No more Harley Davidson police motorcycles? I’ve mentioned police bikes here on several occasions, noting Honda‘s and BMW‘s entries in the class, but it wasn’t until I noticed a news item from a police department in Oregon, that I heard the HD police bike is no more. They’re buying BMWs to replace their Harleys because Harley quit making them. Really? I completely missed that. If there was an announcement, it was pretty low key. I looked over the HD website and found nothing to mention the passing of the venerable Hog. Did this just happen or is this old news? If anyone knows, please fill us in.
SF says
Honda and BMW taking over? I think you mean Yamaha here. In Europe they are taking over from BMW and Honda with the FJR1300 but no-one ever rides HD as police bike in Europe. Check out the bike at http://www.yamaha-motor.nl/politie
sigint says
I’m from Oregon (anonymity be damned!) and it’s actually the city of Eugene that’s doing the change to BMW. Eugene is a college town (home of the University of Oregon Ducks) and it’s a heck of a lot smaller than Portland.
Eugene also has a large population of college hippies so that lower emissions, better fuel economy and a quieter engine are pretty nice to have.
aaron says
not too suprising harley has fallen out of favor, as there are scooters more suited to police work these days (burgmans, T-maxes and silverwings.) our city has seen bmw kbikes, f650s and boxers, yamahas, harleys and hondas over the last 10 years. Word is that the motorcycle cops describe their rides as “police bikes” or “parade bikes”. with more policing and less parading, the harley has been relegated to the dumpster up here.
Bucho says
I don’t think HD bikes make good mounts for police officers accept maybe for parades or something. I am a police officer and was shocked that my department had a BMW R1100RTP for testing a few years back and turned it down. I asked a few of the motorcops if they liked it or why they didn’t and one of the guys said he didn’t even ride it and had no interest to. The other guys hadn’t ridden it either but mentioned something about it being more top heavy and with “poor slow speed handling”. In defense of the motorcops of my particular department they don’t use thier bikes as patrol bikes. They either are doing some kind of detail (escort/parade, ), or are parked on the side of the road shooting laser.
I’m trying to convince my department that a dualsport/motard type bike can be a useful addition to the patrol officer. We have apartment/town house areas with lots of problems and lots of areas that you can’t drive your Crown Vic to. A dualsport or motard would be great. Grass, curbs, wide stairs, no problem not to mention our buisness districts. Bikes would be great there also. Just a cheap DRZ400 with maybe a police aerostich and 3/4 helmet or full face flip up. But my department can’t get it out of there head of the Harley-Davidson mounted officer wearing basically no protective equipment.
todd says
CHiPs here (California Highway Patrol) have a whole bunch of DRZ400’s and they’ve been riding them around here in the SF Bay Area. I see them doing training quite a bit and once and a while a whole line of them will be riding down a favorite mountain road. Excellent choice if you ask me, 10x’s more capable than a Hog or the BMW and much lighter and less tax dollars to boot (lower cost, better mileage, cheaper servicing, etc, etc).
-todd
AdrianT says
Well, somebody better tell Seattle. They just leased a whole bunch of them last year, and you can’t walk down the street without seeing a moto officer going somewhere on a Harley PD model.
Mulder says
A point of clarification: Eugene PD used the HD Dyna Defender, which is no longer in production as a police package. HD does still make police bikes, including the Road King and Electra Glide — with ABS, no less. I don’t know if HD still offers the Sportster as a police bike or not. My understanding is that the larger-frame bikes were considered by EPD, but the BMW was chosen.
