Speed run to Daytona

[baylensman]

Well over the weekend (Saturday) my brother decides to go back to Daytona, asked me to ride along. We blasted off at 6:30 am stopped for petrol and flew. pulled into the track at just past 9:00 am yes just over 160 miles in 2 1/2 hours!( yes I have the ticket to prove it! $131.00 cop was nice and knocked the speed down to 9 miles over the limit) Well went to Vance and Hines He got the new FP-3 and X pipe on his Ultra. we walked around a bit, I must say I was disappointed in the display by Star and mother Yamaha. The Ultra classic from Harley with 6 Speed and fuel injection, the always outstanding Gold wing, as well as some offering by the other guys (Kawasaki and Suzuki). I may have to jump ship with my next purchase. Yamaha has about 18 months maybe two years, before they loss another customer. I may have to get the tattoo on my butt changed

[BlueSky]

Sorry about the ticket. About 26 years ago, I found out the hard way that they can clock a motorcycle with radar just as easily as a car.

[djh3]

Didnt use to be that way. Sometimes tech sucks.

[Flyinfool]

If you think about it, they are using radar to track the speed of a baseball or a hockey puck coming in at 100+ MPH. A bike should be no problem.

[Venturous Randy]

The thing to keep in mind about radar is it does not read the fastest speed, it reads the strongest signal bounce back. That means that if you are coming toward radar on your bike and you have a big SUV coming up behind you, unless the operator is really paying attention, you may be paying for his ticket, especially if he has a detector and slows down before the operator notices him, especially when the operator is watching you.

Many years ago, one of the car magazine did tests on radar and different vehicles and found out that on a non-metallic painted corvette, with the tilted back radiator that covered the engine, the car had to be surprisingly close to get a reading. Whereas, a large truck a half mile away or more gave a reading.

We will occasionally have the roadside radar unit set up with the big readout screens and I have come toward them knowing exactly what my speed is and have a much different reading show up and maybe a quick blink of my speed just as I am passing to unit. And, this is without traffic running next to me, but some distance behind me. This is why I run a radar detector on my bike. It is not so I feel I can exceed the speed limit because with instant on radar, I would be more likely to get a ticket. But, if a LEO is running his radar unit a lot, I have a better chance to be aware.

As far as the radar units measuring baseballs and hockey pucs, I suspect the sensitivity is much different than what is used for vehicles. A too sensitive reading on the radar unit would probably not give consistent readings out on the highway.

Randy