Have you been chased by the police/cops on your Laverda?

I have another story about being chased by a cop. It was in 1971. I remember the year because I'd just bought a brand new Honda 750 Four K1 and took off up the east coast of Australia on it.

I was enjoying a brisk ride through a forest somewhere on the Princes Highway in NSW. It was a nice day and the road had heaps of bends through mile after mile of lovely forest of tall eucalypt trees. The road surface was smooth and dry, and there wasn't much traffic, so I was giving the bike a bit of a workout, minding my own business while enjoying the winding curves and the fresh smell of gum trees. A couple of times I heard a strange wailing noise somewhere in the distance. I thought it was some weird NSW bird that I'd not come across before.

About 15 minutes after I last heard that strange wailing bird, I came to a little town and rolled into the service station to fill up with fuel and grab something to eat. I'd filled the bike, paid for the fuel, bought a meat pie, wheeled the bike away from the fuel pumps, sat at an outside table and was about to get stuck in to the pie when I heard that weird bird again. This time the sound was continuous and getting louder. It became obvious that it wasn't a bird at all, it was a siren. A few seconds later a police bike appeared around the bend. He was travelling at quite a pace so I figured he must have been chasing somebody. Then he spotted me, hit the brakes and pulled in next to me. He was on a triumph 650 of some sort. There was smoke coming off the engine where oil had leaked from somewhere, and the bike was making that "ting, ting" noise of contracting metal as it cooled down from stinking hot. He said something like "I've been trying to catch you for the last 20 miles or so. Didn't you hear the siren?" I told him I'd caught a couple of brief wails, but I thought it was a bird. I explained to him that I wasn't trying to get away because I had no idea he was chasing me. I was just riding at a reasonably brisk pace and confessed that I may have ventured over the speed limit on occasions. He then told me he wasn't trying to catch me for speeding. He just wanted to check out my bike. There weren't many Honda 750s on the road in Australia in 1971 so they were still something of a novelty.

He said that the NSW Police were going to be issued with Honda 750s and he wanted to know what they were like. He looked at his poor old overheated triumph with smoke still coming off it, then back at my Honda that hadn't even raised a sweat, and said something like "I guess those Hondas must be pretty good if you weren't even trying to get away and I still couldn't catch you". I offered him a ride on it but he declined. We chatted for a little while then went our separate ways.
 
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That's a cool story, Cam! I was picked up by a cop one night, late, near Perth CBD. Hadn't been speeding or hooning, so asked why I'd been pulled over. He said he saw my MCRA (Motorcycle Racing Club of WA) sticker on thew fairing screen and wanted to chat about racing! No worries - happy to chat! You get so used to being hassled.

I've had a few close encounters ... closest was probably seeing the fuzz a few hundred metres behind me while riding too fast on a Perth backstreet. Knew the area so turned right onto a main road and fanged it, first left at the Cat & Fiddle (where my band used to play) and immediately right into a laneway, then immediately right into the rear parking spot of the shops with only a low wooden fence concealing me from the side street of the Cat & Fiddle. Just switched off and dropped down in time to hear the car roar to a stop, not knowing where I'd disappeared to then roar off up the side street. was positive i was gonna be busted and expecting them to come down the laneway and thinking about what i was going to say.

Had the odd, left-right-left-right-left-right through backstreets to evade being picked up, but that close call was the last time I ever tried to run - just not worth it normally, especially if they weren't really close enough to get a high velocity reading. At night they're usually just bored and see you as an easy target - absolute discrimination.

Got done on the Eastern fwy in Melbourne at 2am once - patrol car ahead with a radar, lights went on, I stopped immediately pulled in just in front of their car, helmet off before they approached me. He asked how fast i reckon I was going and I said 165. 'Close' he said. He asked if i needed my licence for work and i said as a drummer, no car, no work. He gave me a ticket for 125 and said it was partly for not being an idiot like many others they come across who try to do a runner. I said that would be stupid as I didn't actually sense I was doing something highly dangerous - empty 10 lane freeway. I'd explained that i'd owned this bike for 30 years, knew it intimately and had just finished a major rebuild and had been out in the night near Hurstbridge dodging about 150 wombats, so the freeway offered a safe place to enjoy some speed.

The alternative was loss of licence for 3-6 months and a huge fine. I thanked him. I reckon on a modern hyperbike i would have been doing 280!
 
piranha-bro2 said:
Knew the area so turned right onto a main road and fanged it, first left at the Cat & Fiddle (where my band used to play) and immediately right into a laneway, then immediately right into the rear parking spot of the shops with only a low wooden fence concealing me from the side street of the Cat & Fiddle. Just switched off and dropped down in time to hear the car roar to a stop, not knowing where I'd disappeared to then roar off up the side street. was positive i was gonna be busted and expecting them to come down the laneway and thinking about what i was going to say.
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I know that spot. Good move. Not sure if true or not but a coppa told me that most people turn left at the first opportunity during a chase and that's where he goes first if you are out of sight. So I go first right generally. :D
 
750 Suzi water bottle with full fairing, motor bridge-ported, full tilt chambers, passing a 318 V8 Charger near Globe Derby trotting complex on highway one. Late at night. Pass at about 150 in 100 k zone, and then realise its an unmarked pursuit car - cops are in uniform. Flashers go on and they hit the loud pedal but I am already gapping them. Highway in those days passed through Virginia and I am shitting myself that they have radioed ahead and woken the Two Wells or Virginia cops, but no flashing lights in Virginia so head home to Two Wells doing the full-tilt boogie but worrying cops might be waiting at Two Wells. In luck, as nothing lit up in Two Wells either. Ride down the side of the folks place on the (now) old Highway One and take my gear off and stand on front verandah. Minutes pass and then a whooshing sound as the Charger comes flying through heading north. I still wonder how long before they gave up.
Never heard anything more of it, so they can’t have got my number as I passed them.
Got nabbed plenty of other times, though. Could have papered my walls with summonses at one stage, lol.
 
