[Guest]

Anyone have any experience with installing a radar detector on a bike? Specifically mounting hardware on a bike with Clip On bars... aka, sport bikes?

Also, are they any help? or is it too late by the time the detector warns you?

 

[hogcowboy]

I tried one but soon found I'd need additional hardware. I couldn't hear the warning over the engine noise. And I never saw the warns because I had to watch the road. Mounting was really never a problem. I could use my existing phone mount that is for one of the larger phones. But you really need to hear the warning go off and that required additional wiring and options for the detector I have. Works fine in the 4 wheelers. I just never found the detector that valuable to purchase more stuff. Was sorta my protest that for that much money it should come with EVERYTHING needed no matter what kind of vehicle you have it in or on. And don't ask for the name because I don't know it off the top of my head and it's out in my truck and I'm not going to go get it.

 

[wollerms]

I have an Adaptiv detector that is made for motorcycles. I use their anti-vibe base with a 1" ball RAM clamp that works on my bikes and truck. I also have my helmets wired with the wireless headsets. You can get many different mounts, probably for a sport bike w/clip-ons the best option is one that fits in the center triple clamp hole, see the mount chart.
I've had their detectors now for over 10 years they work great, of course you need to get accustom to IDing alerts from other sources like, tractor-trailers, banks, etc...Once you have it a while it becomes second nature using it and it has saved me many times with all the small towns in my area generating revenue with speed traps.

https://adaptivtech.com/collections

https://www.rammount.com/consumer/on-road/motorcycle

 

[Lurch77]

Radar detectors are a great device to warn you when you're about to be pulled over.

 

[Unkle Krusty]

I just follow a cage that is going too fast. Or I am sure the road ahead is clear.

UK

 

[Retired Guy]

With the instant on/off radar units today, its best to just try to stay within a few MPH of the speed limit.

When someone goes flying past me out on the highway, I just say "Thank you", knowing if there's a cop ahead, its not going to be me that attracts his attention.

 

[SemiFast]

There is a defense against instant on radar.
You gotta watch for the on/off 'flash' when the police are clocking cars up the road.
Not hard to do if your detector is mounted in a good location.

Newer cars emit K band radar these days so the detector ain't much help in traffic, but out on little traveled back roads a radar detector is very helpful.

My first radar detector was a fairly large box that had a switch, red light and a sensitivity control knob.
That was the good old days, only one band and instant on hadn't happened yet.
That was a long time ago and I'm still using the latest models to this day.

I don't ride without my radar detector. It saves me regularly but you gotta understand it has its limitations and it is only an information device, not a license to speed.
After you learn to use the information it provides, downshift twice and gas it...

 

[Retired Guy]

A friend of mine told me his wife kept seeing her radar detector flash on and off. She thought something was wrong with the radar detector so she turned it off. She got caught on the interstate doing 16 or 17 over the speed limit. Oops!

 

[Tobacco Road]

I never use one on my motorcycle but I have used them when I was driving professionally. Never buy cheap, they will always be a problem and are not so durable and generally have weak transmitters.

I used a Valentine One for many years. Yep they are expensive, I believe around $400 or more. They are tougher on the budget but very dependable.

 

[hogcowboy]

Just one citation would nearly pay for one though. I think mine has paid for itself several times over. But I'm getting old and just slowing down works too.

 

[soupy1957]

Those of you who know me in here, know I have a Step-Son who is a State Trooper. You might recall that he told me once, that they don’t chase bikers, as a matter of course (policy).

He says, “We wait and pick up the pieces after the fact.”

 

[Tobacco Road]

Those of you who know me in here, know I have a Step-Son who is a State Trooper. You might recall that he told me once, that they don’t chase bikers, as a matter of course (policy).

He says, “We wait and pick up the pieces after the fact.”

Solid police work. I like it..

 

[jfauerba]

Ram mount either on bar or clutch, then arm, then RAM Mounts RAP-B-202U with flat side has Velcro and RD has Velcro and then a rubber-band around that to make sure Velcro works. Works on Versys-x 300 on gravel roads at 50mph. Have dash shelf on FJR and velcro RD right to shelf.

