You guys may recall that we offer the CSC-150 in a police version, and we’ve had a lot of fun with that project…
I see my good buddy Jim (the officer above) around town occasionally, most recently when Susie and I stopped in for breakfast at the Red Hill Cafe here in town.
Well, yesterday I had a great conversation with my good buddy Carl (one of our trusted CSC advisors and a great rider). You remember Carl from the many times I’ve mentioned him here on the blog, and from our photos up on Glendora Ridge Road…
We like Carl a lot, and he feels the same about CSC. When we spoke yesterday, Carl mentioned how much he enjoys reading the blog and other stuff we’ve written (don’t forget about our Mustang and CSC articles in this month’s Motorcycle Classics magazine), and Carl’s comments prompted me to put another article on the blog…one I wrote just before I crashed my Triumph back in November 2009. It’s about police motorcycles, and I thought I’d include here in the blog for you to read, too…
These two officers on the cover page are two fellows from the City of San Fernando, and let me tell you, they sure loved their Harleys…
The guys from San Fernando were fun guys to interview, and after the article, they suggested we go outside for a few photos.
In that photo above, I used my wide-angle 12-24 Tokina lens with a polarizer, and it did a good job. The lens magnifies the motorcycles and the officers, the polarizer really makes the blue sky pop.
Okay, on to the article…
The two officers on BMWs above are from La Verne (CSC’s home town), and they were fun, too. And the motor officer on the Honda above is my good buddy Jim, who works right here in Upland. That’s Jim you see on the CSC-150 in this blog’s first photo.
The photo in the upper left corner above? Well, that one is in San Fernando, and we faked a traffic stop. I was the fake bad guy. That’s me on my old Triumph Tiger.
You know, it’s a funny thing…when we were inside doing the interview, the motor officers were relaxed and casual, and we had a fun conversation. When they put their helmets on outside, though, they were transformed. They became Robo Cop. It was an amazing transformation. Even though we faked the traffic stop, I felt my heart rate go up. One asked for my registration, and I didn’t know if I had it with me. Shoot, would I end up with a citation as a result of doing the interview? I couldn’t find it in my wallet and I went to open my saddlebag, and the other officer already had his holster unbuckled and his hand on his .45 automatic. “Step away from the bike!” he said. Wow. He even sounded like Robo Cop. I was shaken. It was pretty wild. The good news is I found my registration, I didn’t get a ticket, and when they took their helmets off, they were regular guys again. Wow, again.
Oh, one more thing…the guy in the middle of the above page (the one holding the radar gun) is another La Verne motor officer, and he’s actually the guy who responded to my crash a few weeks later. I don’t remember anything of the accident (event amnesia, they call it), but I saw his name on the report months later. Small world. I wondered if he knew it was me when he watched the first aid guys load me onto the helicopter.
As it turns out, that article struck a nerve. Motor officers around the country seemed to think I did a good job telling the story, as the following letters to the editor in the next issue state…
I’ve been tempted to get those pages above laminated so that I could carry them around with me just in case I get stopped for a traffic infraction…but I just haven’t gotten around to it, and I don’t know if they would help or hurt my case.
Anyway, that’s it for now. Ride safe, my friends!
TT250 Enduro
SG250 San Gabriel Cafe Racer
RX1E Electric Motorcycle