I am a motor cop in Saint John NB Canada. I ride a FLHP 2005 at work, it to has a speed wobble anytime the front suspension depresses while in a turn at 120 KPH or more, the faster you go the worse it is. My partners bike is the same. My own ride an own ride a FLHRCI also likes to wobble at highway speeds anytime you hit a miner dip in the pavement. Nature of the beast! It can get scary if you are not expecting it.

This past summer I had the opportunity to ride a 2006 ST1300P for a month while my department was testing it. I loved the bike and it handled and performed well. I only weigh 170lbs and never experienced a wobble at ant speed with the bike. I had it up to 195 KPH many times (Honda had this model limited to 195KPH) No problems, loved the bike and hope my department buys some. I may buy one for myself, just to enhance the off duty riding, But I will have to keep the Road king because my wife loves it. T Jones

For me, the bike is much more responsive than the HD. The riding position lends itself to slow speed, tight manuevers. It is much quicker than an HD and more reliable, IMO. Much quieter and even with the heat issues the ST has, it is still not as hot in the summertime as the HD.

All in all, I love the ST as a police motorcycle.

1) Initial cost (Higher than HD lease, but lower than BMW)
2) Maintenance cost (WAY lower than Beemer, parts don't break like HD)
3) Maneuverability & Handling (Better than HD, 'bout a wash with Beemer)
4) Speed (Hands down the fastest!)
5) No Heat in Crotch (HD has killer heat, BMW's only have oil cooler, not radiator)

The performance was the key for me (us). Stability, quiet, smooth, excellent brakes, smooth, good name for reliability (even a die hard H-D guy will agree on that), did I mention smooth? I hated riding those jack hammers, 8 to 10 hours every day in the oppressive humid heat of Central Flori"duh" with that 300 degree heat roasting your right thigh drove me nuts. I also grew tired of the "issues" too. Recalls, TSB's, or the even the sheer denial that anything was wrong. The air cleaner cover fell off one time on my way home, H-D had the nerve to charge us for a replacement. They claimed it wasn't their responsibility even though the bike was about two weeks old at the time. Another time my H-D sat at the dealership waiting for a TSB to be done. Two weeks later they called and said the bike was ready to be picked up. I did, but they never did the repair. WTF? This was standard practice! It wasn't just us who encountered these issues either. Then the ever increasing price that went along with the "We don't give a "F" attitude". So we began shopping, which leads us to where we are. With the exception of the battery, the ST-P is a great bike! Though I do wish Honda would partner up with a lighting manufacturer (Whelen, Federal Signal, etc) to produce a "turn key" bike. It sure would be a lot more simple to tell them you want "these" color lights and when the bike shows up it's ready to roll. That's a big feature with BMW now, they partnered with Code 3 PSE and you can order their bikes with lights, siren, radar mounts, camera mounts, laser mounts, police stickers, etc. That's a BIG feature that many are willing to pay for. Remember those items are now part of the "bumper to bumper" warranty too. Now, if a light goes out on my ST-P I've got to down the bike, remove the light, ship off the light, wait for it to return, put on the new light before I get back on it. Thankfully with LED's that isn't an issue too often. BUT, the assurance is nice to know. So far, I think that the skeptics in my area are more believing now. They've seen the Honda in action and they can see it can do the job. The biggest hurdle we had to over come was the "four hundred dollar mirror" theorem all the H-D guys had. That being, if you drop the bike in the slow cones a four hundred dollar part would break. Well, obviously that doesn't happen! Now they see that doesn't happen and their prior ignorances shine through! LOL!

After riding the HD for 7 years for 10 hr shifts, I am tired of the following:

1. The constant vibration. Yes, the Motor is rubber mounted. However, take a look at your arms and hands at a traffic stop. As someone mentioned, it's like riding a 1920's paint shaker!

2. The noise. Even with the stock exhaust, after 10 hrs. I am burned out just by the constant drone of the exhaust and engine noise (and that's with stock pipes).

3. The weight. Yes, I know the ST is no lightweight. However, fully loaded, my work Motor with all the junk piled on and in had to weigh well over 900 lbs.! The new 103", six speed feels even heavier!

4. Lack of Performance. Sure the Motor will work in the city enviroment, however, put it on the highway and see what happens. My last Motor was the 88" version, and it really struggled to get up to closing speed on the interstate (where 97% of my work was done). Jury is out on the 103", but it appears to pull much harder (torque) and is quicker. The 88" was terrible on curves at speed. If one accelerated hard in a sweeper, the whole front end would shake and shimmy and become dangerous. I have been informed that the newly designed frame for the 103" has solved that problem. We will see. I have noticed that the 103" is more fuel hungry (less than 35 mpg) and ergo the need for the 6 gal. tank.

