Thread: Ex plod bikes

Looking at forcemotorcycles, they have a selection of ex plod pans (both types) at a fair bit lower than normal pricing.

Good idea, or stay away?

I will soon be doing a commute of an hour each way down the A303, so going for a nice comfy bike.

has anybody on here had an ex plod bike?

Avoid like the plague so I'm told, there's a reason for the price. As with any ex plod vehicle the bodywork is full of holes where the old lights and radio kit were.

Most forces have binned the Pan in favour of BMW. There were some serious stability dramas at speed I believe.
Also people will often recommend ex-plod vehicles because they have been regularly serviced and maintained. The big but with this is that in between regular services they have been been driven/ridden hard. And in the case of cars, probably shat, pissed, bled and puked in.

Originally Posted by LanceBombardEars

Most forces have binned the Pan in favour of BMW. There were some serious stability dramas at speed I believe.
Also people will often recommend ex-plod vehicles because they have been regularly serviced and maintained. The big but with this is that in between regular services they have been been driven/ridden hard. And in the case of cars, probably shat, pissed, bled and puked in.

On a bike?

The bikes will be the same as their cars, totally shagged. They are all by definition very high milage vehicles. I haven't bought any of their bikes but I have bought a few of their cars. While they are fairly straight in the body work, things like door hinges and seats and seat runners are normally knackered. On occasions, the doors are cracking up as well. The thing is you have got two 16 stone coppers bouncing about inside buggering the seats and when they get out they slam the doors with a vengance, buggering them. As mentioned before there will be all sorts of strange holes all over them. The mechanical state might be good but as in all things, caveat emptor (buyer beware!) I once bought an MG B GT in white. You could just see where the blue light had been fitted and of course it had a zip in the headlining. I had great trouble matching the paint, I thought it was Old English white, which was a standard British Leyland colour, I found out later that the plod have their own colours as in Police White. You live and learn. And before anyone says it, yes, I am an old sod!

Originally Posted by parahopes

Originally Posted by LanceBombardEars

Most forces have binned the Pan in favour of BMW. There were some serious stability dramas at speed I believe.
Also people will often recommend ex-plod vehicles because they have been regularly serviced and maintained. The big but with this is that in between regular services they have been been driven/ridden hard. And in the case of cars, probably shat, pissed, bled and puked in.

On a bike?

Think the key phrase there is '......in the case of cars......'.

I uses to work p/t for a well-known vehicle auction site and we often used to get plod bikes through. As has been said, avoid them as though they are red-headed step children. They'll be well over mileage, full of holes from police kit (which will not have been plugged or treated): you'll be on the thing for 10 hours a day so don't scrimp for a good bike.

Originally Posted by armr617

I will soon be doing a commute of an hour each way down the A303, so going for a nice comfy bike.

The last thing you need for that is a lardy, knackered old ex-plod Pan Euro.

Not all Plod bikes are liveried, every fleet has a few unmarked performance bikes with no noticeable holes. these are the ones to get - there's a crossed curve on mileage vs service costs, so the optimum time to get rid of them can be anything down to the 40,000 mile mark. They will have been ridden like they're stolen, but by a sympathetic expert, new tyres every 3,000 (yes 3k or so) miles, and never been dropped, slightest excuse from the rider and into workshops on a safety first basis, generally if anything's wrong the entire component/assembly is replaced by people who know their business. One bike, one rider too.

Last time I saw the business projection they were looking at buying in at £6000 (because they're good buyers), selling for any offer over £2000 after 18 months to two years. You can't deal direct 'cos it's taxpayers money, so all the paperwork has to be transparently fair via an auctioneers, even admin time is money.

Hope this helps. MK

I've owned an ex -police Norton Interpol ,good bike,lovely to ride but also worked for a courier firm who bought a fleet of ex -plod bikes. Old stuff ,R 80s and K 75s ,all worn out,one or two were fine,but the remainder were knackered, can't comment on the Pans .

Avoid them, I watched our VM cut chunks out of the frames of all ours with a stile saw. Painful to see as some were only just run in. I think the problem was high speed stability, it may have been just when they were loaded up with the police fit I don't know but following the death of a copper the coroner said they had to go. We cut the chunks out of them so they could not be re sold so it may be worth having a look for some funny frame welds in wrong places.

Originally Posted by Bernster

Avoid them, I watched our VM cut chunks out of the frames of all ours with a stile saw. Painful to see as some were only just run in. I think the problem was high speed stability, it may have been just when they were loaded up with the police fit I don't know but following the death of a copper the coroner said they had to go. We cut the chunks out of them so they could not be re sold so it may be worth having a look for some funny frame welds in wrong places.

I'm by no means an expert, but I know a lot of people have mentioned that the stability problem mentioned is due to the large weights carried by the police on the bikes and even the effect on the aerodynamics - just too much for that bike to deal with.

BY all accounts, Honda told the Police that the weight they were proposing to carry was too much and exceeded the design parameters of the bike.

Plod bought them anyway.

That being said, I would have no trouble buying an ex Plod bike - for the money, I would be happy to take the chance if that was the kind of bike that I was after.

TBH I would be looking at the 1100's. money talks!

Spoke with a guy at the ally pally, ex police rider from the met (& later county) he was saying they should be a decent deal- he had just got one from force motorcycles to use as a blood bike, looked in good nick (but then he had it at the show- not going to bring a dog!)

I know a couple of people who have ex-plod bikes and both seem happy with them, reguarly serviced by proper mechanics has got to be a good thing. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one.

We've had 3 ex-Plod BMWs; they've all been fine. Yes they've been ridden hard (reflected in price), but they've also been well maintained. Some of the scarring where kit and, in particular, insignia have been removed has its use: combined with a white helmet and a hi-vis jacket, you can't but look rather like the real thing so other road users are that bit more careful.