Motorcycles and radar detection.

JOERM

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Someone once mentioned to me that he thought that motorcycles were more difficult to be detected then a car was. I find this difficult to believe but possible I guess. Maybe in certain situations like heavy traffic or something?

I just recently saw a bike pulled over by a State Patrol so it didn't work for him. :D

Any LEO's out there that can answer this?
 
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Sir.
I am not a LEO, but am a radar tech for 35 years. Motor cycle would be a harder target to paint. Has small radar cross section and half the target is human not metal. A hand held radar gun that LEO's use would require more careful aiming.
A well made radar gun would track a MC, would require good training of the Officer and he would have to work at it. Range and angle on the target would come into play. How much metal and how much plastic and fiberglass would also play a part.
Bill@Yuma
 
A motorcycle is not going to be as "reflective" to radar as an 18 wheeler, just like a F-16 is not as reflective as a B-52. As with any traffic enforcement technique, operator skill and training comes into play. If you know what you're doing, and know the capabilities of your equipment, you can still do your job.
 
I'm a motorcycle rider and years ago I got stopped for speed and the officer admitted that he couldn't get a reading on me, however he did know that I was traveling a good bit faster than the semi I was passing. If he had chosen to cite me I'm sure it would have been for speed in excess of "x".

Fortunately after admitting that I was running 72 in a 55, he let me warm up in his car, told me to slow down, and let me go with a warning. With state budgets what they are today, I doubt that I'd get a warning for a similar infraction today but when the 55 mph limit was in place the staties tended to give you a break if you were truthful.

I would also find it a bit surprizing to see state police using radar today. Lasers are cheap, don't have calibration issues, and you can put them right on your target without any question about who was getting read.
 
speed

yes they do work on motorcycles ...i had a Kawasaki ZX10 that i put a radar detector on my bike and it saved my but a lot times.. .. ..:cool:
 
Hmmm. I've never had a problem getting a motorcycle on radar. Just as easy as a car. No idea what the experts are talking about, I'm just saying that with 23 years of running radar, motorcycles are just as simple to measure as anything else.

Truth be told, the radar goes out in a cone shape. Laser is as straight and true as an arrow. But radar "sweeps" an area. It will want to register the speed (it can only show one speed at a time) of the biggest and/or the fastest.

As an example, if there's a four lane highway with an 18 wheeler going 85 and three cars going 75, the radar will want to show the 18 wheeler going 85 mph. We can sweep the radar left or right to get the 18 wheeler out of the cone so we can get another vehicle. But the radar will want to show that big object.

If the 18 wheeler is going 65 and a car is passing it at 75, the radar will want to show only the 65 mph 18 wheeler. But once the car breaks away from the truck, the radar will want to display the highest speed.

Four Corvettes across four lanes at 55, 60, 65, and 70, the radar will want to display the 70 mph speed. The law enforcement officer has make the judgement call as to which vehicle is going 70. That's usually easy because it's the car pulling away from the rest or catching up to the rest or simply the one moving the fastest in comparison to the rest.

That's why in court, officers say, "The radar unit confirmed my visual observation."
 
I have personal evidence that bikes can be tagged with radar. However, my ValentineOne and a loud piezo warning buzzer have often saved the day.
 
Doesn't take much metal to get a bounce and read the speed at all...what radar units will do is read the largest, closest object so if a motorcycle is very close to a semi you will read the speed of the semi. Radar units are very accurate and you are just not going to beat them. For years we have heard of jamming devices and tricks, "radar absorbing material", even angled metal things to put behind the grill meant to "confuse" the radar but make no mistake about it you cannot beat radar. Motorcycle or otherwise...if its big enough to get a bounce its big enough to get an accurate speed.
 
Back a long time ago here's what we used to hear about how to beat radar "Just put a ball of tinfoil in your hub caps" I always thought these folks were full of it. Jeff
 
Read the post from mm6mm6 he is absolutely correct. Radar has not changed that much even from the days when I did it.
 
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