Jim311

Me and a friend of mine were riding some urban assault on the local college campus. There's some huge stair gaps and dropoffs and stuff.. we usually ride there at night since it's EXTREMELY well lit and there's lots of technical stuff. We can't trail ride at night, so we hone our technical skills and pull stupid stunts on campus. I was riding a skinny on a certain section, while my friend was practicing some wheelie-drops of a 2-3 foot concrete divider. Right as he wheelie drops, I see a cop pull around the corner. The cop hesitates, then flicks on his lights and pulls over to us. We could have easily ran, but I figured he'd just scold us. He proceded to inform us that riding without lights was illegal, which I knew but pretended I didn't. I thought he was just going to give us a slap on the wrist and let us go.. no harm no foul. He said he wouldn't ticket us for stunt riding, but he gave us tickets for riding without lights. I realize that riding without lights under NORMAL circumstances is illegal and probably dangerous, but that's not what really irked me. We were riding on a Thursday night, harming nobody. Worst case scenario.. we hurt ourselves and nobody else. But right near campus is a HUGE string of bars, and Thursday night is club-hopping night. Tons of drunk dumbasses driving around town and causing trouble. And this cop couldn't find anything better to do than to harass some local kids who were just having a good time. We weren't even really riding on the streets.. more on the sidewalks and whatnot anyway. Under no circumstances were we doing anything to endanger others. So now we have to either take a class, or pay 51 bucks. So I guess I'm going to sit through some 2 hour class learning things I either don't care to know or already know. It's good to know that my tax and tuition moneys go to support fighting such hardcore criminals as myself

Raiyn

Sorry man that's FUNNY. You should have been busted for the Urban bit and you get nailed for no lights? Maybe he WAS being nice about the whole thing if pushed he could have tried nailing a vandalism charge on you. Next time a ten dollar K-mart Bell light might save you BS like this. <shakes head and chuckles>

Dannihilator

It's a $70 dollar fine if you get caught riding at night without any headlights where I am.

Dutchy

What benefit would a set of lights give a rider doing stunts? Lights only help if the bike has both wheels on the ground. The cop must have been having a slow day.

CHEERS.

Mark

Maelstrom 

Wow....all I can say is Wow...sorry to hear it.

KevinG

Gville is really strict about their light laws.
UF is also normally really strict about riding stairs and drops on campus. I know people who have had their bikes impounded and gotten tresspass warrants there.

Justin M.

Hey, at least your enjoying an ice cold rolling rock after a nights ride...

Raiyn

Heck I still have unpaid parking tickets at UF! You can tell them I ain't paying them either!

Jim311

Nah, I'm not going to have my drivers license revoked, or stops put on my registration or anyting at UF. It's not worth it. I'll just waste my time going to the class.

Jim311

Guilty as charged

Kev

No offense, but you said thursday night is club hopping night. So you run ALOT higher chance of getting hit by some drunk driver without a light on. He might have assumed you rode your bike there and would ride it back home. So he was protecting you in a way.

Jim311

No offense taken. I realize I was in violation of the law, I'm certainly not complaining about it. What I dislike was the harsh penalty for such a minor infraction. Honestly... 51 dollars for THAT? By riding without a light I assumed all risks.. just like I do when I ride urban assault. Any personal or bodily damage would have been solely my fault and nobody elses. I felt a warning would have been fair. Up until tonight nobody had even said a word to us about it. He could have warned us, and we would have gotten lights for future outings. But honestly we had no idea it would be that big of an issue.. just thought we'd get a warning or slap on the wrist.

Jim311

He even stated that under normal circumstances, had we not been on campus, we wouldn't have even been stopped. But apparently they are more strict on campus. Must have been a slow night in crime-fighting.

Kev

I could same thing about seatbelt law, I'm only going to hurt myself 90% of the time. But that other 10% of time I might lose more control without it. If you were on the road without a light and someone did not see you and hit you and swerved they could hit another car.. or saw you at last second and swerved hit another person/car.. so in reality if you were on the road you are endangering others. I agree for what you were doing there was no danger to anyone else.

georgesnatcher

Sounds to me as if he was really busting horns about the urban assault stuff. Most Police departments are taking major heat from citizens and the powers that be because of damage from skateboarders and urban assault type biking. They consider it a "quality of life" type of crime. You say that the officer said that off campus the odds were that you would not have been stopped. That goes to back up my theory. Go back to where you were riding in the daylight and look for the damage done by boarders and bikers.

mjw16

Regardless of what crimes other people may or may not have been committing that night and their severity (or lack thereof)-you were still in violation of a local law (s) and the cop was doing his job-enforcing laws. Sounds like he gave you a break too. The problem with that kind of riding (and skateboarding) is that it is going to bring heat on anyone who rides a mountain bike (or board) because of the damage it does to public property. That kind of riding should be limited to parks. Just my two cents...

schnell

Well said.

Jim311

Let's get one thing straight... I was NOT damaging public property and have always made a point of avoiding doing so. I realize that whatever I do can reflect negatively on my sport, so I try to keep a positive image. I was not damaging anybody's property whatsoever.

mjw16

ok........

KleinMp99

Wow that really sucks, I dont think we have any law about having lights on bikes at night and if we do.......I wonder why I havent been caught yet

KleinMp99

I just looked up the laws for bicycles in michigan......I had no idea that any of these were laws.

1. You have to have a light on the front of a bike that is visible from 500 feet.

2. You have to have a bell that a person can hear from 100 feet away.

3. I can not sell, offer for sale or deliver in the state of michigan.....a bike that dosent have pedal reflectors that are visible from 200 feet away, or a bike that dosent have spoke reflectors. Yikes....I dont think they enforce the laws very good.

KevinG

I think you guys are getting confused here.
He said they were riding urban assault not street/jibbing(god I hate that word jib!).
He even said they were riding skinnies and doing drops. How is that doing damage to concrete/metal/brick?

Urban assault is usually done on DH or Trail bikes. It is doing drops, riding skinnies, riding/gaping stairs, think north shore style riding in a urban setting. I dont see how rubber tires will damage anything.

Street/jibbing (there is that stupid word again!) is done on small hardtails usually without front brakes, long brake line/cable and long rear der cable. Think big BMX bike. It is grinding, stalling and trials type riding. It causes damage and should be confined to parks.

When we are out riding urban and a cop comes up or drives by we do not run, or stop riding. We just keep doing what we are doing.
9 times out of ten when once the cops see that most of us are over 30, how and what we are riding and that we dont have pegs or grinded(ground?) up bikes they leave us alone.

So go and complain in the BMX forum or call Aaron Chase or Thor Wixom and complain to them about giving mountain bikers a bad name.

Please dont be guilty of biker profiling.

Rant Off

ngateguy

No you don't what bout the risk that a driver takes because he can't see you? Quit your *****in' and buy a light and one last legal point you don't want a ticket don't break the law

Jim311

I'm going to buy some weak ass front head lamp and rear tail light. It will serve no purpose other than adhering to the legalities.

KevinG

You should go to Recycled Bikes on University Ave. Dave usually has used ones for cheap. If you do go, tell those guys Kevin Griffin(who used to work at smoke) says hi.