The Thrill of the Sports Bike

What is the bike of choice for these outlaws? A sport bike. But in the motorcycle community they are called 'crotch rockets' and almost everyone has seen them. These motorcycles are going sometimes twice the speed limit, weaving in and out of traffic, many times passing in between cars and trucks going more than 100 miles an hour.

"I think they shouldn't knock it 'til they try it," said one biker. "I consider it scary fun! Yeah you are scared to a certain extent, but the fun outweighs the scariness."

That fun is frightening for the average commuter. They seem to come out of no where, weaving in between cars, riding the center line, and zooming past so fast, it's like getting buzzed by a fighter jet.

Charles Beard has gotten his money's worth more than once. "Yeah, I've had a few speeding tickets," he laughed.

Daredevils Giving Bikers a Bad Reputation

But when we asked him about the nuisance riders, the daredevils who terrorize traffic all over Memphis, he backed off the bravado. He said the risk-takers are giving his sport a bad name. "You shouldn't criticize or put negative perspective on all bike riders just for the few that never should have, in the first place, gotten on a bike."

Timothy Scott doesn't like the reputation crotch rockets get either. "Most of those guys going through and weaving, they are young riders."

Those young riders aren't as invincible as they feel. "There's two types of riders: those who have been down and those who are going down," he said.

Paying the Ultimate Price

Since 2004, each year more and more bikers are going down. The crash rate overall is up 42 percent in Tennessee, with the number of deadly accidents rising by more than 45 percent in 5 years. In the last 10 years, the number of motorcycle crashes in Tennessee has risen an alarming 145 percent.

Obviously not all of those accidents were speed-related, and TDOT makes no distinction as to what kinds of bikes are involved in each crash. But law enforcement is concerned about those wrecks, especially the ones that are due to speed and reckless driving.

Long Arm of the Law

What no law enforcement official would tell you is there's little that can be done about it. Remember how fast these bikes go?

Scott said, "The fastest I have been is about 160."

Officers, deputies, patrolmen, they can't catch them. They can turn on the blue lights if they see a biker speeding by, but there is no way to chase them down and bikers know it.

The Memphis Police Department issued this statement regarding all motorcyclists:

"They are expected to adhere to traffic laws as are other motorists. Although motorcycles can travel at a high rate of speed, officers work together in coordinating efforts to conduct a traffic stop (i.e., use of police radio)."

"If they chase, they are putting my life in danger, your life in danger, and whoever else is around life in danger," Scott said. "If you are going at that rate of speed, you know you are going to jail so you might as well put it all on the line. That's what most of these young guys are thinking."

Or, are they thinking at all.

Bikers face stiff penalties if they are ever caught weaving through traffic at more than 20 miles per hour over the speed limit. They can even lose their bikes, but that doesn't seem to stop them.

Law enforcement says every section of interstate surrounding Memphis sees its fair share of 'crotch rocketry,' but the Memphis Police Department has keyed in on several hot spots:

-Riverport and Rivergate
-President's Island
-Swinnea between Winchester and Shelby Drive

While law enforcement might have an unwritten 'no chase policy,' they don't call it the long arm of the law for nothing. Both the MPD'S and Shelby County Sheriff's Department's traffic details use coordinated patrols to catch the law breakers. Even at 160 miles an hour, you can't always outrun a police radio.