Author Topic: "Cycling Protection"  (Read 4088 times)

"Cycling Protection"
« on: 16 January, 2009, 02:17:22 pm »
They do some things differently in the States...

---- Original Message -----
From:
To:
Cc: "randon" <randon@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2009 2:04 PM
Subject: [Randon] Re: randonneur protedtion


>
> On Jan 15, 2009, at 10:47 PM, Glen wrote:
>
>>
>> I would like to start a different thread.  My interest is in the self
>> protection while cycling.  During the 1800's and a bit later a
>> revolver was considered standard touring equipment.
>
A stainless steel Smith & Wesson model 626 .357 magnum weighs 1 kg 
(2.2 lbs) unloaded, or 1.1 kg (2.4 lbs) loaded with six hollow-point 
rounds.  That is about the lightest revolver you can carry that could 
stop a malefactor with reasonable certainty, but even so it only has 
a three inch barrel so you're going to have to be up close and 
personal.  Are the weight weenies who spend thousands extra just to 
shave a few grams off their bicycles really going to carry an extra 
1.1 kg just on the outside chance that they're going to be put in a 
life threatening situation?  I doubt it.

Chip

Eccentrica Gallumbits

  • Rock 'n' roll and brew, rock 'n' roll and brew...
Re: "Cycling Protection"
« Reply #1 on: 16 January, 2009, 02:21:45 pm »
Tell him about frikkin' lasers.
My feminist marxist dialectic brings all the boys to the yard.


clarion

  • Tyke
Re: "Cycling Protection"
« Reply #2 on: 16 January, 2009, 02:23:04 pm »
In all my years of riding, there would be very few occasions upon which I would have benefited from small arms.

A flamethrower or RPG, on the other hand... :demon:
Getting there...

Re: "Cycling Protection"
« Reply #3 on: 16 January, 2009, 02:23:56 pm »
In all my years of riding, there would be very few occasions upon which I would have benefited from small arms.

Evading the long arm of the law?
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Salvatore

  • Джон Спунър
    • Pics
Re: "Cycling Protection"
« Reply #4 on: 16 January, 2009, 02:24:07 pm »
Didn't Dervla Murphy carry a pistol on her tour from Ireland to India in the early 1960s?
Quote
et avec John, excellent lecteur de road-book, on s'en est sortis sans erreur

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: "Cycling Protection"
« Reply #5 on: 16 January, 2009, 02:27:08 pm »
Didn't Dervla Murphy carry a pistol on her tour from Ireland to India in the early 1960s?

I don't think anyone asked her when she spoke to us in October.
She can't fix a faery visitation though...

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: "Cycling Protection"
« Reply #6 on: 16 January, 2009, 02:34:37 pm »
I believe she did, but had no call to use it.
Getting there...

Re: "Cycling Protection"
« Reply #7 on: 16 January, 2009, 02:36:34 pm »
I believe she did, but had no call to use it.

I recall from her book that she impressed Afgan tribesmen with it. They made friends by comparing weapons.

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: "Cycling Protection"
« Reply #8 on: 16 January, 2009, 02:43:21 pm »
*waits for Hummers, Zipperhead or Regulator to comment on the last post*
Getting there...

andygates

  • Peroxide Viking
Re: "Cycling Protection"
« Reply #9 on: 16 January, 2009, 03:08:07 pm »
I believe she did, but had no call to use it.

I recall from her book that she impressed Afgan tribesmen with it. They made friends by comparing weapons.

Just like a visit to Charlotte's pad :)

I would absolutely not want to ride tooled up.  Too much hot blood, too little self-control.  It's a screwup wrapped in a disaster wrapped in a tragedy waiting to happen.
It takes blood and guts to be this cool but I'm still just a cliché.
OpenStreetMap UK & IRL Streetmap & Topo: ravenfamily.org/andyg/maps updates weekly.

border-rider

Re: "Cycling Protection"
« Reply #10 on: 16 January, 2009, 03:12:46 pm »
Tell him about frikkin' lasers.

I just found out that the guy whose house i can see from my window makes frikkin lasers in his garage.  Not just little ones, but f'off big ones that cut through sheet steel  :o

Re: "Cycling Protection"
« Reply #11 on: 16 January, 2009, 03:14:51 pm »
Tell him about frikkin' lasers.

