police bike clutch use

[ricoman]

At the local dealer yesterday (Honda/BMW/Triumph). They have sold BMW R1200's (not sure of the model) to a nearby county Sheriff for traffic enforcement.
Probably because there are no new Valks to do that job. (see how I tied in a Valk).
Anyway, it seems the beemers have clutch issues when used for this. It may be operator related but the comment was made that the low speed manuvering, as taught by Motorman and others, requires a good bit of clutch slipping. I've seen the Motorman videos and watched him and his folks in person and the things they do are remarkable. Have practiced on the fat lady (my Harley before) and it does work and would recommend that everyone see the vids and practice.
Anyway, the BMW's have a dry clutch and it is likely they do not take well to the slipping required to do the moves.
Am wondering, since BMW police bikes are in such wide use, if this is truly an operational issue or rider error of some sort.
Can't imagine clutch trouble-seems to be a non-issue with our Valks.

[X Ring]

Not sure but I don't think RJ's old outfit, the CHP, would have decided to rebuild their Beemers instead of buying new bikes if they had a rash of problems with their clutches.

Marty

[Colin]

We had them for a lot of years in the London (UK) traffic police and I can't remember us ever having clutch problems. We wouldn't have run them for so long if we had those sort of problems. Sounds to me like "rider error" or a duff batch of clutches from the factory.