to get back on track,

yes a good question.
and a serious one.
I'm thinking of doing a Mexico only trip this winter, and like with my last trip, I want to use trip reports to get an idea of given areas, as well as asking a few people I know who either live there or are Mexicans I know in Montreal, to ask about certain areas.

re a way to map out areas, well, I still stick with what I said at first, that it relies on incidents being reported and incidents to be put onto one specific website. Not everyone scours the net all the time, so for me, the chances are less that you'll get enough input to have an accurate map.

also re accurate, going from life in a big city, areas can be "bad" and then slowly change , and the "bad" area will slowly move.

also, if some bike tourists get robbed in X place, and write about it, then for sure many webcrawlers like us will read of it, and not go there, I know I heed stuff Ive read of, but assuming that if locals cotton on to the fact that gringos regularly are coming thru their area on bikes, if gringos stop coming thru, then the word will spread and they or a diff group will start hitting on bike gringos in a diff area.

In all of this, current info seems to me to be the key. And on top of it all, to me it still comes down to bad luck sometimes, but one tries to limit the risks as much as we can by being on the ball, getting a vibe for an area and listening to that vibe, not giving telling your days route, being wary of what you say and or who you say it to in general, starting early, finishing not late, not being overtly flashy with "stuff" like cameras etc.

and touch fricken wood, which I do every time I talk about this stuff.

as Chris as brought up many times, being able to converse with people properly in their language, knowing or getting a better instinct of who and what to believe about "danger", is a big part. Being social with folks will often help (hopefully) with getting a better idea of the immediate area, but again, depends on who you talk to.

by the way Chris, have you ever done online trip reports of your travels?
If so, stick em up (sic)