travsi

so, i made this great photo at the police station today.
they impounded my bike! it will be inspected by the
traffic-chief-investigator-commissaire guy and returned
in about a week …of course, after i pay a nice fine. when
i get the bike back i am "supposed to" undertake the
neccesary upgrades to make the bike street-legal.

…the basler polizei are crackin down on the brakeless!

kyle!

inspected? jesus! and what the damn, why a whole week?

npoak

They wanted to see if there were any dirty words on all those spoke cards.
You know those wacky French and literature!

babychris

thats crap.

DoshKel

Holy ****. They treat the bike as it is so sort of weapon. How insane.

I feel like the whole world, except for New Zealand, is going batty. Plus... your bike is way too pretty to be inspected by a bunch of weirdos.

polara426sh

Last time I was there, Basel was in Switzerland, not France.

freddiesan

Man! That's insane!! Here in Sweden the police have started using a squad of civilian dressed policemen on bicycles to catch us bikers. They've switched to more leaner and faster bikes also to be able to keep up with the quicker crowd. No impounded track bike yet but I fear that's where we're heading.

Nice to see your chocolate bike again though!

Good luck!

dutret

Didn't you post a warning you got or a story about someone else getting fined? It's funny that they impounded the bike rather then just fining you. Maybe the dumb****s in portland will stop whining now(though I doubt it cause little goes with being young and hip better then seeing everything as persecution).

travsi

i think i might have. i've definately be threatened with a fine before.

i found out more info to why the busted me so hard-core. the police
have cracked down before requiring front brakes, but recently someone
ruined it. what happened was; a messenger (who was running a front
brake) ran into a cop trying to stop him on foot at a random control.
since then, they've decided that a fixed hub doesn't count as a brake
anymore.

when they brought me to the station, one of officers brought a bunch of
other officers in to check out and get to know "the enemy".

cc700

i'm typing LOL but i'm not laughing. that's really not that funny. just sounds funny that they can't just prosecute people for disobeying traffic laws instead.

PHR3AK

yo police sux, i had the same problem when i was at the x-days.

ArchieBrown

The enemy?

In that case....Vive la Revolution.

estratton

Oy vey..... 5-0 are a bunch of meshuganas

el twe

*Velorution

operator

Need for Speed ... messenger edition?

dijos

the evidence tag would make a great spokecard!

doofo

it will never be the same knowing your bike has been violated

schwinn

+1

andre nickatina

Dutret, seriously, are you just trying to be a dick and start fights now? Shut the hell up.

thenewblk

no please don't. hehe

travsi

***this is just a bit of an update/rant, not a reason to start a brakes/no-brakes debate***

ok, so i got my bike back in one piece ...this time. they
said that i am required to mount a front and rear brake
as well as front and rear reflectors (white and red respectively),
each with an area of 10 square cm.

the fine is yet to be determined, because there is no set
law stating how much to fine for lack of front and rear
brakes. i'm guessing it will be around the same as the fine
that PHR3AK got in zürich (plus storage fees).

if i am caught riding the bike without front and rear brakes
mounted, i will be fined a much higher amount (around 1000chf)
and my bike will be "entwertet", which is german legal jargon
for 'cubed'. i'm not sure what will happen if they catch me with
a different bike without brakes, but for now i'm riding my blue
giro until i get brakes for the brown bike.

in some ways i can understand that they force cyclists to run
front and rear brakes for safety/insurance reasons, because
i've seen alot of people out there who really can't ride brakeless.
and the only way to check that sort of thing is to have riders
perform a test (which probably won't happen). it just makes me
sad that i have to put some **** on my bike for which i have
no need, just because of some people's ignorance.
…so'n schiess dräck…

i bet the police here love that there is a new cash cow to milk
instead of taking care of real crimes which don't yield as much
revenue.

Bikkhu

LóFarkas

****, that's pretty idiotic.
Condolences.

I actually think requiring a front brake is perfectly reasonable, if a bit intrusive. I could live with that (well, I run a front brake anyway, but you get the idea). Requiring rear brake on a fix is just plain ********. If they do that, they should be fining everyone on a coaster brake bike cuz no coaster brake bike has a rear caliper (some don't have a front, either), and fixed arguably works about as well as a coaster.

Also, I'd hate to have reflectors on the bike. If you only ride during the day, they're useless and they look nasty. In theory they're required here too (front+back+wheels, and a bell as well) but nobody gives a damn about those rules.

travsi

i agree. if they would've said, 'just a front brake', i would've
thought it still sucks, but still be fairly ok with that. the cops
even said, that they believe i could brake as well if not better
than alot of people riding with crappy front and rear brakes,
but this is all about formalities.

the fixed riders in zürich already tried to push a requirement
for only a front brake, but they couldn't get enough money to
cover all the legal fees involved with passing a change in the
law or a new law.

jaypee

You should get a bunch of people together and instigate a "real" crime spree. Perpetrate murders, arsons, and muggings and such. Make 'em as heinous as possible. Do this while riding recumbents. Then, the police will focus their efforts on 'bents and leave ya'll alone.

Hell, were I a cop I'd arrest 'bent riders on principle..