Special escort group

[Dr Jekyll]

Why do the Met police special escort group use different bikes from the rest of the Met?

R1200RS, and previously VFR1200. I thought it might be to get through traffic fractionally better than a fully faired bike but if they are escorting a Jaguar XJ this doesn't seem terribly relevant.

[Bob the Cop]

Probably because they are 'armed' and it is difficult to fire a handgun throught the screen of a full fairing !

OR

For better visibility so the public can see what the rider is doing whilst he is blowing his whistle.

OR

Create your own theory here................

[Amused2death]

Maybe because regular M/bike cops carry a whole raft of equipment for a multitude of purposes whilst the SEG only have one task?

[Bob the Cop]

Three generations of Met Police SEG bikes.

When Triumphs were no longer available they moved to the BMW R80, followed by the K100 and the R1100RS. All different from mainstream police bikes at that time. The R80 without a fairing. The K100 with fairing lowers only and the R1100RS because ..........

The move to Honda VFR1200's came about, so I am told, because Honda offered the best financial incentive to get the VFR into police service.

The current SEG BMW follows the pattern of no full fairing.

[Iminquarantine]

What happens if the ergonomics don’t work for a particular rider? Do they get to fit bar risers etc? Or they just need to suck it up.

[tvrolet]

Bob the Cop said:

Probably because they are 'armed' and it is difficult to fire a handgun throught the screen of a full fairing !

The oft repeated story of why Indians had left hand throttles as standard was the US police liked to fire their handguns with their right hand when still riding. Maybe they should get a load of vintage Chiefs?

[srob]

tvrolet said:

Bob the Cop said:

Probably because they are 'armed' and it is difficult to fire a handgun throught the screen of a full fairing !

The oft repeated story of why Indians had left hand throttles as standard was the US police liked to fire their handguns with their right hand when still riding. Maybe they should get a load of vintage Chiefs?

I was told by an American vintage bike fan that it was actually because histroically they had the ignition on the LH bar and so would set the lever throttle on the RH bar and ride it on the ignition, as the engines were so torquey? So people became used to using their left hand for accellerating.

Our Brough had a twist grip on both bars; RH for throttle and LH for ignition.

[tvrolet]

srob said:

tvrolet said:

Bob the Cop said:

Probably because they are 'armed' and it is difficult to fire a handgun throught the screen of a full fairing !

The oft repeated story of why Indians had left hand throttles as standard was the US police liked to fire their handguns with their right hand when still riding. Maybe they should get a load of vintage Chiefs?

I was told by an American vintage bike fan that it was actually because histroically they had the ignition on the LH bar and so would set the lever throttle on the RH bar and ride it on the ignition, as the engines were so torquey? So people became used to using their left hand for accellerating.

Our Brough had a twist grip on both bars; RH for throttle and LH for ignition.

but Indian had twistgrip controls almost from day 1 (held the patent I believe); I don't think they ever worked with lever controls so I take that story with a bigger pinch of salt than the shooting with right hand tale. On the early bikes the twistgrips (throttle on left, advance retard on right) operated rotating rods which went through a series of universal joints to allow the bars to turn. On the later bikes the twistgrip inner had a sort of screw thread and ran push/pull cables with a single steel liner, not regular pull-only bowden cables. To the end (1952) unless you ticked the 'reverse controls' option on the order form you got throttle on the left. But real easy to swap over with no parts required. But with a throttle on the right you then [usually] want the hand-change on the left and that needs a different lever, but that's all as the linkage is the same and it uses the same boss on the frame.

[srob]

tvrolet said:

but Indian had twistgrip controls almost from day 1 (held the patent I believe); I don't think they ever worked with lever controls so I take that story with a bigger pinch of salt than the shooting with right hand tale. On the early bikes the twistgrips (throttle on left, advance retard on right) operated rotating rods which went through a series of universal joints to allow the bars to turn. On the later bikes the twistgrip inner had a sort of screw thread and ran push/pull cables with a single steel liner, not regular pull-only bowden cables. To the end (1952) unless you ticked the 'reverse controls' option on the order form you got throttle on the left. But real easy to swap over with no parts required. But with a throttle on the right you then [usually] want the hand-change on the left and that needs a different lever, but that's all as the linkage is the same and it uses the same boss on the frame.

Dunno to be honest, was just what he said! He rides mainly veteran stuff, American Exelsior etc in the States but don’t think he has an Indian or Harley!

On a bike with a foot operated clutch you might want the gear lever on the opposite side to the throttle, but it’s not that useful on a hand clutch bike All our hand change bikes have the regular RH throttle, LH clutch and most (probably all actually) have a lever throttle. The brakes are sometimes in different places; the Enfield v-twin has a RH foot front brake and a LH foot rear brake and the sidecar one now has a foot clutch too which came off a delivery outfit and the old man found somewhere in the shed! Vintage Sunbeams had the front brake on the LH bar but all ours have been converted to conventional now. The Scott two-speeder is a complete odd ball!

It’s interesting though, I was talking to my dad recently and when he raced his late 1920s AJS in the 1960s it was/is still hand-change (it was before everyone converted vintage race bikes to foot change) and he was saying there was some amazing contraptions to blip the throttle via a trigger on the gear lever and stuff. Plus many people used their left hand and reached across the tank to change up so you could still control the throttle. What’s cool is that’s what Troy Corser was doing on the BMW he raced at Goodwood a couple of years ago.

[wa16]

perhaps they got a deal on some white ones BMW couldn't sell

[Dr Jekyll]

wa16 said:

perhaps they got a deal on some white ones BMW couldn't sell

I'm sure that's why they bought VFR1200s, Honda obviously.

[Rubin215]

Dr Jekyll said:

wa16 said:

perhaps they got a deal on some white ones BMW couldn't sell

I'm sure that's why they bought VFR1200s, Honda obviously.

Years ago, Grampian Fire Brigade had white fire engines when everyone else had red.

The story was that white fire engines were easier to see in busy traffic.

The truth was that white lorries are cheaper than any other colour...

[Seight_Returns]

Suspect as an "elite" group they get to choose their own equipment, whereas for regular Trafpol the choice of bikes is made at force level - kind of like how the SAS don't use the standard infantry rifle.

Watching the SEG escort a vehicle through London traffic is a joy to watch.