Youths!

Sandy Morton said:

In article <[email hidden]>, "Just zis Guy, you know?"

Quoted message said:

Darksiders have an advantage: first, we have less far to fall, and second, being hit by the
chainring *hurts*

Is it possible that the chain could be replaced by a chainsaw chain?

Nice idea. My front rings are completely unprotected and when on one of the inners the outer becomes
a lethal weapon - not that I've used it, oh no ;-)

Since riding the trice I've actually taken a perverse pleasure when such yobs have stepped out in
front of me. With no risk of falling over I take the most direct course for the target
- and speed up.

So far they've always escaped :-(

More practice needed.

John B

Chris Heys said:

John Hemmings said:

Hi, I was riding home tonight when to lads, around 16 years of age, started to cross the road
about 20 meters in front of me. When one of them seen me coming he decided to block my path so
I'd end up in the gutter or having to stop. Made a split decision and kept going and used my
momentum and shoulder to get past, pushing the lad out of the way. What followed was a mouthful
of obscenities from them and I must admit, one from me. Is it just the area I live in,
Merseyside, or is this thing common elsewhere.

Thanks John.

Bit OT, but wanted to put my experience to the group. Few years ago (I was about 15) was riding
home one dark evening with my sister (13 at the time) close behind. Car full of 20ish yr old
idiots, unprovoked, decided to reach out of the car windows and try to grab both me and my sister
off our bikes, and barge us at speed. After 30 seconds of evasion they gave up, but stopped at the
lights ahead, and the bloke in the passanger seat got out with the obvious intention of pushing us
off. Made a split-second decision given the number of people in the car, and the risk to both
mine, and my sister's personal safety. I sped up (lights were green by now), reaching for trusty
Squire D-Lock and clocked him around the head with adequate force. He went down. Looked back after
clearing the lights to see him getting up again, so he wasn't dead (unfortunatly?). That was the
end of the incident.

I know in the eyes of the law, hitting him over the head with a D-lock wasn't the best idea and
risked serious injury, but wasn't prepared to accept the consequences of being pushed off and set
upon by 4-5 lads and decided the D-lock was the best way of ensuring this wasn't the case.

Quoted message said:

Did I do the right thing? What would you do?

That a gobsh*te gets hurt or dies is ten times more acceptable than a 14-year old innocent child
gets hurt or dies.

You took such an acceptable risk that I find it hard to call it a "risk".

Quoted message said:

Cheers,

chris

Pete Biggs must be edykated coz e writed:

Quoted message said:

John Hemmings said:

Hi, I was riding home tonight when to lads, around 16 years of age, started to cross the road
about 20 meters in front of me. When one of them seen me coming he decided to block my path so
I'd end up in the gutter or having to stop. Made a split decision and kept going and used my
momentum and shoulder to get past, pushing the lad out of the way.

That's fine when you are sure you can get away but it could be very nasty if they manage to stop
or catch you. I try and give any dodgy looking characters a very wide berth well in advance (by
speeding up and riding out into the carriageway).

Quoted message said:

What followed was a mouthful of obscenities from them and I must admit, one from me. Is it just
the area I live in, Merseyside, or is this thing common elsewhere.

I get very little trouble like that in London. One recent exception was when I was trying to get
past a gang of six kids walking along in the middle of a narrow road. I was preparing to slow to
walking pace to follow behind but decided to carry on and use my forearm as a shield to barge
through when the eldest lad instructed his alsation to "eat the man!".

~PB

I have to say that most always on the trike, a simple "excuse me" moves people, youths usually want
me to stop so they can say how cool the trike is, nothing malicious. Occasionally there are trouble
makers, so its either ramming speed and watch them scatter or stop, stand up to my 6'4" of combat
trained me and watch them regret, very rarely one will still want to be brave so he gets slapped,
(and I mean a light cuff not a serious punch), without exception the ones slapped have all
apologised in the future and always want a chat, I once saw one of these lads a few days after an
altercation, he was with a group of yoof, and I thought "uh oh, here's trouble" one of the group
made a comment and the slapped lad promptly whacked him and proceeded to chat to me like an old
friend. Most of these lads have had a [censored] life and just need to know they cannot get away with
anything they want, the ones people consider to be the worst are the ones that "watch" the trike
when I leave it locked outside the supermarket.

--
Ian

catrike.co.ukcatrike.co.ukOpen ↗

JohnB must be edykated coz e writed:

Quoted message said:

Sandy Morton said:

In article <[email hidden]>, "Just zis Guy, you know?"

Quoted message said:

Darksiders have an advantage: first, we have less far to fall, and second, being hit by the
chainring *hurts*

Is it possible that the chain could be replaced by a chainsaw chain?