Cops in Perth got Honda 750s. Got pulled over by one on the Kwinana Freeway in South Perth while I was riding the still pretty new Laverda. He just wanted a chat and compare bikes. He wasn't at all happy with the Honda. With the extra weight they were carrying they were snapping the std chains when they gave them a fistfull from a standing start. When they moved to heavier duty chains they started snapping spokes. Not long after this they moved to 900 Kawasakis and then BMW Bricks.

I actually got pulled over several times by cops just wanting to look at the Laverda and talk bikes. Was great/OK in the early days but the last time was in the late 80's by officer Ankles. He immediately launched into the "I always wanted one of these" and then disputed the originality of the ND instruments, despite the fact they had laverda faces, and despite my protestations proceded to yellow sticker the bike for non-standard instruments and no chain guard.
 
Davo said:
and then disputed the originality of the ND instruments, despite the fact they had laverda faces, and despite my protestations proceded to yellow sticker the bike for non-standard instruments and no chain guard.
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What an absolute prick. And a really fuggin stupid one at that.
 
While in Bowral, managed to engage with the retired head of Goulburn police academy ( ex 60's motorcycle policeman and head of the area cops in that era ). At the academy was a photograph on the wall for the recruits to view, a nice morris panel van ( pie delivery ) with a dead center of the back van area, a nice brand new Kwaka Z1 in police black and white livery, intact from the rear, buried halfway into the van.... ! The man talking to me was the rider.... mentioned he came out of a sweeper at Botany, give it the herbs.. somewhat different pickup than the old T Saint... said he sailed completely over the van and well air born... jet style helmet in the day possibly though may have full face by then... he was hurt a lot.... for a brief period the NSW cops were on Honda Bombers.... one inferior cop on said 450cc looking at me on my waterbottle..."you cannot handle that bike"....my reply ..says you on your mighty 450 honda.... he rode off... bit of a surprise.... that it actually pulled away with that fat bastard on board... j. oh and i have it from the riders in uniform, they like a chase, even up stairs...another story....
 
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Was about to go for a ride on the Yellow Peril; all kitted and warmed up when the pager goes off; traffic accident down Gorge Rd towards Adelaide.
I mount up and fly down to the CFS station as as I pull up a cop on on his BM pulls up and asks me why I was doing 72 in a 60 zone (thought it might have been pretty self-evident). Anyway, he asks me for my license and writes out the bluey while I'm getting changed into yellows. When I finally climb up into the crew-leader's seat he passes up my license and the bluey and tells me to take it as a caution.
Finally head off under lights and sirens and when we get to the accident there is the same cop, had to exchange info about the accident and nothing further was said.
 
Having just purchased my 79 Jota off the forums Ausbean, I was busting to ride it.

The fact that I had broken my leg a few weeks earlier when the front of a Honda Civic got a major modification by my Honda 750, wasn’t really off putting.

With my crutches strapped to the side I trundled off. Stopping was a little difficult, cause the busted left leg didn’t like being put down. And the sawn off broom handle going down to the left hand gear lever sometimes got in the way.

So the traffic lights outside the nightclub turned red…. I managed to pull to a wobbly stop. The black Jota looked great with the outside coloured lights reflecting off the paint, even the crowd queued up outside the club looking my way seemed to appreciate it.

A few young blokes were egging me on to do a burnout but I didn’t fall for their suggestions. The lights changed to green and I took off and at about 6,500rpm (C7 cams) the front wheel goes skyward, to appreciating yells from the crowd.

Changing by broomstick into second, with the front wheel coming down was a challenge, but I crunchboxed to second. (No not downhill)

The nightclub lights disappeared, but were just as quickly replaced by red and blue lights colouring the surroundings.

So as I slowed my hand missed neutral and I came to a wobbly stop.

Two cops approached, one either side of me, and as I remove the helmet the bike angles to the left. 😧

Luckily the cop on my left catches us, while the cop on the right yells at me asking “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Pointing at the crutches strapped to the bike he yells “Don’t you blokes ever learn?”

Turned out the ‘blue uniformed side stand’ had attended the fore mentioned crash.

I got a ticket, I think it was something like Negligent Driving.

After they left, and doing a Ubolt, past the nightclub the applause and bowing was worth every cent. 😁

The joys of living in a regional town.
 
I rode a bike a few days after getting out of hospital from a total knee replacement operation. I couldn't bend my right leg enough to get it on the footrest so I made a temporary footrest on an engine crash bar so I could stick the leg out straight. Gearshift was on the left and I could live without a rear brake. The right leg was pretty useless for anything at that stage so I had to be careful when stopping to make sure I always propped on the left side. It was a bit of a balancing act taking off without using the right leg to balance the bike, especially if the bike was in neutral. Had to lift the left foot off the ground and keep the bike balanced while selecting 1st gear, then take off before I fell over. Parking also had to be well coordinated to flip the side stand down. I had one of those elbow crutches slung over my shoulder to walk with once I got off the bike. Occasionally I had to use the crutch as a prop on the right side to stop the bike falling to the right.

Somewhat surprisingly, I never got stopped by the police when riding in cripple mode like that.

Riding a solo bike like that was a bit stressful worrying about how to support the bike when stopped. So I restricted myself to riding the sidecar outfit until my leg healed sufficiently to ride in the normal fashion.
 
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