V18

Not to resurrect the "carry" thread. I did some reading around what would it take to prevent getting stabbed. (besides not getting stabbed). Since temu came up and has been reading my private messages, some, ahem, interesting products have been popping up. From NSFW recommendations to cycling kit. In between there has been the occasional "stab proof shirt". On further digging. It's all (usually) BS once the blade in question is an okapi. Some "research" later. (I'm studying for exams and procrasting during breaks) Small (3.81mm x 0.9mm) ring stainless steel butchers maille is really good at preventing organ spillage from the average blade at average forces. In comes alibaba. I drop a few questions to a few companies. Get a few quotes for test material. Fully expect to pay school fees in online shopping. Stuff arrives. Mind blown. Relatively lightweight, breathable (it's fine welded stainless steel ring mesh maille), vest shaped (I gave a template to them) and completely concealed under normal or cycling gear. Did a few gel block (vrou se naaice leer bank) okapi tests. Broke the blade eventually. (Leer bank is ok BTW. And she don't read the hub.) Just did an order now for a slightly tailored and lighter one for myself since I think I'll actually wear it on my dodge commute. And what's 1.5kg on the back of pre metabolic syndrome. Do I think this is a solution? No. My neck and head is still very open and a blunt assault and bicycle spoke will still do the exact same damage. I'm still pepperspraying and running as first prize. But, I think it provides a reliable a way of reducing the chances of getting a chest/gut knipmes wound and spending a few days with a chest drain or a few months with a stoma bag. Especially if you commute through dodgy areas. Definitely not for my usual trail rides. Less is best. Anyways. Enough procrastination posting. Book time again.

As a -5.0 and - 5.5 wearer. I wouldn't bother with - 0.75 corrections. I ride with - 4.5 sunnies occasionally. No diff

Yep. Zero damping and weights a tonne. Top-outs like a mofo. I'll sell it off again. @MORNE may be able to shed some light on the Redshift one.

Got my suspension stem. Fraction of the price of an original kinesis parallelogram stem. Works flawlessly. Too bad I hate the feeling. 🤣. Love temu and buffalo shipping. By the time you receive the order you've forgotten what you needlessly added to your trolley a few weeks ago. Like a real surprise gift from my past self! (he had terrible taste. I like it.)

Some of us need to have the stomach for these things.

Lol. Stranger deductions have been made.

Reassuring to hear this video is upsetting to some of us. Imagine you were the only person on here feeling poorly due to this video. I'm pro self defence. But community assault isn't that. Ironic that hearing about this karma event and seeing it gave such a different visceral response. The mind I guess. Not sure how peepeekaitjie jumped to the "ak47 under bed and nag van lang messe" conclusion tho.

(Trying to contribute to threads these days after my recent tangential moments.) Posterchild of heavy bikes here. Ask @droo. I used to believe heavier doesn't matter for me since I'm the problem. Untill I got some light tough carbon rims and W2w appropriate tyres. I was wrong. So wrong in fact that when I put back heavy schwalbe sg/St tyres... I went back after ONE RIDE to lighter casings with a minimalist insert. In my experience. Lighter wheels tyres make all the difference. The rest... *Slaps belly.*...I need to change myself first.

Thanks for this. The more I read it the more it means. This thread has truly added depth to my understanding of this topic. Most importantly, there hasn't been a whitewash of reason towards each of the extremes.

Good discussion. Esp regarding home defence. Now. Back to the topic at hand. Carrying whilst out on the bike. I would be keen if it is: readily accessible, concealed, secured, safe (trigger covered) and most importantly accompanied by a reliable and instinctively accessible plan A (pepperspray Velcro'd to left shoulder strap). Any solutions? Current chest packs seem bulky. Iwb will likely print. Leg bag is obvious. Vests too warm in summer. Belly holsters sweaty and droopy. Prolly some iteration of a custom chest pack then. Can double up as essentials cargo space. Maybe manufactures can look into this. Untill then, pepperspray and good insurance will do just fine for me.

If only. Meestal paeds/onco/thoracics die week. Geen foreign bodies. Le sigh. En hierdie threads is te veel van 'n gem! Elke reaksie (including joune) gee my 'n klein serotonin boost!

Stealthy! Where it's it?

@Duane_Boschhave a look at chest packs. SW holsters and taakmag and helicon tech. They're not quite slimline and inconspicuous enough for me... Yet. But they are fast. Very fast. And ideally located for retention. But when I see one I still think... Gun.

My apolgies for the hyperbole. Gave you some footing to get involved though. You do you!

Unfortunately. You are your own first response. I've been lucky so far. And once a guy with a FA stopped to help and give me a lift to the police office. Each to their rightful own.

Why engage? They are escaping with property. Not holding a 4yo hostage or shooting into a crowd. Plan Z. Not eager plan A. Leave the property recovery to the cops and insurance companies.

