but can they keep up 26-29 for 60km?

Yeah, but can they keep up 26-29 for 60km?
:rolleyes:

So, read the thread lately?

Rocky Mountain Vertex 10 by Ottawa police in Canada.

One of my colleagues just bought one for $600 from public auctions; was told it was used by them for a year...

Trek bikes in Willoughby, Ohio.

Cannondale Bad Boys around here, with some pretty tricked out electronics. Saw 7 of them racked up for delivery at the LBS one day, pretty cool.

http://homepage.mac.com/juanwilson/islandbreath/2008Year/15-justice_law/0815-09PacificBlue.jpg

Over in my part of the UK the 'Community Liaison Officers' ride Claude Butler MTB's. They patrol cyclepaths, towpaths, land used for leisure