do you like riding past radar detectors?

[youm0nt]

i wasnt too sure where to post this but anyway.

how many of you have radar detectors in your town that they put on the side of the road and tells your speed?if so,do you ride as fast as possible past them or check how fast you're going?i dont own a cyclocomputer so its fun.discuss.

 

[velomanct]

i see them out occasionally. i am waiting for the police to put on at the bottom of the steepest road in town. a max grade of 18% and it's a straight shot. i have done 57mph in the 25 zone.

 

[heheheha]

I think there should be a follow up question of "Were you ticketed for speeding?" I was once, but that was on a bike path where I was unaware of a 25kmh speed limit (Sorry I'm canuk, can't tell what that is in mph except that it's friggin slow)

 

[Weisse Luft]

I think there should be a follow up question of "Were you ticketed for speeding?" I was once, but that was on a bike path where I was unaware of a 25kmh speed limit (Sorry I'm canuk, can't tell what that is in mph except that it's friggin slow)

A shade over 15 MPH. Here in the States, we learn both but only use MPH on the highways. Most domestic and all foreign autos are calibrated in both.

 

[wyllisx2]

I was out for a ride today with my son & happened to see one from behind. I was all exited & started to crank it up a notch. Swung around in front of it to get my speed. Looked back at my son doing the same thing....The darn thing wasn't on.

 

[bikeguy]

He.. that reminds me that I road through a 40 limit school zone at 43 km/hr or so and there was a radar detector that lit up and said I was going too fast. I almost forgot about that one. I didn't even notice it till it lit up, I was just pedalling normally holding a steady pace.

 

[cydewaze]

We have a few of those speed boxes (they are radar guns, not detectors) which the police tow around and leave at various locations. Unfortunately, they usually put them in residential areas where I end up going like 25 or less because of the topography. Not much fun in that.

 

[nutbag]

We have a few of those speed boxes (they are radar guns, not detectors) which the police tow around and leave at various locations. Unfortunately, they usually put them in residential areas where I end up going like 25 or less because of the topography. Not much fun in that.

We have those speed display thingies in Australia, and
I've noticed, that if they are accurate, then my bike
speedo is much more accurate that my car speedo --
doesn't seem right, does it?

Dunno about the rest of the world, but here in Victoria,
Australia, the government has controversially racked
gazillions and bazillions of dollars with portable and permanent
speed cameras. The poratable ones are set up on the
side of the road, usually in a 60kmh zone (37.3mph) and
on a slight decline (@ssholes!). Quite often the person
manning the camera will doze off in his car, so we do sprint
repeats, setting it off ( ) -- it's not that hard to
get up to 37.mph with a slight tail wind on a slight decline.

 

[cydewaze]

We have those speed display thingies in Australia, and
I've noticed, that if they are accurate, then my bike
speedo is much more accurate that my car speedo --
doesn't seem right, does it?

Perhaps it's because your cycle computer displays in 10ths and is easier to read?

Dunno about the rest of the world, but here in Victoria,
Australia, the government has controversially racked
gazillions and bazillions of dollars with portable and permanent
speed cameras. The poratable ones are set up on the
side of the road, usually in a 60kmh zone (37.3mph) and
on a slight decline (@ssholes!). Quite often the person
manning the camera will doze off in his car, so we do sprint
repeats, setting it off ( ) -- it's not that hard to
get up to 37.mph with a slight tail wind on a slight decline.

I'd hate those things. Do they snap a picture? And if so, do they use a flash? There's a new product out called "Photoblocker" that, when sprayed on license plates makes them SO reflective that the flash obscures the tag number. Where I live they have red light cameras, and the Photoblocker makes you immune to them because they use a flash.

 

[wyllisx2]

Quite often the person
manning the camera will doze off in his car, so we do sprint
repeats, setting it off ( )

ROFL

 

[nutbag]

Perhaps it's because your cycle computer displays in 10ths and is easier to read?.

Dunno, but the bike computer reads the same as the radar display, but if I'm doing 60kmh in my car the radar on the road-side reads "57kmh".

I'd hate those things. Do they snap a picture? And if so, do they use a flash? There's a new product out called "Photoblocker" that, when sprayed on license plates makes them SO reflective that the flash obscures the tag number. Where I live they have red light cameras, and the Photoblocker makes you immune to them because they use a flash.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes and YES.