Noticing some serious anti-firearm sentiment here. Broad sweeps. Yes the world would be a safer place without them.... Wait. Humans will find other (less equal) ways to "off" each other. (Antisocial PD incidence is closer to 10% than 1%.) Only major benefit of world wide gun evaporation is less bystander risk. Maar dan moet julle manne mooi kyk na julle vroue. I'll say this. Many are anti-gun... Untill they immediately need one or a friend with one. The only thing to stop a DETERMINED bad guy with a gun is a PROFICIENT good guy with a gun. And a FA should be plan Z. After running, hiding, shouting JMSP and pepperspraying everyting around everyone. Theft does not justify death. Unless innocent death is about to occur. It certainly isn't for everyone. And that's a VALID RESPECTABLE decision. In the same way some people don't want to learn CPR because they are worried they'll stuff it up and end up making things worse. Because they absolutely will make things worse with half baked CPR training. Seen it many times! But don't bash the good guys that go out training (CPR or FA proficiency) weekend after weekend to make their immediate surroundings safer in a responsible way. I for one feel very safe around people that carry and I know and trust to use it if absolutely needed. And I appreciate their sacrifice in doing so. Or just get a giant Engelsman met the tism to ride with you. They are scary AF.

Not doing this event this year. I just want to point out how cool the YouTube videos and website for this race is. Who did the editing? It's really good for so few views on YouTube.

Out of interest. Where would be the best place to conceal carry a firearm whilst out on your ride. I'm not sure there are many good options available. Best to find one (which I doubt will be aiwb) and practice from that position. I have a friend who carries. He's very proficient. But I can never tell where he keeps the lil baby Browning. Or if it would be available fast enough when needed.

Just an observation. I see some of you mention the term de-escalate when talking about the event. My morbid 2c from multiple real life witnesses (trauma patients) sources. Once the guy with the knife/panga/sharpened rebar has you in his 2m body blockade. There is no American TV show "money or your life" exchange/negotiation going on. You are 90% gonna get stabbed. Sometimes as a way to make you shock submit. Sometimes to make a big guy crumble in pain (myself). Sometimes to slow you down from getting to the police station. Also. Not stabbing you is not because he felt some remorse or he is worried about prosecution. Prosecution after such events is a sub 1% occurrence and likely not something he has ever seen or thought of IRL. He didn't stab you because you were not worth running after and he has what he wants. Bike and phone. I gathered all this from real witness stories from people we see in the trauma unit. Debriefing with me around the events leading to their presentation. Some of these people genuinely gave up everyting up front. Still got 10-20 solid head, neck and chest stab wounds. And another thing. Seeing a knife as a less serious threat than a firearm is a massive misconception. As efficient if not more at close quarters in experienced hands. (Ie none of us keyboard warriors.) My top tips: Head on a swivel. Wide birth around people. Try not to ride alone. (I found myself a 1.9m 105kg English-man with a touch of the tism to do most of my mtb training with in exchange for me handling the trail side mechanicals. He has the queens blood and delicate skin you see.) Don't stop by pedestrian crossings (assailants hide in the crowd in plain sight.) If you can run. Run. In fact. Practice running whilst spraying pepper spray behind you. Throw that bike at him and run. Pepper spray (a fresh kannetjie) works nicely. It turned my one incident into a non event. It's a real visual deterrent too. So showing it works very well. If you are caught. Cover your head neck and chest and kick wildly like an ostrich with epilepsy. Punching only opens up your neck and chest. Knives love necks and chests. And that's where the juicy red bits are. You need those in the immediate future. Lastly. If you insist on carrying a gun. Be elite level proficient. Practice practice practice. Sommer met jou fiets by die baan. You are now turning your solo incident into a potential innocent bystander event. Last word...practice your running. No shame in coming back home alive.

I've been knife-point-jacked 2 and a half times now in the last 5 years. Why do I continue with my bike commute? I don't know. Maybe this is me proving to myself this country hasn't become the reverse jail it appears to be. Anyways. I do approach the route a little different. The main thing is to have your head on a swivel. And learn to stop or not at some places/intersections. The time the guy took everyting I was distracted and not paying attention. He was happy to take my bike. Insurance was happy to replace it. I don't have an issue with firearms being used to protect yourself or others from life threatening situations. But in order to do so you need to practice. A lot. And that would require some creativity once a bike (and perhaps a stumble) is involved. And I'm not sure that would be wise to try and do. Especially in an otherwise populated area. It is interesting to see natshoot approach this problem. I'm happy learn. For now I'm working in my garage on implanting my own wolverine claws and wrist harpoon gun. Yours truly. Not giving up on my country.

I like my saddle bags on my roadie/gravel. I look like a kwasjiorkor stricken orangutan anyways. So no style point loss. As for the bibvriettertjie... I'm using those topeak click on bags. No velcro around the seat tube or anywhere for that matter. Found the velcro was what was eating at my Gilbert grapes.

Try beer. Keeps the cramps away too. Or at least I don't remember any.

11:04-11:16. Give her some space there...😏 Should change the channel to Melissa and Warren go riding. And she nailed the steep rocky right hander thereafter! Well done Melissa! Riding like a dream!

Wow. This thread is a GEM! Also, I'm not buying the oopsie daisy I didn't know it was a 4.5k ebike with a "faulty" (ahem missing) battery. Hell. The components alone are worth than x20 that. The bike legally goes back to the original owner. And the deelers and the steelers must mar go sit in court and face the music.