Bicycle-jacking...personal protection

other than mace I can't think of anything.

Maybe put your mace into your back pocket and get ready to pull it out when ever you fall b/c of a car? I mean, they won't hit you, because than they are risking damage to the bike.

Maybe also carry a air horn, so if you mace the guy, you can sound that and get a lot of attention. Probably hurt his ear drums too.

....and make yourself and bike look less flashy.

Mace? One like this would be a good deterrent 🙄

Don't stop for traffic lights either or they'll have your wheels off unless you swap out the quick releases.

Problem with mace is that you are going to spray the passanger side and they have to have their window down. You would be in a dangerous spot if you could spray the owner. Now logically they have to knock you off and then stop and get it, then it would work to spray them. Mace, a small tazer perhaps😉 the legal kind of course, they come small enough to fit in a pouch or back pocket (not advised to keep there).

What do you boys think a frame pump is for? [censored] someone over the head with a 1 m piece of Aluminium and they will go away, or shoot you.

Bike jacking? I don't believe it.

"Hey, let's smash into some guy on a bike and steal it when he is down."

Crooks are dumb but why not just go check out bike racks around office buildings?

[font=Comic Sans MS]A new threat these Bicycle bandits use, Latelly in our area. [/font]

[font=Comic Sans MS]Is in and around less build up areas and after a hill or slope. Is to throw a stick spear style into the spokes of the front wheel causing the rider to take a nasty tumble, he/she then is incapacitated and the villains make off with the bike.[/font]

[font=Comic Sans MS]In such a scenario the only preventative measure is ride in groups, get to know the ambush points and increase your general awareness.[/font]

[font=Comic Sans MS]A couple of weeks ago two lady bikers persuaded the would-be hijacker to run, after spraying him with pepper spray, so pepper spray has its merits.[/font]

[font=Comic Sans MS]So to are clipless pedals this makes it more difficult for the villain to ride off with the bike. So to the relief of a local cyclist who ran after and recovered his bike once the thief gave up and ditched the bike.[/font]

[font='Times New Roman'][font=Comic Sans MS]But as they say these are all counter measures the criminals are usually one step ahead.[/font][/font]

Please refer to the "Do You Carry a Gun While Biking" thread. Thank you. 🙄

You can pretty much eliminate of the risk of bike-jackings by getting a stationary trainer. Of you can find something more important to worry about.

Have your insurance insure your bikes. Allstate covers mine to $3000. So just ride your cheaper bikes in the bad neighborhoods. That's what I use my first entry level road bike for, not my expensive ones. Maybe I'd carry a knife if I knew how to fight more than 2 people.

meehs said:

Please refer to the "Do You Carry a Gun While Biking" thread. Thank you. 🙄

Yeah, the other one, "Do you carry a GNU while biking?" didn't work. We figured out that the initial price + caring for and feeding the gnu would not be justified. Plus, after all of this expense, during the attack the gnu just seemed to stand there, grazing.

Heads up riding is your best bet. A whistle or horn will bring attention to you, which is something crooks don't want.
Pepper spray has its uses, but unless you always ride with it in your hand, you probably won't get a good chance to use it effectively.
If you're doing rec-riding, pick your areas. Avoid the bad ones. If you can't, 62vette's mace will work well.

artmichalek said:

You can pretty much eliminate of the risk of bike-jackings by getting a stationary trainer. Of you can find something more important to worry about.

And here I was going to suggest that you padlock yourself to the bike....:p

artmichalek said:

You can pretty much eliminate of the risk of bike-jackings by getting a stationary trainer. Of you can find something more important to worry about.

Jeez, am!! What a dumb idea!! If someone tries to bike-jack him and he tries to get away, he'll have the extra weight from carrying the stationary trainer to hold him back.

Chance3290 said:

Yeah, the other one, "Do you carry a GNU while biking?" didn't work. We figured out that the initial price + caring for and feeding the gnu would not be justified. Plus, after all of this expense, during the attack the gnu just seemed to stand there, grazing.

Heads up riding is your best bet. A whistle or horn will bring attention to you, which is something crooks don't want.
Pepper spray has its uses, but unless you always ride with it in your hand, you probably won't get a good chance to use it effectively.
If you're doing rec-riding, pick your areas. Avoid the bad ones. If you can't, 62vette's mace will work well.

Now that was an intersting thread! Nice call.

To the OP:

I think your friend was jerking your chain! Ride your bike and have fun... If you haven't heard it or read it in the local news media, it is probably not common enough to be an issue that should impact your ride.

More generally (to all):

I could replace any of my bikes tomorrow without it impacting my finances significantly. And I have fun riding them.

I am not suggesting that what I say here should be applied just because I say so, it is just my opinion. It is your money, and I fully support your right to spend it however you wish! I also support harsh penalties for people that steal property from anyone (including bicycles).

However, IN MY OPINION:

If you couldn't go out and replace your bike tomorrow, and you are not riding a sub-$1000 bike, then maybe you should be...

