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Thread started by brassknuckle at 06.17.08 - 5:39 pm
Last week I was jumped while on my bike. It's a long story not worth going into detail, but the gist was that it was a 2 on 2 fist fight in the middle of sunset blvd in silverlake. when the cops arrived they suggested i carry mace. I mentioned it to the tren way crew and a bunch of them decided they wanted in on some keychain mace. I'm going to look into a group buy of mace. Anyone else interested?
A ulock is fine, but rea;ly it will cause more damage than i really want. I wanted to get away, not split someone's skull open. If it came to that i guess i would do what i have to do to keep myself alive, but i would rather mace the fucker and be able to ride off. Here is the one i was thinking of getting a group buy on. Not sure if this is the place i would go through, but i wanted to see if others were interested.
yeah i have a really big ulock, but it would take a lot before i actually have to balls to put someone's brains on the pavement. really, a ulock at full force to the skull will split that shit open. Not something to be taken lightly. I have to be in real fear for my life before i do that. the fight i was in was about 3 minutes long and i never feared for my life. if i had mace/pepper spray i would have been out of there. when i twas over i held my ulock to keep them from fighting any more, but i'm still not sure i would have had the balls to split their skulls open.
I think I want the Purple one. Maybe Mr. Shrimp wants to chime in on this one, I'm sure he knows of a place that sells them cheaper. He is _the_ authority on macing fools. Wizzao!
I was once OC sprayed. I would not wish it upon anyone who wasn't about to beat me up. It had an extra-long lasting affect on me. I felt it for 5 subsequent days.
the two guys (who happened to be on bikes) claimed some gang affiliations. They attacked me and a friend, while my girlfriend was way ahead of us. One guy was asking if i was gang banging and then kept trying to swerve his bike into me. Then he threw a beer at me (which hit me) and then kicked my back wheel which caused me to go down. When my friend (who is 6'4") saw this, he rode straight into the guy and they went down. the guy's friend jumped in, then i ran into the mix. the four of us were throwing punches in the middle of sunset blvd while silverlake lounge empited out to watch. it was nuts.
i have always figured i would use the ulock, but when it came down to it, i didn't have the balls. like i said, the shit will split someone's skull right open if used properly, and i don't think i really needed to do that. really, imagine it. that is some major shit to have someone's brains spilling out on the pavement.
I had a confrontation with a driver a few weeks back. I thought about picking up a collapsible baton, but decided that probably would not be the best route. Plus, if I really need something, I have a 8"-long metal bike pump in my bag.
I would hate to be in a situation where I would consider using any sort of weapon.
Now that I think about it, it'd be kind of rad to put the mace in a holster on your belt or the strap for your hip pack. It'd be really easy to get to in the event that someone started fucking with you.
exactly. i don't want to kill someone, i just want to get the fuck away. i'll look into some more options and we'll see about a group buy of some sort.
The cops/law have this thing about defense and like for like weapons or one step up. If some person comes at you with a knife, your basically ok to defend yourself with the least amount of repercussions afterwards if you fight back with a knife. But let say someone comes at you with his fists, you can't just pull out a hand gun and kill the attacker. That's like more than 1 level above say a knife for defending yourself. I'm not saying its not justified or not do what you have to to protect yourself, but as far as getting off with as little heat as possible from the cops (justified defense) you have to be careful what your actions are. Kind of fucked up. I hate that the law does more to protect the attacker/bad guy.
Shit.. brass you did the right thing. Manslaughter is a bad charge and you don't have to do it on purpose to get charged with it. Way to go on standing your ground and thank god those poser gangbangers didn't pull out any real weapons.
The worst shit I experienced in LA has consistently happened to me at that intersection of Parkman and Sunset. I think the creepy motel up the hill might have something to do with that.
When I first heard B-nutz's story, I thought about what I would do if I were in the same situation. Bike pump in the front wheel at speed?
I wouldn't care if I hurt him. There is no room in my heart for scum bags.