I may be in a decent position to comment on the alternatives. I have ridden the following, which effects my comments: 1999 BMW R1100RTP, 2003 BMW R1150RTP, 2007 HD Electra Glide, 2008 Honda ST1300P.

Keep in mind that I am in the northwest and ride year around (-5 or 7 days in last year because of ice (8 months generally in rain, rain, or 40 mph sideways rain).

BMW misnomers: Cost is a factor at purchase. In actuality, unless you have an in house mechanic for set-up they are relatively equal. Lets look

Honda +/- 14.5 K + wiring, lights, etc, etc
BMW +/- 18.5 k

BMW is basically all set-up plug and play scenario with crash bars, etc. Add graphics and radio, radar and ride. Comes black and white (wiring plug and play under warranty)

Honda needs full wiring, set-up, radio, graphics, radar, larger Odessey gel cell battery, tires, crash protection, etc and paint? (set-up warranty is up to set-up vendor..some better, some worse, some royal pain for service. We like the company we go through and they bend over backwards for us..go above and beyond to make us happy. In reality this is around a $3500.00 + with parts add to the base price)

Cost is within $800-1K in end if set-up equal, really so it is basically a wash.

Functionally they are both very good platforms with a little different feel.

Best way to describe is the BMW is more touring oriented with softer suspension until mid stroke and higher center of gravity. Aftermarket fully loaded with options. BMW better for power/battery management by 100%. Stable from 0-mach 1. Great ABS brakes.

Honda is more sport oriented of the two. It has a lower center of gravity and rides like it. Aftermarket fully loaded with options. Honda has power/battery management flaws without larger gel battery (mounted sideways instead of inline but bulges right body panels which can cause cracks. Have replaced mine once already.) Set-up really effects Honda stability at overtaking speeds...follow mounting triangle guidelines and use u shaped side bars or slider poles in front of bags utilizing pillion peg area mounting...do not use full rear crash bars EVER.) Linked ABS brakes which can be + or -.

Maintenance is where the split starts in my humble opinion. Especially in training constantly in tight patterns. Honda has a wet clutch. BMW dry clutch. Expect to pay $1.5 K per clutch on BMW once a year. Honda is $400. No signs of wet clutch weakness.

BMW service interval is 6K miles. Honda is 4K. Warranty is 3 year 42K on BMW. Honda 3 year/36K. Maintenance/parts plans for everything but wear items seem to be readily available on Honda...not seen or heard of generally for BMW, although our dealers are very responsive and go out of there way.

So what about the Harley you ask. It is not in the same league in my opinion. Here's why:

HD great city bike, but over 85 mph is buffeting hell. In city great, city with highway interfaces or rural highways/interstates no go in my opinion.

Heat injuries common. ABS brake failures. Driveability issues. 5 starters in 8 months. Foot boards X 2-3 sets a year as they get worn razor sharp from tight turns. The HD dealer lease deals great (led us to HD for cost), but a problem generally because you are locked into one dealer who can charge what they want for service/parts and don't have to treat you nice or take care of problems in a hurry to keep you.

I didn't realize how much effort it took to ride the thing for a shift until I went back to the Beemer for shifts while the HD was always in the shop. Wow...I wasn't worn out at the end of the day!

Half A#%&d HD solutions. Solution to overheating and detonation...install a HD service update mapping that shut down rear cylinder below 1200 rpm. Of course this caused other issues, especially with low speed manuevering with surges. The HD twins shake like a paint mixer...imagine 1/2 a HD twin. LE HD Service Bulletin just before we terminated our lease (We had enough x 2): Layman's translation "Reference starter failures. Inherent to city use and not seeing these problems in rural areas. Not a manufacturer problem, but user issue. Encourage users to not stop and start so often". What the Heck? I thought I was in an alternate universe, after all the LE package bikes. I guess we could solve the problem by not making traffic stops? My admin finally had enough.

So was it just our issue?...I thought it was maybe something I was doing or not doing. Neighboring agency had 2/07's = 11 starters and one rear brake failure and one front brake failure. Agency near one of my vendors in So Cal got 19 new 07 HD. 15 within 3 months had starter failures. Okay maybe there's an issue? You ask about neighboring agency...oh they're on Honda's now also...when they terminated their HD lease also. They were a die hard HD agency and are a two officer unit and this was their 3rd 2-year lease (bikes #5 and 6).

On the HD positive side...everybody would stop and tell us how beautiful our bike was and it sounded cool if you like the whole cruiser sound. My understanding is that for 08' they went to Brembo ABS brakes and an auto decomp head and have not heard the same amount of issues, but then I am aware of only three agencies that still have Harley's in Oregon anymore. One couldn't find a Honda (wanted to) and settled. Others are waiting until lease termination to switch.