I'd personally think they'd generate a WHOLE lot more revenue if they would just teach cops what makes headlights non-DOT and start fining the crap out of every wannabe tuner car with incorrect color temp etc. amazon.com bulbs... I'm sick of that BS.

 

Well, to clarify... If I where to pull a powerwheelie during the course of normal riding, as in fairly low speeds, low lift, fairly short duration, probably leaving a standstill, the cops wouldn't bat an eye at it as long as I'm not speeding... Just carry on, riding sir... It's perfectly legal, not even a judgement call on the cops side...

If I do it on the freeway at speed, it's a totally different thing... Then it's considered reckless endangerment, and I go to jail... No tickets, plain and simple jail, and drivers licence revoked for up to six months on the first offence... Try it again, and you get banned for driving for up to a year, and if you do it a third time, you can get up to five years of riding on the bus...

Anything in between there is a gray area... It's mostly down to speed and if you are around other people or not, but the main thing is if you endanger someone else, it's an offence you'd get a ticket for, and at worst a one to three month ban... Usually if you do it in town, they will ticket you, outside of town, only if you do it in a really, really stupid place...

As I see it, these rules are fair... At slow speeds, I'll probably only hurt myself, unless I'm dumb enough to pull a wheelie across a zebra crossing in the middle of town, and risk clipping someone, in which case a ticket is only fair... At highway speeds, I become a potentially unguided missile if I mess it up, so I put a lot of other people at risk there, potentially killing someone in the oncoming lane with my bike, so jail isn't really unfair...

If I where to pull a wheelie on a backcountry road, leaving an intersection though... Perfectly fine... Doing it coming out of a corner? Well... Depends on the road ahead... Are there intersections not easily visible? Plan and simple... Don't be stupid...

In 18 years of riding, the worst I have gotten was a motorcycle cop stopping me, to inform me that if I didn't stop pulling wheelies everywhere, he'd give me a formal warning... After the little informal chat, he gave me a great big smile, slammed the visor down and proceeded to lift the front of his big *** Beemer through first and second as he left me standing by the road... My kind of cop...

 

Well, yeah it costs more... But if you need to stop a biker for whatever reason, either make it a roadblock, safe and easy, or an obvious, safe move to block me and let me know at low speeds... Not some crazy *** cop jumping me from behind and pulling on me at standing at an intersection... That puts me in danger... And that's not OK...

 

The only reason no one else was near you was because you were going 85 mph in a 55 mph zone, if you came to a stop light, i'd have to imagine you were on a large wide surface street...and 85 mph is flying if you're not on an interstate, and very fast for a rural highway. Do you practice emergency stops from 85 mph on a regular basis? Especially when dealing with cross streets and the potential for other vehicles to not judge your closure rate?

My college roommate had to go to the funeral of a friend of his who was killed in a Denver motorcycle accident. The friend was doing about 80 mph on a large "boulevard" that had a 50 or 55 mph posted speedlimit. A van was turning onto their street from a side street and misjudged the motorcyclists speed (we can blame the van driver for not looking long enough, and the motorcyclist for going FAR ABOVE the normal flow of traffic). End result was a 20 year old kid being plastered onto the sheetmetal of a conversion van and dead on the scene.

As some have said, we all did stupid stuff when we were 19. I received a ticket doing 70 in a 45 on a country backroad one night (could have hit a deer, dumb move). Hopefully you've learned from this, don't pull wheelies on public streets, and to obey the speed limit...and if you're not going to go the speed limit, you probably shouldn't blatantly speed far in excess of the posted limits or the flow of traffic.

Lastly, how does taking your key almost make you fall off the bike? Exaggerate much?

 

Yeah pulled one away from a stop sign, crossed an intersection heading into the country. Police Chief was sitting in a plain wrapper in a slot at a used car lot. He could of nailed me to the wall but was real cool about it. I never saw him but had a note on my door to come see him in the morning. I apologized as he let me know he was pulling over 80 hours a week with his job. Got one for running a stop and one for 105 in a 55. My speedo said 155 (cbr900rr). Hired an attorney, they dropped the speeding ticket, paid a small fine for the stop sign ticket. That was in 2001. Stayed off sport bikes for 12 years, until buying the vtr couple months ago. Thought I'd be mature enough by now but its not looking that way.

 

It was a high way and there were no cross streets. The one red light I stopped at was the only light on that high way for a long while. In fact, they are removing that intersection so the traffic flows better. People do 80+ mph on this highway ALL the time. I live in Florida, this road is US-19. Any one that lives near this area would know what I'm talking about. (US-19 and gulf to bay area)

The speeding bit of it wasn't what the cop was mad about. I doubt he would of given me a ticket for 80 mph on this road even if he had clocked me. The regular speed people typically drive on this road is around 70 mph even though the speed limit is 55.

And lastly, if you had read the thread you would understand why "Taking my key out" almost caused me to fall.

 

You can get a ticket and worse in Ontario, Canada if you ride in a manner that indicates even an intention to do a wheelie. Your bike will be impounded for 7 days, your licence will be seized and suspended for 7 days, you're liable to pay the costs of impoundment which can be considerable and you can be jailed for up to 6 months and fined between $2,000 and $10,000. There is no right of appeal from the seizure of your bike and your licence and the suspension of your licence. A police officer does not have to appear before a judge to get a warrant to seize your bike or licence. There need not be photographic evidence of the manner of driving. It is entirely within the discretion of the police officer. You're liable to the same penalties if you exceed the speed limit by 50 kph. Typing this made me feel as Hamlet did when he held the rotten skull of Yorick in his hands.

 

I DO live here and that particular stretch of "hiway" is on my daily commute. I take Gulf to Bay to Tampa for work. So you're talking about the elevated part where there aren't any cross streets? Well that may be so, but it's not far between lights there and I've had tons of times when a sherrif or trooper sits there at the crest of the elevated part and whoops their lights as I "speed past" in my Scion xB going a mere 65 mph! Dude, NOBODY does 80 there, you're crazy...

 

And even if they ARE going 80, that's the weakest argument you can ever make. "Everybody else does it" will get you laughed at in court faster than you can imagine.

And you're right, they're removing that intersection, so it's currently under construction. You know that doubles your fine, even when no workers are present, right?

 

Truly whining about your poor decision, To a FINE group of mature mototrcycle riders.... IS really silly reading.. pay the fine, And I really have hopes for your safety.....