Police pro helps riding officers sharpen skills

DAVE CHIDLEY/FOR THE TORONTO STAR

Wheels Editor Mark Richardson tippy-toes through the slalom behind chief motorcycle instructor J.P. McArdle.

Mark Richardson

WHEELS EDITOR

AYLMER—Imagine for a moment that you’re a cop, out on patrol in your cruiser. You just know that everyone’s watching you — maybe not staring, but aware that you’re there, checking from the periphery.

Now imagine that you’re a cop on patrol on a motorcycle. This time, you’re really attracting attention. You know that every movement you make will be noticed. You have to go into a parking lot and check for suspicious activity, and you’re riding a great big 350 kg Harley with fat tires and wide bags and a tall, spring-cushioned saddle. And you haven’t been riding a motorcycle for very long.

No pressure, right?

It’s officers like this who are welcomed here by J.P. McArdle, retired patrolman first class from the Washington, D.C. police department’s presidential escort team. Now he’s the chief motorcycle instructor at the Ontario Police College, teaching the school’s 10-day Police Motorcycle Operator’s Course. His job is to make sure police motorcyclists are the very best they can be.

“They’ll know how to get from Point A to Point B fast, but in a controlled environment, they don’t know how to deal with it. I’ve had officers tell me they’re afraid to go into a parking lot. What if they drop the bike?”

So police forces across Canada and the United States will pay $1,400 to send a cop to the course, room and board and big bike included, where McArdle and his instructors will start with the very basics and take them right up to high-speed pursuits and shootouts. There’s even a motorcycle equipped with outriggers so that they can experience the feel of an out-of-control front-wheel skid on wet pavement.

But to get to this point, McArdle starts slowly — literally. Few people can ride as slowly as he can on the big Hogs without putting their feet down, and it’s all about clutch control and balance. It’s one of the first things taught on the course.

“You don’t need to master the throttle, you need to master the clutch,” he says. Keep it in the “grey zone” where it varies the bite between the transmission and the motor and that’s all you need for controlling a slow speed. “We’ve not worn a clutch out yet,” he says, “and these bikes will spend all day in that zone.”

Civilians can’t take the course — there’s no good reason for them to know about how to use their bike as a shield in a gun battle. There’s a lot, though, that they ought to know, and McArdle is happy to show Wheels readers some of the tricks of his trade on the big machines.

• Mounting and dismounting. Motorcyclists are usually taught to get on and off on the left side of the bike, so that they hold the front brake with their right hand and pull the bike upright from its stand with the same motion as swinging their right leg over the seat. But on a big bike like the Harley, McArdle teaches to get on and off from the right side, holding the brake lever with your left hand until the last moment. That way, your pressure is always against the kick stand, so the bike won’t fall over. Plus, it keeps you looking ahead, where the car is that you just pulled over.

• Squeezing the front brake. Move your right hand out farther on the grip so that you use all four fingers to squeeze the lever. “You need to use the full fulcrum of the lever,” he says. “Now, about 90 per cent of the braking power of a large bike like this on dry pavement comes from the front brake. Squeeze the front brake like an orange, squeezing the juice. Don’t grab at it or the pulp will come out. And only use the rear at slow speed, like squeezing an egg.”

• Sitting properly. Don’t stretch out, but sit as far forward on the saddle as possible, so that your weight is brought forward. It will be much easier to balance the bike at slower, precise speeds.

It’s the little things that make the difference. Get them right and the big things — and the big bikes — will all fall into place as they should.

mrichardson@thestar.ca

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