[Stumpyjay]

For those of you who might have a heavy hand on the throttle, do you use a radar detector? If so, which ones are good? I have one for my car and I haven’t gotten in a ticket in years, not that I speed a lot or plan to on my future bike. Just curious!

[Clay Dowling]

I find that the flashing lights in my mirrors alert me to the presence of radar.

Reality: the roads I ride, they’re either too busy to speed, or so remote that the cops don’t go there.

That said, a friend of mine got nailed doing 90 on the back road I usually take to work.

[nau_lax21]

unless it were wired to a speaker in your helmet, i dont think youd know it was going off, especially if you were speeding.

more importantly, a ton of cops now have laser instead of radar to catch speeders. most radar detectors detect laser too, but the laser is instant, so when the detector goes off, youve already been caught.

[megaspaz]

Valentine radar detectors

Everyone I know who has one, raves about them. Bear in mind, I’m still pretty sure mounting options still suck for motorcycles even for motorcycle-made detectors. I myself don’t use anything.

[nau_lax21]

valentine 1s are pretty nice. just gotta worry about the laser based speed detectors

[Matt]

Granted, I’m not your target audience; I’m no speed demon (I’ve never had a speeding ticket). And radar detectors are illegal here, so both of those heavily bias my answer.

my two cents:
Relying on a gadget to keep you safe from trouble is rarely a good idea.
If you ride with the mentality that around every corner, over every blind crest, could be trouble, you will ride safer.

If you depend on a gadget to save you from one of those troubles, will your mind be more focused on the remaining troubles (road condition, pedestrian, stopped vehicle, pot hole, muffler, etc) or will your total focus on troubles be less?

That is more or less a philosophical question, I suppose. And obviously I feel that it makes you more complacent, maybe you don’t.

But you certainly can’t beat the price advantage of “eyes, ears, and ever vigilant mind” over any radar detector on the market

[smokeizfire]

….too much for me. I do 80 just to keep up with traffic. In SoCal…80 is the speed limit…(not posted though)

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