Shooter says
Mulder is correct in that Eugene PD was riding the Dyna Defender. It was orginally offered to law enforcement agencies as a lower priced alternative to the HD Electra Glide and the HD Road King. The problem was that HD was absolutely not interested in making any major improvements or changes to the Dyna Defender which ultimately ended up being just a cruiser in police clothing. HD announced they were discontinuing the Dyna Defender in 2004. So the only HD models offered to law enforcement would be the Road King, Electra Glide, and Sportster. Eugene PD tested the two bigger HD’s (one with the new ABS brakes), the Honda ST1100P, and the BMW R1150RT-P. The consensus from the team members was that the two HD models were too large and the new ABS system, although impressive, had not been around long enough to be a proven option. The Honda was fun to ride but it handled more like a sport bike and was not nimble enough for the low speed, close-quarter manuevering required by a city cop. The BMW not only met but exceeded all of the expectations and requirements that the EPD was looking for. They traded in their Dyna’s to the local BMW dealer as part of the purchase agreement which substantially offset the higher cost of the BMW’s. Some folks questioned the higher price, however, the larger police HD’s are basically the same price as the BMW. One major difference is that the HD’s have to be serviced every 2500 miles and the BMW get’s serviced every 6000 miles after the initial 600 mile break in service. So, it boiled down to the officers deciding what bike would best suit their needs. The BMW was the clear choice.
kneeslider says
Thanks for clearing things up, guys!
Miles mathiesen says
I really am glad to have stumbled onto this site. I’ve been contemplating a new “Motorcade” Bike, my boss loves the Harley’s, now I’m going to shop around , open my eyes a bit more,
Good Job,
M. Mathiesen
Snohomish, WA.
John says
The department went to HD
Cmd Miles says
I live in Eugene and was speaking to a motorcycle cop a few Years ago and he was telling me that the rest of the department was moving over to the BMW or the Hondas. He was supposed to give up his bike for a new one every two years and he flat out refused. said that he would only take the BMW if they made him. they were no longer offering the HD as an option.
Ron says
We just ordered 6 Road Kings, HD did a major upgrade for 2008– 6 speed trans, ABS, Brembo brakes, and 25% more displacement. Police sales are a important part of the HD image, and I doubt they would ever consider dropping it. I totally agree they have their limitations, but they also have their place. For low speed escort duties and urban traffic duties Harleys are pretty well suited. But they arent a real good fit for highway runs. Pretty cheap to operate too, we re-sell them to the public for about what we paid on the front end.
Brian says
with the country in trouble. why would any one buy non American made anything. ?
Bob says
I couldn’t agree more. With everyone complaining about offshoring American jobs and the economy in the toilet, why would anyone openly advocate for the change to a foreign manufactured vehicle. Our three automakers are in desperate trouble along with their thousands of employees. Call me old fashioned but I’ll stick with HD. Sometimes you just have to stick by your own. Besides it’s only a matter of time before the water cooled V-Rod motor is in a police bike.
burt pinkston says
I am from NYC and question why any municipality would buy any vehicle other than an American made and owned .. While I dont know the exact #’s I am quite sure that Harley DONATED more bikes after 9/11 than BMW or any of the Japanese maufacturers..With Chrysler and GM on the brink our beloved City has purchased Nissan Altima’s over the Charger,Impala’s and Crown Vics for street patrol vehicles. When our city was attacked it was the big 3 who came through with vehicles and $$$ donations to help rebuild and repair and now how does our city re-pay them? buy a Nissan!! while the needs of specific vehicles should dictate the purchase we should not always look at price or how much fun it is to ride as a main determining factor..keeping Americans working and returning the debt we owe to OUR AMERICAN COMPANIES that where there through 2 world wars 2 “police actions” , 2 gulf wars and the worst attack on the US mainland in our lifetimes should have a MUCH HIGHER PRIORITY
Shovel Tim says
Just a few thoughts on the whole “why not Harley” thing when it comes to what the police buy. First, I think that Harley has to broaden it’s thinking if it wants to continue to be competitive in this market, and it has the perfect platform in the Sportster as far as in city use goes. It could be tweaked to more of an “adventure bike” set up to give it more off- road capalbility, but otherwise it would make a great urban cruiser; light weight, fast, very manoeuverable, and way cheaper than the foreign stuff.
I ride a ’98 FLHRP and although I love the old girl, I honestly can’t see trying to thread through urban traffic with her. As a highway patrol bike, she would shine (and still does). You have to remember that comfort plays big in a ride you’re on all day, every day. In the end I think that the real experts in the matter are the cops themselves and Harley and whoever is going to purchase the bikes should listen to them first.
Thanks for letting me have a say.
Tim.