Police bikes in Downing street

[Dr Jekyll]

These didn't look like the usual police R1200RTs, or the previous Met police VIP group VFR1200s. More like R1200RS or R1250RS. Seem a bit cramped for all day use, though not as bad as a VFR1200. Did they get a good deal (presumably what happened with the VFR) or do they need something more nimble for their particular work?

[Krikkit]

Did a bikesafe course recently and they were trialling a VFR1200 with panniers and various accessories and a K1600GT as a replacement for the current R1200's.

They did say that the BMW's reliability was starting to cause issues for them, so they were trying to find a replacement that suited, but a lot of the big bikes were possibly a bit too cramped, e.g. VFR (as you've said).

[Johnny50]

Last time i was down there, they were mostly using R1200/1250RS

They look really small in comparison.

[TT1138]

Dr Jekyll said:

These didn't look like the usual police R1200RTs, or the previous Met police VIP group VFR1200s. More like R1200RS or R1250RS. Seem a bit cramped for all day use, though not as bad as a VFR1200. Did they get a good deal (presumably what happened with the VFR) or do they need something more nimble for their particular work?

The police bikers on the news yesterday were the Special Escort Group which come under the remit of Diplomatic Protection rather than traffic.

They recently changed bikes by the look of it. The R1250RS has replaced the old VFR1200s which in turn replaced the BMW R1150RSs they used for years.

There will be a number of operational reasons why they use the RS platform over RTs/ FJRs/ GTRs used by the regular police riders.