We finally got the grant for our new bikes this month. We've been riding Giant's version of a police bike (XCT frame with silent hub) since '06 and they're pretty beat. i had my bike heavily modded from the original issue with some of my own parts and it rode like a freeride hardtail...just how i like it, instead of the heavy and unbalanced bike it came as. i had to remove the rear rack, kickstand, bottle cages, put on a shorter stem with 31.8 bars, lock ons, etc. but, even after all the mods it was still a XC frame at heart and didn't fit the mold of what our bike unit has become. we're not the typical downtown bike patrol checking on businesses and playing officer friendly. my unit is a little more aggressive; we work only in public housing (projects) so our mission is much different than most other bike units. so now that i'm the departments' bike instructor and i handle all of the equipment purchasing when we get money to do so...unlike the last time we made bike/equipment purchases...i tried to get us some equipment that will better suit us now (and won't keep me in my shop wrenching on them every week). my goal was to get something durable yet not too-expensive, fairly slack HA (we hit A LOT of stairs at speed), disk brakes,tough fork, and burly rims/tires. so here is what i got 
got a great deal on a 2008 Jamis Komodo II (shop i ride for carries Jamis and he's very easy to deal with)
it has all the basic stuff we need for a po-po bike without all the crap we don't need. it's labeled as a freeride/dj hardtail and, after riding one for a bit now, it's geometry/build is PERFECT for our mission. i'm super stoked on it as are the other 4 guys in my unit.
here's a link to the specs: not the best shifter/der. combo but solid enough for what we do. i'm changing the 32T chainring to a 34T since we no longer have a big ring...like we ever used it anyway.
http://jamisbikes.com/usa/archives/2008/08_komodo2_archive.html
i hated our old bulky headlights (no, we don't use blue blinky lights on our bikes, just headlights for nigh visibility and to be street legal) and i found the new cygolite mitycross 350. http://www.cygolite.com/products/new/MityCross/mitycross350.html
it's the smallest high-power LED i've ever seen and it's stupid bright, plus it has a strobe function..perfect! i allotted for and ordered all of the equipment i could think of from shoes to sunglasses to Dakine Hydration backpacks to new Giro Phase helmets. so in other words...i had a blast doing the research and shopping for new gear (did i mention that i love my job?)
anyway..here's the pics of the bike after i removed the half-naked lady stickers from the DJ1 fork and installed the light/computer. (how many po-po bikes have 20mm thru-axles
)
check the tiny battery and light. helluva lot better than the heavy old water bottle battery with mile-long cable. now we can take just take the whole light/battery off without having to unravel all that cable when we're on day shift.
does anyone have any suggestions for the computer cable routing? i think the white fork just accents the black cable more and i'd like a cleaner look.
...and the old bike, so you can see how far we've come since i was able to start influencing the way a bike unit could run.
when i got it:
when i started to make it better
wow..ok, that was wordy. sorry for the chattiness...i'm just very giddy right now. i hope y'all monkey's can appreciate the new bike stuff, even if it's not technically mine.
now, i'm curious to see if this thread will derail into yet another anti-cop thread
i sure hope not....
got a great deal on a 2008 Jamis Komodo II (shop i ride for carries Jamis and he's very easy to deal with)
it has all the basic stuff we need for a po-po bike without all the crap we don't need. it's labeled as a freeride/dj hardtail and, after riding one for a bit now, it's geometry/build is PERFECT for our mission. i'm super stoked on it as are the other 4 guys in my unit.
here's a link to the specs: not the best shifter/der. combo but solid enough for what we do. i'm changing the 32T chainring to a 34T since we no longer have a big ring...like we ever used it anyway.
http://jamisbikes.com/usa/archives/2008/08_komodo2_archive.html
i hated our old bulky headlights (no, we don't use blue blinky lights on our bikes, just headlights for nigh visibility and to be street legal) and i found the new cygolite mitycross 350. http://www.cygolite.com/products/new/MityCross/mitycross350.html
it's the smallest high-power LED i've ever seen and it's stupid bright, plus it has a strobe function..perfect! i allotted for and ordered all of the equipment i could think of from shoes to sunglasses to Dakine Hydration backpacks to new Giro Phase helmets. so in other words...i had a blast doing the research and shopping for new gear
(did i mention that i love my job?) anyway..here's the pics of the bike after i removed the half-naked lady stickers from the DJ1 fork and installed the light/computer. (how many po-po bikes have 20mm thru-axles
)
check the tiny battery and light. helluva lot better than the heavy old water bottle battery with mile-long cable. now we can take just take the whole light/battery off without having to unravel all that cable when we're on day shift.
does anyone have any suggestions for the computer cable routing? i think the white fork just accents the black cable more and i'd like a cleaner look.
...and the old bike, so you can see how far we've come since i was able to start influencing the way a bike unit could run.
when i got it:
when i started to make it better
wow..ok, that was wordy. sorry for the chattiness...i'm just very giddy right now. i hope y'all monkey's can appreciate the new bike stuff, even if it's not technically mine.
now, i'm curious to see if this thread will derail into yet another anti-cop thread
i sure hope not.... 
