Can a stealthed-out high performance sport motorcycle beat law enforcement’s attempt to electronically capture it?
Speed Measurement Labs (SML) and RadarBusters .com went head to head to find out and Super Street Bike magazine covered the results for a future issue.
SML provided state-of-the art radar/laser guns and the certified police officers to operate them. The test was conducted during SML’s 2004 Radar Detector Shoot-Out in El Paso. For 18 years this annual three-day event has served as an objective field-testing forum for leading radar detector makers and radar/laser gun manufacturers.
Super Street Bike magazine contacted one of their subscribers in the El Paso area, Frank Whisler, who agreed to participate in the event by allowing Radar Roy install the equipment for the test on his new 2004 Yamaha R1.
The evening prior to the testing, Radar Roy and his staff arrived with the “RadarDetectors.com” install trailer, at Frank’s home in El Paso to perform the install.
Countermeasure Equipment
To ensure SML was properly challenged, Radar Roy installed the following countermeasure products on Frank Whisler’s Yamaha R-1. (Whisler, a lucky guy from El Paso, got to keep all installed countermeasure products in exchange for the use of his bike).
Radar Detector: RadarBusters.com equipped the R-1 with an Escort 8500 X50. Rated the number one radar detector today in a recent evaluation by Motortrend Magazine. , The testing at Speed Measurement Labs shown that the X50 has over 11 miles of long-range radar detection capacity.
Escort 8500 X-50 with blue display
Laser Jammer: The R-1 was equipped with a Blinder M-20 active laser jammer. One active laser jammer head was mounted on the front and one on the rear of the motorcycle. The Blinder M-20 is the only active laser jammer that jams 100% of all police laser guns.
Blinder Laser Jammer head in front
Mounts : Radar Roy mounted the radar detector to a Stemstand that was slipped into the R1’s steering stem hole.
motorcycle radar detector mount
“Spider” Stemstand Mount for R1
Radar Roy also used a “Spider” to mount a laser jammer head to the R1’s rear license plate cover.
Rear Blinder Jammer w/Spider Mount
Detector Activation Alert Display: Many motorcyclists find it difficult to hear and/or see a radar detector alert. To help, Radar Roy attached a HARD System Transmitter to the radar detector and mounted a HARD System Receiver to the rider’s helmet. The HARD System Receiver’s bright LED light alerted the rider wirelessly to radar detector activation.
Arai Full Face helmet with H.A.R.D
Radar Roy and his staff began the project by first installing the Blinder M-20 laser jammer.
The Blinder M-20 comes with two laser jammer heads. As a laser beam is 18" wide at 500 feet, one jammer to the front, near the R1’s headlamp, and one laser jammer head in the rear, near the license plate, would be adequate to jam all police laser guns.
The rear head was installed first using a mount fabricated by “Spider Mounts” who are Radar Roy’s fabricators and who manufacture many of the specialized motorcycle radar detector mounts sold on RadarBusters. This mount connected the rear jammer to the license plate of the R1.
The front Blinder jammer head was installed under the front faring using double sided tape.
The controller for the Blinder must be installed in a water proof area. The Blinder jammer heads, the power cable, the alert LED and Speaker all plug into the controller using standard RJ-11 jacks. (telephone jack). It was determined that the best location for the controller would be under the seat.
Blinder Controller under seat of R1
The Blinder has an LED and small speaker to alert when the laser jammer is activated. The LED was mounted using nylon “Zip Ties” to the ignition switch. The speaker (app 3") was taped to the faring using double sided tape.
Light Activated “RED”
The power switch was mounted to the side of the seat, allowing the rider to power on or off the Blinder M-20 while riding.
Power Switch mounted at seat
The install of the Blinder M-20 on the R1 motorcycle took approximately two hours.
Escort 8500 X-50 Install
The Escort 8500- X50 radar detector was then installed.
A Stemstand mount was used to mount the Escort 8500 X50. This mount slides into the steamhole found on many sport bikes. The radar detector is held in place by placing industrial Velcro (supplied) on the mount and detector.
“Spider” Steam Mount for R1
A direct wire cord was then tapped into the accessory power cable on the R1. This allows power to the detector while the motorcycle is operating, and turns off power when the motorcycle is turned off.
The Escort 8500 X-50 was then placed onto the mount, plugged in and powered up. Total install time, 15 minutes.
H.A.R.D. System Install
As it is often difficult to hear and/or see you radar detector when it is activated on a motorcycle, Radar Roy choose to provide the rider with the Legal Speeding H.A.R.D. system. The H.A.R.D. is a two part wireless system. The transmitter connects directly to the radar detectors power port, and the power cable then plugs into the H.A.R.D. transmitter. The receiver then mounts inside the helmet. This heads up display the alerts the rider with a bright LED light, that the radar detector is activated.
The transmitter was Velcroed to the side of the Escort 8500 X50.
H.A.R.D. Transmitter
The receiver was mounted to the outside of the helmet using Velcro and the LED cable was placed inside of the helmet behind the visor.
H.A.R.D. LED
Total install time three minutes
The Test!
To eliminate any hint of bias certified police officers operated radar and laser guns as they do when they issue speeding tickets.
Police Officers performing test
And the Winner is.
Proving once again why it’s the number one rated radar detector, the Escort 8500 X50 detected radar on all bands, including the new POP radar at a distance of over 4 miles away. This outstanding range gives any sport rider ample time to slow down!
The Blinder M-20 successfully jammed the laser guns, which made the Yamaha R-1 virtually invisible to this type of police traffic enforcement.
Stalker laser gun - JAMMED!
Quality Countermeasures Work!
According to Radar Roy, “if you want to make sure you aren’t pulled over, you should observe the laws of the jurisdiction you are driving in.”
If you choose to exceed speed limits, and want to minimize the chance of being ticketed “you MUST equip your vehicle with the best countermeasure devices available, anything less is ineffective ,”
All products installed on the motorcycle used in this test are available for sale on our website at RadarBusters.com.
http://www.radarbusters.com/stealthstreetbikeintroductionarticle.cfm