If you seriously injure a gang members whose set has an injunction placed on them (that's a decent amount around here), I seriously doubt that a judge would care a whole lot...
it's strange, my first reaction was to get away rather than hurt the guy. only reason i didn't out run him was that the guy i was with doesn't ride at all and was visiting. i would have stuck him with the two guys.
It's always best to just bail and not get involved. But the reality is is that shit happens (like your situation) and you are often forced to deal with it no matter what.
Don't get me wrong guys, I don't want to hurt anyone and if I was "really" in the same situation by myself I would have just paced there ass to get away.
Those guys were just looking for trouble.
Gang guy #1 "let's go fuck with people after we finish these 40oz."
Gang guy #2 "yea dog!"
Problem with mace is it doesn't work with drunk drivers in the bike lane at 2am, nor does it work with gang dudes who want to cap yo ass when your riding.
Two of my biggest fears when riding home from work late at night.
yeah i could have outrun these guys no problem. i was on a road bike and was sober and scared. They were drunk on beach cruisers. problem was the guy i was with couldn't necessarily outrun them. i couldn't just take off. but at the same time, if i had maced the fucker before he was kicking my bike, that would have given me ample opportunity to get out of there and grab my buddy and make him ride a bit faster to outrun them.
put me down for mace. i'm never really concerned with my safety alone at night but i know i should be. anything to protect myself is better than my pollyanna view that nothing bad could ever happen. i think BN's story is proof: if i'd stayed out with them that night, i would have been right there in the mix, getting shitty and ghetto. and then getting my ass kicked!
I don't know if I'm a good person to have mace, as I'm a super klutz most of the time, but I'm thinking about it.
And way to do the right thing in a tough situation, man. I've never been in a fight before (I've been assaulted plenty of times, but I'm not one for being violent), so I know what it's like.
What about a do-it-yourself defense system. A small squirt bottle filled with a Tabasco-Cayenne-vinegar concoction. Both will burn the eyes and nose like mace. Unlike mace, which is vaporized, a squirt bottle stream can be directed better to insure there is no "blow back". If you really want to add a punch to your concoction, add a little bleach.
Why can't assholes be the people who get this kinda bullshit? Instead it's the guy with a million bike frames he keeps around to keep his friends in freakbikes. The world is an unjust place.
You know whats better than a U-Lock for busting skulls? Brassknuckles!
Seriously, though, that sucks. They really asked you if you were in a gang? Since when does a blond beard qualify as gang criteria? They deserved to get their skulls cracked, though I'm with you... It's better just to get the hell outta there if you can.
I don't know, I find a u-lock to wok just fine for me. But then again, one has to have a u-lock available, say in a holster or on the back of a hip pouch, or an OUTSIDE pocket of a bag, somewhere quick and easy to access. Having a lock doesnt help if it's secured to your bike or buried in your bag where you have to remove the bag to get at it.
Also, when using some sort of hard object in a fight, there's no reason why the first target has to be a split skull.
If I were ever confronted like this, I would do what I could to keep the situation from getting ugly.
But once a blow landed anywhere on my body, it's like dropping the doomsday football.
As some of you from the PDX trip remembered, there was that little incident with the tweaker at the Zoobomb meetup.
As for the OC-spray, go for it.
I once found a can of that stuff in my moms bathroom and I gave it quick shot in the garage.
Just breathing in a light, weakened mist had me running back to the toilet.
And this was the LEO-issue, due to my moms ex-boyfriend being a sheriffs deputy.
They really asked you if you were in a gang? Since when does a blond beard qualify as gang criteria?
Don't get too hung up on your stereotypes. There are light-skinned gangbangers, there are white gangbangers, and there are gangbangers with beards. Right here. In LA.
A couple of weeks ago I watched a lanky blond kid with Teutonic features in a sport shirt throwing out challenges at two seriously hard looking dudes (the kind that you would recognize as bangers) in an Escalade, right down the street from Ridgeway in broad daylight. If you teleported that kid into Newport Beach, people would take him for some kind of surfer or dirt bike bro.
