Valintine V1 -VS- Bel RX65 Radar detectors

[dkirk]

B) With the new traffic laws in California. 30 mph over the posted speed limit its a automatic $1000 fine. Might be prudent to purchase a radar detector. Now is the Valentines front, rear detection feature worth the extra money and how would you mount it so your body dosent block the rear sensor.

Any info is appreciated.

Thanks, Dan.

 

[Bike Effects]

B)   With the new traffic laws in California. 30 mph over the posted speed limit its a automatic $1000 fine. Might be prudent to purchase a radar detector. Now is the Valentines front, rear detection feature worth the extra money and how would you mount it so your body dosent block the rear sensor.  Any info is appreciated.

Thanks, Dan.

I mount my Valentine either on top of a Saddlebag, or in a pouch on the side of the soft bag that I carry on the rear seat. It is invisible to onlookers there. It has saved me from getting nailed from behind by one of Califiornia's finest CHP officers.

I have the Valentine cigarette lighter power cord in a Powerlet Cigar adapter on the rear of the bike. I also use the Valentine Audio adapter fed into my Starcom system and I have an auxilliary Valentine display under my clock on the dash of the FJR.

Now, I just need to figure out how to be aware of the Bear in the air. h34r:

 

[jestal]

Valentine gets my vote. I drive/ride nowhere without it.

 

[tcfjr]

I have my V-1 mounted on the front brake reservoir with industrial strength velcro, and the remote audio adaptor similarly mounted on the clutch reservoir. I wired the included hard-wired power adaptor to my 8-position terminal blocks (positive under panel B, negative under panel C), with coiled telephone cords cable-tied along the standard wiring cases up to each unit. Connect the audio output to the mixer of your choice - I use an Amplirider mounted in my tank bag.

Mounting the main unit on the front brake reservoir gives it a good position for both front and rear detection; the windshield does not interfere. You can see all the relevant data on the display - bogey counter, directional arrows, radar band, etc. It's a little exposed if you get pulled over, but you won't seem out of place if you remove your helmet and put it over the unit as the LEO walks up. It's also handy if you want to temporarily cancel the audio warnings - just reach up and push the button. The velcro makes it easy to remove the units if the bike will be unattended.

My V-1 has saved my bacon countless times. I'm not a speed-burner by any means, but like most of us I enjoy the occasional FJR-nominal runs when conditions allow - the middle section of California's SR-58 (with the whoopdees) comes to mind - and the V-1 makes these runs more enjoyable by letting you focus on the ride instead of the fine.

 

[exskibum]

Now, I just need to figure out how to be aware of the Bear in the air.

I know someone who has convex mirrors attached to the upper cowl covers (between front of tank and cowling) on his Honda Blackbird. On the Blackbird, you're more over the tank than on the FJR, so they work there. A couple of us were wondering why the hell he had mirrors that pointed upward. "LEOs in airplanes" was his answer. Guy is a one time AMA expert road racer, very experienced rider into function over form, and pretty much everything I've heard from him is spot on, so I'm assuming it works. Gonna try to find a couple of those things for my Blackbird before I get it back on the road.

He had another take on "always on headlights", too, and had his switched. We asked him why (safety issue and all) and he said that his bigger concern was alerting a cop to his presence earlier, allowing the LEO to turn on his radar before you spotted him -- e.g., when you come around a corner in the mountains.

These new fines SUCK HARD!!!! Gonna have to look into purchasing a Valentine, myself.

 

[Groo]

+1 on the Valentine, and the front/side/rear arrows are invaluable in figuring out where the signal is coming from, as is the multiple bogey alarm. Came in handy today while driving down a road I usually traverse at speed+... got a nice strong signal from in front... so I got down to the speed limit... and just cruised with my eyes peeled... didn't see anything, but the signal was still there... was right on top of the blacked out/unmarked cop car before I realized what it was...

Another suggestion is to pipe the audio into earphones, unless you're going to mount the detector DIRECTLY in your line of sight. I didn't at first, and it's the earliest warnings that you typically don't catch because you aren't constantly looking at the display. With the audio, you always get the alert. I had turned the volume to max before I got the audio wired... and couldn't hear it at freeway speeds with my helmet on.

I've got mine mounted on a ram mount and the magnetic plate over/near my front brake reservoir, like seen below. The mag. plate makes for easy-peasy removal when I'm leaving the bike.

 

[Bluestreek]

Groo Posted on Jan 27 2006, 08:36 PM

I've got mine mounted on a ram mount and the magnetic plate over/near my front brake reservoir, like seen below. The mag. plate makes for easy-peasy removal when I'm leaving the bike.

Please explan magnetic plate and where a person can acquire such a device.

I plan on running mine thru my auto com. :cownoy:

 

[Groo]

The magnetic plate (it's called a Power Plate by RAM) is a nifty fixture that allows you to attach or remove your device easily.

You attach a sticky backed thin metal plate to the underside of your device, which fits into an indentation on the top of the Power Plate. Inside the power plate are two very strong rare earth magnets that attract the metal plate and hold your device in place. It's rock solid when attached. To remove the device, you just twist it, and the metal plate rides up out of the indentation enough to break the magnetic attraction. It's very slick. I also checked with Valentine about the possible effects of the magnets on their internal componentry, or the performance of the detector, and they said it shouldn't have any effect.

See the page below for more info, although I doubt these are the only folks that sell them. The plate can be mounted via the standard RAM system to just about anywhere on your bike. It takes me all of about 1/2 a second to either attach the V1, or remove it (if you know how) when leaving the bike.

Power Plate

 

[SickDog]

Valentine 1, attached via velcro on my accessory shelf, hard-wired to my barrier strip and sound pumped into my helmet via Autocom. I real money saver... I won't go into the details.

 

[Bounce]

Valentine 1, attached via velcro on my accessory shelf, hard-wired to my barrier strip and sound pumped into my helmet via Autocom. I real money saver... I won't go into the details.

+1

the locator function makes the difference between the V1 and anything else. once you've used it long enough to know *how* to use it, being without this extra tool in your box of tricks will make you feel like you're riding blind when only getting a non-descript ping (by itself) when hit by radar.