What happens when law enforcement meets a scofflaw? Better yet, who will outrun the other? At some point in their career, a police officer will find themselves in the chase of their lives, thoroughly eager to catch up with the assailant and end the pursuit. Most of these situations happen in a cop car, especially with the evolution of the American police car, but bike chases do show up once in a while. It will be a sad day for the officer if it was their day with the precinct moped, and the assailant happens to be a Hell's Angel on a Harley-Davidson.
Hell's Angels are widely accepted to be a lawless gang of riders, who tend to bring their fear with them whenever they show up to a place. Whether they are criminals continues to be a hot topic, but the undeniable quality the members share is their passion for high-performance Harley Davidsons. With multiple run-ins with the law and rival bike gangs, they invariably need fast bikes, and they end up getting top of the range Harley-Davidsons retrofitted with parts that drive up the performance of the bike.
While Harleys are fast, they cannot hold a candle to police bikes, which come in more variety, and laden with concepts straight out of superbikes.
The Fastest Harley-Davidson Money Can Get You
Harleys can definitely go fast. However, among the 10 fastest motorcycles you can buy, they wouldn’t make the cut. Harley’s are built for comfort and statement, with deadly speed hardly making it to the priority list of the manufacturers. Hell's Angels are usually on the receiving end of both glaring and admiring stares from onlookers as they go through a town. Their loud presence astride their Harleys is simply inescapable.
Your average Harley-Davidson will likely have a top speed around 115 mph, with a 0-60 acceleration above 4.3 seconds. While quite uncharacteristic of the gang of outlaws, what would a race among its members look like? We imagine they would bring some of these bikes to the spectacle.
The 2013 Sportster 1200 Custom is a 2-cylinder beast that can accelerate from 0 – 60mph in 4.2 seconds and will accelerate all the way up to 118 mph. Not bad at all. The 2016 Softail Slim S does 0 – 60mph in 3.9 seconds. The bike comes with a 110 Twin Cam B engine and is the lightest Harley that dons this engine and tops out at 112mph. With a maximum speed of 144mph, the V-Rod Muscle can hit 60 mph from rest in 3.7 seconds. This breed of Harleys is currently your best bet for a fast production Harley, beating out the Softails and Sportsters.
The BMW R1200RT, A Cop's Delight
A good example of a bad plan that would need shelving would be an attempt at outrunning a patrol officer riding this bike, unless of course, you can do over 135mph, and aren't afraid to die, and that would still not be one of your better ideas. The BMW R1200RT was officially available from 2005, taking over the reins from its predecessor, the R1150RT. While not the fastest production bike available, it is definitely one of the most powerful, and this bike simply won’t give. It’s built for touring, and it packs enough power to accelerate from rest to 100mph in 9.8 seconds. The R1200, upgraded to 1250RT this year, is the most common police bike available.
A Relatively New Entrant Into The Cop Bike Space, Yamaha FJR1300 Sport Touring
This bike, while it hasn’t been around for too long, is making waves among police cycles. With a 16 valve liquid-cooled DOHC inline-four cylinder 1298cc engine, the machine will go 0 – 60mph in 3.9 seconds, hit 100mph in 9.2 seconds, and has a top speed of 143mph. Used by the Michigan Police State Patrol among other departments across the US and a few other countries, one simply does not decide to test a cop riding this bike.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol Police Suzuki Hayabusa
On any other day of the week, you’d see a cop bike while on your 600cc or 1000cc machine and the thought of racing from the law enforcement officer would probably cross your mind, drawing a shameless smirk across your face. To your horror, his partner pulls up in a 1300cc Suzuki Hayabusa, promptly throwing your reverie out the window.
In 2006, The Oklahoma police department decided to stun the public with what would be the final nail on the coffin for speedsters who reveled in making clean getaways from police in a car or bike chase. They placed an order for the first Suzuki Hayabusa GSX1300R. Spotting a 1298 four-cylinder engine, 173 HP and pushing 100 lb-ft of torque, this was by no means an average bike, and the highway patrol officers actually had to be sent to the California Superbike School to get a good handle on their new toy.
Acquiring more Suzuki Hayabusa Police Interceptors as the years went by, the OHP bikes are incredulously fast, accelerating to 60mph in 2.77 seconds, 100mph in 5.01 seconds, topping out at over 190mph. Matter of fact, they’d lay waste to a pursuit helicopter any day of the week! Being patrol bikes and all, they are fitted with radar technology. Other police departments across the globe have also attempted to borrow this concept, albeit in very few regions, and with relatively little success at justifying the purchase.