And of course when I say "watched" I mean "stood next to the kid and tried to make it as clear as possible that I wasn't with him, while trying not to piss my pants."
Woah Dan,
Sorry to hear about this, but glad you guys are okay.
I've carried a small U-Lock in my back pocket for a while.
Never needed to pull it out in anger/self-defense.
It would still make your point without a head-shot.
Seems like the best bet since it is not a weapon.
I've heard of assault and weapons charges for using mace..
pretty sure it's not legal in any situation.
I've been carrying pepper spray since it became legal in Cali. I have a key chain type that I can wear around my neck with a whistle, and another that I velcro to the stem of my bike. It is good for dogs, too.
I have never had to use it, but I like knowing it's there if I need it.
Try being super nice to people trying to pick fights. They just need more love than most. Don’t stop smiling. Laugh at all the stupid things they do. Ask them “where’s the party tonight?” Or try a different approach and tell them “it’s ok, your dad loves you”.
yeah for some reason i didn't think that was going to work with this guy. he was swerving into me to try to knock me off my bike, hit me with a beer, and then started kicking my back wheel while we were riding.
Lets all go ride around and mace 100 people. And if we all decided to puss out, we can just take dan up on his offer and mace his ass 100 times at the end of the night.
street knowlege101
if someone hits you up, your already in danger, they know you're not in any gang, they just want to get your attention for enough time for them to make their move. it's a diversion tactic. if you are approached by someone you don't fucking know, asking you shit that doesn't apply to you, BAIL, they are sizing you up and waiting to get close enough to strike,
I'm sorry this happened to you Brass, you are the nicest dude and would never think of harming anyone, this sucks.
I'm looking into the different formulas, sizes, and methods of delivery.
I definitely want the most powerful stuff possible. I'll let you know when I find a few suitable solutions and then we can try to decide on which one would work best for our application.
I'd like to put in a word for travelling unarmed (but with a cell phone), as there seems to be some testosterone poisoning affecting this thread.
If you know you don't have any weapons, you'll behave accordingly, by being polite and giving pedestrians/bad drivers/people that make you uncomfortable plenty of space.
If you think a non-lethal weapon like pepper spray / mace will make you a good fighter, you're liable to get your ass kicked. If someone's already decided to attack you, and you're within grabbing range, pepper spray will have limited your attacker's vision, but made him extra pissed off, so you haven't really accomplished much.
A u-lock would be considered a deadly weapon, so if you got scared and took the first swing at someone with it, they could probably claim self-defense and might be able to legally respond with deadly force. Further, if you're fighting someone rather than whacking their car with it, it's going to be hard to get a good open swing, making it a not very useful deadly weapon. Collapsible batons are also considered deadly weapons, and it's against the law to carry one on your person unless you're a qualified security guard.
Further, if you do get into a physical altercation, and the police get cranky, they can always choose to charge all parties with assault, battery, or mutual combat, which then means oodles of time and money and hassle to fight in court.
The only thing pepper spray / mace are good for is to give you a few extra seconds to RUN AWAY.
But don't waste a lot of energy planning for attacks that are extraordinarily rare. If you find yourself threatened on a regular basis, consider adjusting your behavior rather than arming yourself.
Exercise common sense and pedal on. 911 is there if you need it.
Pepper spray is really preferable to any kind of crude blunt weapon. Since it's non-lethal, you don't have to hesitate to use it if you feel threatened. I'd never run around being a dick, but if it came down to the point where I had no choice but to mace a fool or get robbed, I'd hose a fool down with mace. I've done it before when a kid in my neighborhood was fucked up and running around swinging a 2x4 at people, and in two seconds he was on the ground sobbing. That stuff is wicked potent.
Did anyone run across a consumer reports on mace? any reviews that give the low down on this stuff? That one on ebay looked good, but does the NY police really use that model?
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