I know that there are people that need their $300 bikes and couldn't replace them, but the OP mentioned high end... If you can't afford to replace a high end bike, then my opinion is that you can't afford to ride one.

We live in a society that tempts us to live beyond our means... we do not have to give in to those temptations.

If not for the desire imposed by marketing and peer pressure to ride expensive equipment, a 2001 Trek 1000 or 2001 Giant OCR3 would be just as much fun to ride as the latest top of the line bike, and close enough in efficiency to be effective.

However, I do like the idea of insurance that someone mentioned earlier in cases where you wouldn't be able to easily replace your bike. Definitely worth more research.

Again it is your money, I just present my opinion because I can. 🙂

My line of defense:

(1) Halt! (Pepper Spray)
(2) A good pump with a metal head. (Zefal HP works well)
(3) Small pistol. (.380 AMT Backup my preference).

I am very fortunate that in the last 3 or 4 states I have lived in
I have only needed the first two but when in New Mexico and Arizona,
between the drivers and the javelinas, it was nice to have option #3.

dgregory57 said:

To the OP:

I think your friend was jerking your chain! Ride your bike and have fun... If you haven't heard it or read it in the local news media, it is probably not common enough to be an issue that should impact your ride.

More generally (to all):

I could replace any of my bikes tomorrow without it impacting my finances significantly. And I have fun riding them.

I am not suggesting that what I say here should be applied just because I say so, it is just my opinion. It is your money, and I fully support your right to spend it however you wish! I also support harsh penalties for people that steal property from anyone (including bicycles).

However, IN MY OPINION:

If you couldn't go out and replace your bike tomorrow, and you are not riding a sub-$1000 bike, then maybe you should be...

I know that there are people that need their $300 bikes and couldn't replace them, but the OP mentioned high end... If you can't afford to replace a high end bike, then my opinion is that you can't afford to ride one.

We live in a society that tempts us to live beyond our means... we do not have to give in to those temptations.

If not for the desire imposed by marketing and peer pressure to ride expensive equipment, a 2001 Trek 1000 or 2001 Giant OCR3 would be just as much fun to ride as the latest top of the line bike, and close enough in efficiency to be effective.

However, I do like the idea of insurance that someone mentioned earlier in cases where you wouldn't be able to easily replace your bike. Definitely worth more research.

Again it is your money, I just present my opinion because I can. 🙂

Nice............ When I bought my "high end bike", it was a bit over $3,000 and I had to save a long time to get that bike. What's wrong with working for something that's expensive? I'm only going to live once and I wanted a titanium bike and I got one by doing what I had to do. NO other bills were neglected, I owe no one, and no, I could not replace it and can't stand the idea of loosing it. She's my baby, I love that bike and will always own it and will not risk loosing it. I don't care to JUST ride a throw away bike if I can earn something more, cycling is very important to me.

HowardSteele said:

[font=Comic Sans MS]A new threat these Bicycle bandits use, Latelly in our area. [/font]

[font=Comic Sans MS]Is in and around less build up areas and after a hill or slope. Is to throw a stick spear style into the spokes of the front wheel causing the rider to take a nasty tumble, he/she then is incapacitated and the villains make off with the bike.[/font]

how the hell are you gonna take off on a bike that has a third of the spokes on its front wheel missing?

This (bicycle-jacking) actually happened to me. Although it was many years ago. The guy looked liked a jogger heading towards me on the oppostie side of the road. I was riding my brand new road bike that I had bought 3 weeks before. Anyway, he crossed over at the last minute and just tackled me while I was riding at full speed. I flew off of the bike and he picked it up and took off on it. I was so in shock. All I could do was sit in the grass and watch him ride off on my bike. It wouldn't have mattered what kind of protection I might have had on me. I reported it to the police and it turned out that there had been a buglary interrupted on that same street at about the same time. He was just looking for a quick getaway I suppose. Recovered that bike a few weeks later a little scratched up. Was traumatized and didn't ride by myself again for 5 years.

Now I'm older and wiser and would probably just choose to let the guy take off with it. There are alot of crazies out there and who knows what they are thinking. I'd rather live to ride another day than put up a fight. Can always get another bike.

[font=Comic Sans MS][font='Comic Sans MS']Note it says make off with your bike not on your bike, carry it away, have a vehicle waiting go figure.[/font]

[font='Comic Sans MS']As a previous contribute wrote it would be easier to snitch a bike at the local bike rack. THERE AREN’T ANY BIKES AT THE LOCAL BIKE RACK. Around here you can't leave your bike locked and unattended, that’s easy pickings. A mate of mine locked his bike outside the 7 eleven and ran in quickly, they damaged his top tube to such an extent trying to break the lock that he had to get a new frame.[/font]

[font='Comic Sans MS']To my mind make sure your bike is well insured, follow the insurance guidlines, give up your bike to the muggers and get a spanking new one[/font][/font]