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I was the first Officer on my department
to be sent through a Police Motor Officer's school. The bike we were using at
the time was a 1974 Moto Guzzi 850 Police model. It's suspension was worn
out by the time I was sent to this school so it was not up to it's best. All
other Officer's used Kawasaki's or Harley's.
When we made our tight turns, they were called riding the floorboards, because
that's what the Kawasaki's did when leaned over. But not the Guzzi. It would
drag the bottom of the frame, after first filing off the end of the side stand
return spring. I got tired of replacing the spring, so I started using a bungee
cord to keep the side stand up. This worked for most of the course, except for
the felony stop course. I was suppose to disembark off the bike rather quickly,
so I decided that if this was real I would not be concerned about unhooking a
bungee cord and swinging the side stand around. I simply just stood off the bike
and let it drop where it lay, as one of the above pictures depicts. After one of
these practice runs, I acted like I was putting the poor old Guzzi out of it's agony.
The course instructor got the picture.
Another incident that there was no picture
was the first time I went though the "decision maker." The rider first
travels through a series of cone patterns before emerging onto a straightaway
where you get some speed up. The rider then will be approaching three or
four exit locations spread out before him. As you pass by a marked
location you are given a signal as to which exit to head for and hopefully will
make a quick enough decision for the correct exit. My first time through I was
doing fine and made the correct decision, but the bike's frame struck the
pavement and lifted the rear tire off the pavement. I immediately went down and
even through prior to this we had practice putting the bike down at speed I did
not stay with it and was peeled off. I slid across the pavement on my backside,
riding mostly on my double handcuff case. It wore through the leather and grind
away part of the handcuff. It knocked the wind out of me, but I was able to
continue with the class that day. That night I had to make a trip to the
hospital because of blood in my urine, and it was really starting to hurt. I had
a bruised kidney, the doctor instructed me to stay off the bike for a week. I
had a class to finish, so the next day I was back on my Guzzi. I felt every bump
in the road for a few days.
As a result of this class, I was able to persuade
the city to replace the shocks & springs with Koni units. The old Guzzi had
a whole new life.
And that's the rest of the story
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