You what? Bike dealer donates Ducati 848 to police

At first I thought, that's strange, looks like it's a Yamaha dealership so why give a Ducati? Then the penny dropped - an 848 won't be catching any R1's, will it!

Posted: 29/04/2010 at 15:39

what?? Cumbrian police officers will give you a tug!  Thats one hell of an icebreaker!!

Posted: 29/04/2010 at 16:24

they dont just deal with yamaha but kawasaki, aprillia and ducati as well...

Posted: 29/04/2010 at 18:44

Cumbria Police aren't that bad when it comes to bikes, to be honest. If you don't take the p*ss, they won't either.

Posted: 29/04/2010 at 19:02

Well at least it looks like a police bike.  Pity they didn't give the police a Harley Davidson, one of the big ones with the large screen and hard bags to carry all manner of heavy police equipment in.  Sadly, British police are, with very few exceptions, excellent riders.  Whoever draws the Ducati will no doubt be able to ride it in a manner envisioned by the engineers who designed it.  God, this is depressing.

Posted: 29/04/2010 at 21:19

Colonel Bob, have you been on the sauce? Decent riders? Are you havin' a laugh? 'The system' sucks. Never taught anyone anything about proper machine control. It's why they can't keep up and look so rubbish. Relaxed and confident? No...

Posted: 29/04/2010 at 22:32

@Colonel Bob - haha... very witty. I agree though...I did a bikesafe course a couple of years back and despite my 12yrs experience riding, learned alot from the cops. More about roadcraft than machine control, but they're as important as eachother at least.

I can't believe they've given away an 848 though!...but it is probably the best lookin police bike in the world! - still, that wouldn't impress me in the slightest if i got "tugged" to coin a terrible phrase!

Posted: 29/04/2010 at 23:21

The power advantage of a litre bike is completely negated on public roads. If you don't track it, then all you bought that R1 for was dick measuring.

As for anyone else out there trying to get their knee down on public roads, you deserve to get "tugged" IMO. I for one am sick of my insurance going up thanks to wadded up squids.

 Take it to the track, then the cops wouldn't need to ride around on Ducatis to start "dialogues". 

Posted: 30/04/2010 at 12:45

Well, I can use a 1000 to good effect, along with many more riders.

I will concede that virtually the same fun can be had with less, or older, though.

Happy to demonstrate I'm not 'dick measuring' anytime if you fancy a ride out in the Peaks. Don't get back to me if you are a dayglo derek or just think you can ride...you will fall off.

Bring your mates, we'll have a team event. None of my team have made any insurance claims, and you'll have to enlighten me as to wtf  a 'wadded up squid' is. 

Posted: 01/05/2010 at 04:41