I just found out that the guy whose house i can see from my window makes frikkin lasers in his garage.  Not just little ones, but f'off big ones that cut through sheet steel  :o

This is still one of my favourite warning signs: http://www.myconfinedspace.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/scarylaser.thumbnail.gif

(linked to avoid hotlinking it as it isn't my picture)
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

FatBloke

  • I come from a land up over!
Re: "Cycling Protection"
« Reply #12 on: 16 January, 2009, 03:25:09 pm »
A stainless steel Smith & Wesson model 626 .357 magnum weighs 1 kg 
(2.2 lbs) unloaded, or 1.1 kg (2.4 lbs) loaded with six hollow-point 
rounds.  That is about the lightest revolver you can carry that could 
stop a malefactor with reasonable certainty

Do you feel lucky, punk?  :demon:
This isn't just a thousand to one shot. This is a professional blood sport. It can happen to you. And it can happen again.

Zipperhead

  • The cyclist formerly known as Big Helga
Re: "Cycling Protection"
« Reply #13 on: 16 January, 2009, 03:53:39 pm »
*waits for Hummers, Zipperhead or Regulator to comment on the last post*

As if!
Won't somebody think of the hamsters!

Re: "Cycling Protection"
« Reply #14 on: 16 January, 2009, 04:04:47 pm »
*waits for Hummers, Zipperhead or Regulator to comment on the last post*

As if!

Firing blanks then?

Re: "Cycling Protection"
« Reply #15 on: 16 January, 2009, 04:07:27 pm »
I believe she did, but had no call to use it.

I recall from her book that she impressed Afgan tribesmen with it. They made friends by comparing weapons.

She used it twice. Once to ward off an attack by a pack of wild dogs, and once to ward off a rapist.
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Re: "Cycling Protection"
« Reply #16 on: 16 January, 2009, 06:00:26 pm »
I've read some of Thomas Stevens' book about his ride around the World on a high wheeler which he bagan in 1884.
He carried a pistol. He had a game running on his tour, that if any animal got within 200 feet (I thnk it was feet) he would shoot it. On one occasion, he was glad when a tiger (or was it a bear, I think it was a tiger) didn't quite get within distance. Or so he may have been wishfully thinking. He was glad when he got to England an bought himself a better gun. (I think that may have been a Smith and Weston)

Re: "Cycling Protection"
« Reply #17 on: 16 January, 2009, 08:54:27 pm »
Rabbits frequently run out in front of me when I'm out on the south downs. A gun might be easier than actually trying to get one for tea by pedalling faster  ;D  (I've yet to come home with tea.)

Charlotte

  • Dissolute libertine
  • Here's to ol' D.H. Lawrence...
    • charlottebarnes.co.uk
Re: "Cycling Protection"
« Reply #18 on: 16 January, 2009, 09:35:05 pm »
An armed society is a polite society and all that  :D

I read the Thomas Stevens book too.  Marvellous stuff - I think he carried a .455 Webley.  I wonder if Joff ever felt the need?

I think if you were going to carry whilst cycling (and very few people who carry will carry off-body), it would have to be a stainless steel weapon to cope with the sweat.  Something like a S&W J frame revolver, maybe.



Commercial, Editorial and PR Photographer - www.charlottebarnes.co.uk

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: "Cycling Protection"
« Reply #19 on: 16 January, 2009, 09:36:23 pm »
Can you get a mini-gun on a tandem?
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Charlotte

  • Dissolute libertine
  • Here's to ol' D.H. Lawrence...
    • charlottebarnes.co.uk
Re: "Cycling Protection"
« Reply #20 on: 16 January, 2009, 09:39:28 pm »
Don't joke - Liz is a hell of a shot...



:D
Commercial, Editorial and PR Photographer - www.charlottebarnes.co.uk

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: "Cycling Protection"
« Reply #21 on: 16 January, 2009, 09:40:40 pm »
I thought I was until I saw my father-in-law, who's 67 and can plink a 10p piece from about 50 yards without telescopic sights.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Charlotte

  • Dissolute libertine
  • Here's to ol' D.H. Lawrence...
    • charlottebarnes.co.uk
Re: "Cycling Protection"
« Reply #22 on: 16 January, 2009, 09:46:01 pm »
In fairness though - he was using the family blunderbuss, right?
Commercial, Editorial and PR Photographer - www.charlottebarnes.co.uk

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: "Cycling Protection"
« Reply #23 on: 16 January, 2009, 10:01:42 pm »
No, that was with a Russian target pistol, but he now has some humungous .22 air rifle that is bigger than anything used by NATO and can presumably take out a rabid woodlouse from 2 miles away.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Salvatore

  • Джон Спунър
    • Pics
Re: "Cycling Protection"
« Reply #24 on: 16 January, 2009, 10:07:38 pm »
Don't joke - Liz is a hell of a shot...



:D

Demonstrating the versatility of Shimano sandals. I bet they provide a more stable foothold than Sidis with Look.

Quote
et avec John, excellent lecteur de road-book, on s'en est sortis sans erreur