So, I'm riding home from practice last night. It's about 9:30pm so it's dark by then. It's only about a mile and a half ride home from where I practice with one stoplight and most of the way the speed limit is 50 mph.

Now mind you, I've had my F4i for a month now (been riding motorcycles for 16 years...) and I've become quite comfortable and capable on it. Well, I'm sitting at the light waiting for it to turn green, looking around to see if there are any cars anywhere... mainly, any cops. Nothing. The light turns green and I make my left turn, still looking around for any cops or anything. Once I get straight, there are still no cars, so I decide to finally open up my bike a bit. I get on it in first and the front end comes up about 2 feet. I roll off the throttle every so slightly and set it back down, then shift into second. Now I'm doing about 60 (10 over), so I slow down to 50 and cruise. I go about a quarter mile and a cop flicks on his lights behind me. Where did he come from?!?! I didn't even see his headlights behind me before he flicked on his "bad" lights...?

He pulls me over and cites me for "careless driving" saying that I pulled the wheelie on purpose. Clearly, I didn't. I didn't even think the F4i would pull the front end up with out clutching it up. But now I have to pay a $390 ticket and it's mandatory court.

Just curious as to what everyone thinks about this? I'm going to explain what happened in court as the only thing I really did wrong was speed (a LITTLE bit) and see if that lessens the punishment a bit. Thoughts?

 

Well you did go 10 over which is still speeding and even if you didnt do it on purpose you still did a wheelie. Go to court and tell them you opened it up and you havent ridden this bike much and you didnt know it would wheelie when you hit the gas. Hopefully they are dumb and believe you.

 

Fight it for sure. Tell them what you just told us and let it work itself out

 

You can hire one of those traffic law attorneys and they’ll get it reduced to a non-moving violation. The attorney fee will be over $100 plus the cost of the ticket plus court costs but there will not be any points on your record. If you’re currently looking at a Careless and Imprudent Driving citation those are HIGH in points and you can bet your insurance will go sky high if that one goes on your record. That's just a step or two down from a DWI plus the points are just shy of having your license suspended. If you have a C&I and you get even one more moving violation in the next three years you'll cross the line and a suspended license will be the result.

Cops like to be sneaky. I've unknowingly had them following me as I get on the highway in the early morning on my way to work before sunrise. I know enough to not "let 'er rip" until I can verify who those headlights belong to behind me. Once they see that I just get in the Interstate and don't blast over the speed limit they give up and take the next exit back to whatever little hole I and my sport bike woke them out of.

 

Considering it's a 6 point ticket, I'm definitely going to SEEK legal advice. But I might do kdub said and explain my story and see how it all pans out. Luckily I do not have any demerit points on my license so this ticket doesn't put me over the edge or anything.

 

yeah they prob wont drop it completely but they always give you some sort of deal, where i live they call that ticket "public display of power" no talkin your way out of that one cause its your foot or hand on the gas, immediate ticket especially in town.

 

I like how every ticket anyone gets on a bike is bogus, apparently you missed him or in your looking left to turn he pulled out, you say you've been riding 16 years but didnt know the bike would do a wheelie? I can wheelie my 8hp lawnmower without issues.

I'd honestly go in there and just be straight up yea i did it i got caught and see how it pans out.

 

bogus ticket... not at all, you messed up and got caught. just take it like a man
you can try and express your point of view to the judge/comissioner and see if they will reduce the charges (which very well could happen) . good luck

 

Yea, you can't beat them, how do you think they get payed. Explain what happen and have them reduce the court cost. Johnnyh

 

I don't think the ticket in itself is bogus, I just think the severity of it is. He says he "cut me a break" but a 6 point ticket and $390 dollars for letting the front end down as soon as it came up is a bit harsh.

Yes, I have been riding motorcycles for 16 years and I KNEW the bike would do a wheelie. I know I can clutch the bike up into a wheelie, I just didn't know that it would come up just with power (this is the first F4i I've had or ridden).

I'm going to go into the court and be straight up with them. I will tell them exactly what happened and how. If I had been trying to pull a wheelie, it would have been MUCH larger and I'm sure the cop would have probably taken me straight to Jail. In any case, I should be able to reduce the points and cost of the ticket when I go to court.