Nice idea. My front rings are completely unprotected and when on one of the inners the outer
becomes a lethal weapon - not that I've used it, oh no ;-)

Since riding the trice I've actually taken a perverse pleasure when such yobs have stepped out in
front of me. With no risk of falling over I take the most direct course for the target
- and speed up.

So far they've always escaped :-(

More practice needed.

John B

That's my method on the Catrike too, :-)

--
Ian

catrike.co.ukcatrike.co.ukOpen ↗

Chris Heys <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

I know in the eyes of the law, hitting him over the head with a D-lock wasn't the best idea...

You're allowed to use reasonable force to defend yourself. In light of the fact that you were
out-numbered, out-muscled, had your younger sister to protect, and had already been attacked with a
lethal weapon I find it hard to see what lesser force would have been of any use.

Quoted message said:

and risked serious injury...

Oh I don't know. A sprained wrist at the worst maybe. :-)

Quoted message said:

Did I do the right thing?

Absolutely. You could have stopped, turned round and gone back the other way but if they'd turned
and chased you things could have turned really nasty.

--
Dave...

"Zog The Undeniable" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

John Hemmings said:

Hi, I was riding home tonight when to lads, around 16 years of age,

started

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

to cross the road about 20 meters in front of me. When one of them seen

me

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

coming he decided to block my path so I'd end up in the gutter or having

to

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

stop. Made a split decision and kept going and used my momentum and

shoulder

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

to get past, pushing the lad out of the way. What followed was a

mouthful of

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

obscenities from them and I must admit, one from me. Is it just the area

I

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

live in, Merseyside, or is this thing common elsewhere.

You did the right thing. Never slow down or stop - they might be trying to nick your bike. Richard
Ballantine covered this very scenario in "Richard's Bicycle Book"

Along time ago something like this happened to me except it was a policeman who tried to knock me
off. I'll tell you where it was because it happened 30 years ago, it was in Basingstoke.

Now I don't now if you know the town but its often quicker to use paths from one part to another,
there are cycle paths but there wasn't one in this area. I freely admit that I shouldn't have been
riding on the path but it was the end of a long day. As I was riding a pedestrian coming the other
way muttered some thing that I only realised later was" the sergeant's coming". He came around the
corner and I moved of the path onto the grass but he moved into my path as I went wider and as I
passed he tried to push me off, the grass sloped and ended in the wall of a building, I just managed
to stay upright and went off at a rate of knots.

I know I shouldn't have been on the path, he said nothing, I never went that way again!!

Paul

chris French <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

It's happened a few times to me. I always go for the keep up the speed and get eye contact, and
keep on my line - which often is straight for them. If as has been the case, they are just being
d***heads they usually get out of the way once they realise you are going to keep on coming. And
if for some reason they do plan on pushing you off or something then they'll do that anyway.

You've either got to go at them and lean into them as John did, or, if there's room, give them a
really wide berth as Pete suggests. If you simply ride past they can grab your bars and then
you're down.

--
Dave...

Chris Heys wrote:

[[censored]-twatting incident snipped]

Quoted message said:

Did I do the right thing? What would you do?

No, you neglected to set him on fire afterwards ;-)

Dave Larrington - legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uklegslarry.beerdrinkers.co.ukOpen ↗
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
bhpc.org.ukbhpc.org.ukOpen ↗
===========================================================

Dave, have you received my emails?

--
Ian

catrike.co.ukcatrike.co.ukOpen ↗

"Cliff" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:3f95aa10_3@mk-What I can't understand
is why grown men in passenger seats of

Quoted message said:

passing cars need to wind down their window and shout something usually undecipherable at you as
they pass then head off laughing like imbeciles. The other favourite is empty cans or plastic
bottles being thrown at you

as

Quoted message said:

they pass.

I had a letter in our local rag on this subject. I told the boneheads that they obviously hadn't
paid attention in their physics lesson if they throw bottles out the window *after* they've
passed you.

--
Simon Mason Anlaby East Yorkshire. 53°44'N 0°26'W simonmason.karoo.netsimonmason.karoo.netOpen ↗

Dave Larrington said:

Chris Heys wrote:

[[censored]-twatting incident snipped]

Cheers everyone for re-inforcing that by hitting him I did the right thing. Actually, if anything,
the majority of replies seem to be that I didn't harm him/them enough. I'll keep it in mind if, God
forbid, such an incident should occur in the future.

thanks,

chris

Ian said:

Dave, have you received my emails?