Use Cobra DSP9200BT and Sena Bluetooth on helmet and Cell app.

RD is only one of many tools. Also use Waze and follow faster vehicles so they get caught first.

 

[hogcowboy]

Ram mount either on bar or clutch, then arm, then RAM Mounts RAP-B-202U with flat side has Velcro and RD has Velcro and then a rubber-band around that to make sure Velcro works. Works on Versys-x 300 on gravel roads at 50mph. Have dash shelf on FJR and velcro RD right to shelf.

Use Cobra DSP9200BT and Sena Bluetooth on helmet and Cell app.

RD is only one of many tools. Also use Waze and follow faster vehicles so they get caught first.

Sounds like this might work for me since I already have my phone connected by bluetooth so hear incoming messages or at least I'm alerted to a new message. Would be great it this thing would be plug and go. The RD in my truck works fine there but it doesn't connect to my phone so I never hear the alerts on the bike. Got me thinking now.

 

[cc rider]

Anyone have any experience with installing a radar detector on a bike? Specifically mounting hardware on a bike with Clip On bars... aka, sport bikes?

Also, are they any help? or is it too late by the time the detector warns you?

The first part of your question might be answered well here. The second part you might want to try a r.d. forum. There are several technologies out there. You have to know what type the police use in your area. I assume most use laser on the major highways. To be protected thoroughly you need to spend a lot of $ just on a bike. The advantage is you are small and harder to target and have to spend less than a car to be protected. Im referring to installing jammers for laser. But, there is always new technologies coming out and you have to keep up. I think the uniden r3? was a great unit for radar if I remember reading correctly. So, if you want it to speed, forget it and just make sure you are well into the triple digits . Then as mentioned , they won't chase you Here is a quote from a forum last year, I am in NY:

Ny has a mix of fixed and VPR guns, everything from PLIII to Stalker XLR, and even Dragoneye has been seen in places, so you definitly want a good system like ALP or TMG, older systems wont handle the newer guns correctly at this point. You do have the benefit of being a smaller object and therefor harder to target, so that buys you a little extra advantage but they can still grab a speed off you with a lidar gun.

Yes, i'm back to those of you who don't like me. Sometimes i hibernate during the winter. :wink2:


Oh yeah, radar detectors and jammers are illegal in some states

 

[vito]

I used radar/laser detectors for years, but stopped doing so a number of years ago. With the increasing use of laser by local cops, the device was giving me no real warning until I was already clocked at an illegal speed. In general, I found having the detector encouraged me to ride/drive faster and to rely upon it more and more rather than staying vigilant and looking far ahead on the road for that police car parked in the median, etc. Overall I decided it was more risky than helpful.

 

[Critter]

Not the mention if you get stopped with a radar detector you are guaranteed a ticket. probably won't get a break on the ticket either.

 

[annapneher]

Anyone have any experience with installing a radar detector on a bike? Specifically mounting hardware on a bike with Clip On bars... aka, sport bikes?

Also, are they any help? or is it too late by the time the detector warns you?

Well if you use radar detectors that are made for bikes specifically might help you. Other radars available for cars doesn't help that much also it looks ugly on a bike. Radar detectors are not widely used by bikers worldwide. But i guess they should, because they are the one who gets ticket the most.

 

[hogcowboy]

I didn't know they made bike specific radar detectors. Are there any that really work and you can hear as the bike goes screaming down the road?

 

[vito]

When police used radar, I used radar detectors on my cars and my bike. Of course I could not hear the beeping while on the bike, but could see the flashing that indicated that radar was being picked up. But for the last 20 years or so, the police seem to be using laser speed devices almost exclusively, for which the radar/laser detector only tells you after the fact that they know you were speeding. Maybe slowing down at that point might convince the cop to not pull you over, but not likely. I think I gave away my last radar detector about 15 years ago.