Those sprays are supposed to be illegal (naturally), and the Wallopers (cops ) claim they can tell if you have it on your rear plate by the way their headlights reflect off it when they're tailing you.

We even have speed cameras AND red light cameras in the same intersection (well, a few, at least)!!! So, if you plant your foot to avoid the red light camera, you're done for speeding. I don't think they'd get away with this in the USA.

 

[wyllisx2]

We even have speed cameras AND red light cameras in the same intersection (well, a few, at least)!!! So, if you plant your foot to avoid the red light camera, you're done for speeding. I don't think they'd get away with this in the USA.[/QUOTE]

Oh yes they would. They probably just haven't thought of it yet.

 

[bikeguy]

The radar I rode past is automated. It doesn't report you to the coppers, it just tells you you're going too fast. There's also a roving photo radar unit that is unmarked, but usually you can speed here without worrying about getting caught.

Nutbag, most car speedos are inaccurate recording speeds of actual 56-59 km/hr at speedo 60, and 96-97 km/hr at speedo showing 100 km/hr. Keep in mind tire diameter may throw that off even more, but to the other side if you're running bigger than normal tires. Some car speedos even underreport the speed but the difference is usually less than 5% either way at 100 km/hr.

 

[moo-jo]

The reason the car speedo is innacurate is because it is prohibitively expensive to produce a totally accurate speedo, and illegal for a speedo to underread, so car manufacturers use speedo's that overread ever so slightly, possibly even up to 5%.

 

[Whitney]

They often have one set up in the little town that I usually finish my ride in.

I hit it in a 25 mph zone about half a mile after a 1.2 mile downhill that I can hit 47 or 48 mph on most days.

I try to carry 30mph on the flats into town, and when I am successful, the sign rewards me by lighting up in flashing red numbers with my speed, anything under 30mph and it's just regular old amber non-flashers.

I feel kinda like it's my own personal victory banner!

Whit

 

[sheep_robby]

Dunno, but the bike computer reads the same as the radar display, but if I'm doing 60kmh in my car the radar on the road-side reads "57kmh".

Car manufacturers have tight limits as to how accurate the speedos have to be - specifically they cant show you going slower than you actually are. Therefore they err in the other direction, hence when it says 60kph you are actually going slightly slower.

 

[jcjordan]

I'd hate those things. Do they snap a picture? And if so, do they use a flash? There's a new product out called "Photoblocker" that, when sprayed on license plates makes them SO reflective that the flash obscures the tag number. Where I live they have red light cameras, and the Photoblocker makes you immune to them because they use a flash.

Use that stuff in South Australia and you can be fined $200+ for interfering with a licence plate and gain alot of demerit points. Of course they have to catch you first

 

[Conniebiker]

The stop light cams are in the US. I went to visit my sister in North Carolina and they had a large number of them. Fortunately that area was very new and the tech is likely to take a while. Pennsylvania(my state) is rather slow to adopt such things. Heck, the township cops don't even use radar guns(saved for the state troopers). They tried using speed cams in Philladelphia last year and just about had an uprising from all the ticketed people swearing it was a violation of rights to not know when it happens. I don't know where that went, but in a car I treat them with care, on the steed its open game. The nice thing is in PA it is merely a 10 dollar ticket if I do get charged for speeding on the bike. In fact it would be kinda cool

 

[hestilowt]

i love ridin past the radars. a friend and i rode by side by side during a team practice and made it read 98 mph. we were flyin!!!

 

[Bamberg]

The answer is a partial yes. In most small towns around here, the posted speed limit is 30 kph (18 mph) and I make it a point to break the limit as a matter of pride and to impress the locals standing in front of the bakery in the morning smoking cigarettes.

The stupid thing is that ALL car drivers feel compelled to pass ALL cyclists no matter how fast the cyclist is going. If I do 35 or 40 kph in a 30 kph zone, there is still some Depp in his Mercedes that HAS to pass me because, well, I'm on a bike.
I really want to bait one of these fat cagers into following me through a radar trap at 40+ kph and get them a ticket.

Wow, I didn't know I had this much pent up anger in me...