If they were sent to legs_larry at yahoo dot com in the last month or so, no

Dave Larrington - legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uklegslarry.beerdrinkers.co.ukOpen ↗
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
bhpc.org.ukbhpc.org.ukOpen ↗
===========================================================

Dave Larrington must be edykated coz e writed:

Quoted message said:

Ian said:

Dave, have you received my emails?

If they were sent to legs_larry at yahoo dot com in the last month or so, no

Dave Larrington - legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uklegslarry.beerdrinkers.co.ukOpen ↗
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter bhpc.org.ukbhpc.org.ukOpen ↗
===========================================================

In that case, what is happening with the BHPC newsletter? And if it is not all sorted yet, can I
change my ad to reflect the improvements in the 2004 model.

--
Ian

catrike.co.ukcatrike.co.ukOpen ↗

In article said:

In article <[email hidden]>, "Just zis Guy, you know?"

Quoted message said:

Darksiders have an advantage: first, we have less far to fall, and second, being hit by the
chainring *hurts*

Is it possible that the chain could be replaced by a chainsaw chain?

You would have to get custom made sprockets with the right chain pitch, and be damn sure you were
never going to hit anyone who didn't deserve it.

But if you have a bike chain on a not-largest chainring, the teeth of the chain ring probably do
almost as much damage as a chainsaw chain would at normal bike cadence, rather than whizzing around
at great speed on a chainsaw. The chainsaw teeth are sharp, but fairly shallow - they cut lots of
little chips out of the wood.

Quoted message said:

You did the right thing. Never slow down or stop - they might be trying to nick your bike. Richard
Ballantine covered this very scenario in "Richard's Bicycle Book"

Only time this happened to me, I was knocked off and given a few kicks to the head while down,
before Mr Couragous buggered off.

Richard Webb

In article said:

Since riding the trice I've actually taken a perverse pleasure when such yobs have stepped out in
front of me. With no risk of falling over I take the most direct course for the target
- and speed up.

All you need is suitable sharp bits on an outer chainring you don't otherwise plan to use, and
suitable sharp bits on the cross members which are at about the right height to really hurt if thats
what impacts. The stability of the trice must be reassuring though.

Not had any problems with people stepping out here. Some kids chased the GTT when we borrowed it,
but did not have the stamina.

- Richard

--
_/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ Richard dot Corfield at ntlworld dot com _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/ _/ _/ Time is a
one way street, _/ _/ _/_/ _/_/_/ Except in the Twighlight Zone.

On 22 Oct 2003 22:08:22 GMT someone who may be Richard Corfield <[email hidden]>
wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

Some kids chased the GTT when we borrowed it, but did not have the stamina.

The scene: Child running alongside cyclist, after the latter had aimed at the largest of the group
blocking the path, who had sensibly decided to get out of the way.

After a while cyclist says: "I can keep this speed up for longer than you can."

Child: selection of boring swear words, followed by running out of puff.

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E I will always explain revoked
keys, unless the UK government prevents me using the RIP Act 2000.

Ian said:

In that case, what is happening with the BHPC newsletter? And if it is not all sorted yet, can I
change my ad to reflect the improvements in the 2004 model.

It's coming, albeit slowly, due to things like being out of the country, being ill, a terrible
tendency to fall asleep as soon as I get home, work, etc. And yes, the ad can be changed.

Dave Larrington - legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uklegslarry.beerdrinkers.co.ukOpen ↗
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
bhpc.org.ukbhpc.org.ukOpen ↗
===========================================================

Simon Mason said:

I had a letter in our local rag on this subject. I told the boneheads that they obviously hadn't
paid attention in their physics lesson if they throw bottles out the window *after* they've
passed you.

Ah, that feeling of superiority, eh, Simon? ;-) I've had one or two fast food cartons hit the road
several yards in front of me. Judging by the contents of the things, I'm glad I wasn't hit.

James

--
"Sorry mate, I didn't see you" is not a satisfactory excuse.

In article said:

The scene: Child running alongside cyclist, after the latter had aimed at the largest of the group
blocking the path, who had sensibly decided to get out of the way.

After a while cyclist says: "I can keep this speed up for longer than you can."

Child: selection of boring swear words, followed by running out of puff.

Close - more a case of cyclists (tandem) go past kids to various swearwords to the tune of "we want
it". Kids jump on BMXy things to chase - more swearwords - kids give up chase a hundred or so meters
down the road.

Kids were probably not that much a risk, but we didn't stay around to find out.

- Richard

--
_/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ Richard dot Corfield at ntlworld dot com _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/ _/ _/ Time is a
one way street, _/ _/ _/_/ _/_/_/ Except in the Twighlight Zone.