Artkansas 

For most of my experience, as a bicyclist you are beneath their notice. But if your situation makes you nervous, find another route.

Kimmitt 

Ride around if you're nervous, but it's always a good idea to give any batch of pedestrians a wide berth; people on foot often miss bikes.

The other thing I'd make sure to do is to be very confident in your bike's physical shape. Give it a weekly once-over if you don't already, and have some tire liners or something so you aren't stuck dealing with a flat tire in a lousy area.

DirtRoadRunner

I foolishly rode through East St. Louis, IL several months ago with a riding partner. Our normal route was flooded out by the Mississippi (nice levee trail), and we made a wrong turn trying to hook up with a highway to go around ESTL. It was about 10AM on a Saturday morning. While nothing bad happened, we were stared down like crazy, riding our nice road bikes and spandex - not somewhere I want to ride again.

RichardGlover

Carrying a gun doesn't mean I have to use the gun in every situation. I need not be like a man with only a hammer, looking about for nails to pound.

Carrying a gun doesn't mean I can't use pepper spray; carrying a gun doesn't mean I can't use a knife (just as lethal, but might be better in certain situations); carrying a gun doesn't mean I can't use fists, elbows, knees, etc; carrying a gun doesn't mean I can't run, ride, or otherwise attempt to get away; carrying a gun doesn't mean I can't submit to the criminal and give them what they demand.

What carrying a gun does do is give me another option. Coleen, who carries both pepper spray and tasers, has many more self-defense options available to her than the average person. She has multiple units of each type, and while she hasn't specifically said so, I would bet that she carries them in various places about her, so she can get hold of one in just about any situation - seated, on her back, one arm pinned, etc... She's clearly thought about the pros and cons of her varied defense tools, and what she'd likely do in various 'what-if' situations. That mental process alone is invaluable, because if she gets into a bad situation, she will have to spend less time deciding and more time acting.

Carrying a firearm, knife, or other, less-lethal weapon isn't for everybody. If somebody is freaked out about the idea of carrying guns, that's fine - they shouldn't carry one. Lucile, for example, clearly is uncomfortable with guns; I'd not ask her to carry one any more than I'd ask somebody afraid of dogs to get a German Shepherd.

If somebody isn't trained, and doesn't feel comfortable carrying one without proper training, then they should either remedy their lack of training or choose not to carry. Tjspiel, as another example, might fall into this category. Clearly he's concerned about levels of training, so perhaps, if he were interested in carrying, he should look at signing up for some self-defense classes (both armed and unarmed), weapons retention training (keeping your gun when somebody else is trying to take it), and following it up by joining a local IDPA group to run active-fire 'what-if' courses.

As a gun-owner who carries one every day, I can say with assurance that I have taken such training, that I regularly go through the thought-processes that Coleen clearly has, and that, more important, I realize something that those who don't carry guns don't think about:
Lastly, a gun isn't a magic remote control device for people; you don't point it at somebody, issue commands, and expect them to follow them. That is to say, you only draw if your intent is to immediately shoot to stop the immediate threat of death or grievous bodily harm; you don't draw or reveal your gun to threaten somebody; you don't shoot warning shots; you don't shoot to maim or injure; you don't shoot for such crazy-hard-to-hit locations like weapons, legs, arms, etc...; you don't even shoot to kill; you shoot to stop the threat. It's unfortunate that that the most effective way to rapidly stop an attacker threatening you happens to be very unhealthy for the attacker.

oneeyedhobbit

I knew you were ******** when I read your earlier posts, but this really highlights your ignorance. If you think the bad neighborhoods in Seattle are just low income hippies I suggest you do some research. There are still bad neighborhoods complete with violent crime and gang activity. Hell Pioneer Square and the International District are great during the day, but probably not the best places to be biking alone after dark, and those aren't even the real "hoods."

tom123456

I called ghetto bikes and talk to Carlos James who owns ghetto bikes, I told him I want to buy a bike from him and he asked me what color I wanted and what handlebars I wanted and what exhaust pipe I wanted loud or quiet, we worked the deal out any charge my credit card $3000 with shipping, he said it would be about 8 weeks before I would see the bike delivered to me, he seemed like a real nice guy on the phone but after 12 weeks the bike never showed up. I tried to call him he did not answer, I tried to text him he did not answer, I tried to email he did not answer, so I used my wife's phone with a different phone number to call him and answered right away, I told him that I would like to buy some rims from him, he said okay give your credit card number and I'll ship them to you, this guy is a total con liar scammer, there is many blogs on the Internet about how this guy is a scammer he has scammed hundred of people took their money and never sent the parts all the way up to Canada and New York and many other states and countries. Do not buy from this guy he is a total crook. I am now working with the district attorney to prosecute him for credit card fraud, people be aware

tom123456

I called ghetto bikes and talk to Carlos James who owns ghetto bikes, I told him I want to buy a bike from him and he asked me what color I wanted and what handlebars I wanted and what exhaust pipe I wanted loud or quiet, we worked the deal out any charge my credit card $3000 with shipping, he said it would be about 8 weeks before I would see the bike delivered to me, he seemed like a real nice guy on the phone but after 12 weeks the bike never showed up. I tried to call him he did not answer, I tried to text him he did not answer, I tried to email he did not answer, so I used my wife's phone with a different phone number to call him and answered right away, I told him that I would like to buy some rims from him, he said okay give your credit card number and I'll ship them to you, this guy is a total con liar scammer, there is many blogs on the Internet about how this guy is a scammer he has scammed hundred of people took their money and never sent the parts all the way up to Canada and New York and many other states and countries. Do not buy from this guy he is a total crook. I am now working with the district attorney to prosecute him for credit card fraud, people be aware

zacster

How the hell did this post make it into a 12 year old thread? It is motorcycle related, and only matches on the keyword "ghetto". Talk about automated spam.

Leisesturm

The real question is: why wasn't this thread locked (after the 3rd post) 12 years ago, so it couldn't be appended to by anything or anyone? This is why we can't have nice things. Lock it now before the reboot ...

79pmooney

My one compromise (except it wasn't a hardship!) was to ride tubular tires that I knew I could change and ride on in 5 minutes. Never had to. But reading this thread, you know, it might have just gone down as me entertaining these kids as I changed my tire (and TG, being tubulars, not all my attention would be needed there). I'm betting that at the end I'd get a 'That was cool!" and the street variety of best wishes. (And if things really looked bad, I could just ride on for however long I had to on the flat.)

jaxy357

*I'm jealous of your profession! Maybe in another life! Anyway, I'll just say, "$10!" when they ask how much mine cost. Nevermind about all the accessories that cost more than the bike itself. Haha!

tsl

Holy zombie thread, Batman!

I retired five years ago. Didn't stick. I went back a year later, only as a "Page", a minimum-wage position best described as, "Just the old guy who puts the books away". A handy phrase to append to "I'm afraid you'll have to ask a librarian."

Occasionally, though, I get to pull this to an outreach...

Makes many smiles along the way, and helps tremendously with any traffic issues that may arise...

Darth Lefty 

Good to see you tsl when you drop in

alloo

I ride through the hood daily in the morning and evening. Just ride and mind your own business. Never live in fear. I've ridden in Aurora, CO, Denver, CO and Albuquerque, NM. No one has ever hassled me.

Classtime 

Aurora is the ghetto?