You don't need to use the brick, but you must have one
@ancient_catbus, I need an extra weight for exercise, I guess brick will work just fine!
…except that in PL it's more likely to actually trigger aggression from drivers.
@Pineywoozle @jef @marcprecipice @ancient_catbus
I had my bike stolen from outside the grocery store, from the rack right under a security camera dome.
I went inside, asked at the service counter if they had footage from the camera over the bike rack. "Oh, that camera hasn't worked as long as I've worked here. I don't even know if there is a camera in that dome."
Not perfect I guess...
@Pineywoozle @jef @marcprecipice @ancient_catbus
I'm going to steal that idea.
I've had the same effect when carrying juggling staff's. :D
I put them in a shoulder-slung martial-arts-weapons bag, and got a lot more space on the tube, and when crossing the road. :D
Though when i was in Scotland, i kept getting into conversations with people who did fly-fishing. :D
@ancient_catbus pro tip for cyclists, wear a long blonde wig over your helmet:
https://www.eta.co.uk/2011/04/01/safest-bicycle-helmet-has-built-in-wig/
@ancient_catbus video ID: a person in business casual stands in the rain by the side of the road, holding an umbrella. Cars drive through a puddle and splash the person repeatedly at they drive past, each time the person flinches back and brings down the umbrella, but too late. After a few cars (in separate cuts), we see the same person holding an umbrella in one hand and a brick in the other, with the brick held slightly in front of they're body so it's visible to oncoming traffic. Now, we see cars and buses slowing down as they approach, shifting over to the outside of the near lane, and/or changing lanes entirely, in all cases not driving through the puddle and thus not splashing the person. At the end a fade to black include text suggesting that drivers should slow down with driving in the rain.
P.S.: you can edit this text into the original post as alt-text if you want.
Disappointed at the lack of Reply Guys wading in with the legal implication of using a brick in a situation like that - surely you can't have scared them all off by now?
So on that note I send you #ShoegazeSunday pleasures - 147 Swordfish - short-lived as a band, but banging (sadly I missed the gig in the video). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukgAj9mzoAY
@ratkins @savanni @ancient_catbus You should wear a helmet regardless of where you live.
Unless you have an extra replacement brain at home, of course.
@ticho @ratkins @ancient_catbus recumbents are less prone to flipping you on your head than an upright. As i learned when i once rammed a car who turned across my lane. Turns out, having my front chainring out in front of the bike can do a lot of body damage to a car.
Helmets are still great for lights, cameras, even certain mirrors.
@savanni @ticho @ratkins @ancient_catbus
I've had arguments about some governments (like my state) criminalizing the absence of helmets, and I also have an enormous problem with laughably excessive perspiration from my scalp, but in spite of that I still choose to wear a helmet even using a recumbent. The contents of my skull is the only thing of value that I possess.
Now back to the discussion of carrying extra mass as deterrent....
A risky experiment. An attorney could consider this as threatening with a weapon. After all, it's fair to argue there is little other purpose to holding a brick like that next to a street while dressed so casually.