Originally Posted by
mulveyr
One thing I've discovered in my years as a stereotypical well-off, suburban pasty-as-flour guy is that some of the "places you'd never want to hang out in" are in reality the least threatening. I've found that when I ride my heavily-loaded touring bike through cities, people in the "ghetto" areas tend to drive a hell of a lot more safely around me than uptown, well-off parts of the city.
some "news" program trying to invent a story placed an expensive unlocked bicycle in various places of a large city.
in the "bad" parts of town they waited over three hours a few times and nothing happened to it, they gave up and moved it, to improve the story.
as to being attacked, a few times I've gotten a bad vibe from guys but 25 mph straight at them made them step aside.