Depressing - cycling not fixed related

.

Depressing indeed. First of all, the more kids ride a bike the more their driving parents will behave better towards cyclists in general while in a car. It will become safer.

The best way to learn to cycle fast is when you need to so for example to get away from gangs. Was wondering if the kid for the same reason doesn't have a mobile phone, jeans of a certain brand, shoes and the rest.

And, by the way, completely pointless post yes, but why not.

www.osmosno.wordpress.com

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but having moved to Berlin a few months ago, I love seeing lots of mums & dads cycling with their kids through the streets. And that's not weekend rides, it's to the shops/school/work.

I can feel your pain.

offer to take him out somewhere for a ride get him along to an event

Possibly join a club and go out with safety in numbers

I would say that the best way you can help him conquer the second fear is to make sure that his bike is set up properly and in good repair. Having the bike set up well and in good working order, including well inflated road tires, will mean that if he stands a better chance of getting away with his bike if chased for it. Also the more he rides it, the quicker he is likely to be.

If he isn't riding the bike then he may as well have been mugged for it. Better to enjoy riding it for a while first.

Do you live somewhere really rough? If not this is probably oneof thosewhere perception of crime isn't the same as reality. Buy him something so he can carry a d-lock on his belt and tellhim to dlock anyone that trys to mug him... It will make him feel safer and he'll find it's not that bad.

Alternatively tell him to start playing bike polo that way he can carry a massive hammer around too.

Where is this exactly?

Invited him to go riding with you and make a habit of it (weekly perhaps), the more he ride with you and realised that motorised vehicles aren't out to get him, the better.

I helped a couple of friends conquerer their unnecessary fear of riding on the road doing just that.

Jeez, it's nice to hear you helping a stranger (ish), it's not everyday people do that.

Basically it is fucking unsafe to be a teenage boy in london.

Yeah, I have no idea, being from a cosy ish small suburban town upbringing.

I've noticed my 5 year old boy (who is growing up in Lewisham) is starting to get wise about appearing too soft and stuff when in public. He's 5 for fucks sake! Sad but necessary.

I grew up in a boarding school, way too cosy from the description of your neighbour!

Jeez, it's nice to hear you helping a stranger (ish), it's not everyday people do that.

Ha ha ha, unintentional sarcasm.

the guy just needs to join a gang
he'll be safe in the bosom of a loving caring group of his peers
e15 posse seems to come highly recommended by the which? website
guns 7/10
knives 9/10
drugs 8/10

best buy recommendation from which?

i too like skully came from nice bumpkin country, rural herefordshire, there a knife was what you used to cut bailer twine with and a gun was for controlling rabid foxes / deer
it's sad that the youth of today is getting ghettoised / scared to leave their houses

Basically it is fucking unsafe to be a teenage boy in london.

too vauge,
It is unsafe to be of certain a origin or have a certain look about you as a teenage boy in London.
Really, no one is safe, but there are certain type of people gangs go for.
Jacking someone who dresses in the same attire (the whole ghetto thing) is likely to be seriously considered first since it will most likely result in "beef".

The first time i whipped on a pair of slim like jeans, i was approached by 3 15 yr olds, they were trying to take the phone i was speaking on.

Dicki is right, find him a gang.

And some navy blue trackie bottoms.

Tell him to become an emo kid. There's no point in stabbing someone who cuts themselves and it takes a lot of fun out of the mugging if the victim is already crying.

Not just teenage kids who have to worry about getting their bikes nicked. Twice this week groups of lads have tried to get me off my bike, in burgess park and the surrey canal path behind Peckham library.

When I was his age, one of the main reasons I would cycle everywhere was so that I didn't have to walk home because it was walking home that made me feel unsafe (mugged once when walking home, hassled countless times). Unless you're riding really slowly, I think you're far less likely to get robbed than walking / on a bus. Maybe suggest that to him? If the bike is cheapish and insured, he shouldn't have too much to worry about.

Not just teenage kids who have to worry about getting their bikes nicked. Twice this week groups of lads have tried to get me off my bike, in burgess park and the surrey canal path behind Peckham library.

Yeah, those two places are a bit bad for that. I've had to off road a couple of times to get around a bit of scally roadblock. I've also had rockets fired at me on the Aylesbury Estate.

Good times.

apart from the fact that gang members are almost certainly (I haven't got the stats on me) more likely to be victims of violent crime than other teenagers.

stratford btw.

A result of beef, which most try to avoid.
Fights start shit escalates, that's where those crimes come from.
If you have nothing but allies, that is where the innocent victims come about.

It was pissing down with rain both times as well so I certainly didn't feel like walking home with already soaked legs...I'm always a bit wary when travelling through there, it varys though, I've been through there and there's been a massive group of hooded up guys, and they apologised for being in the way as I went past .

Jeees it is depressing how things have changed, I use to walk cycle everywhere and have never been mugged or robbed in London and I have lived in or around Shepherds Bush all my life.

never had any issues in london apart from the theft of one bike, in 14 years
my only experience of crime here
it's not all that bad in londons famous london

This thread has reminded me of something from about 6-7 years ago. riding down a wide footpath in stepney, on the mobile, towards E14 and there was a group of about 6 lads. i just got a bad feeling and stuck the phone in my gob so i could get both hands on the bars and immediately one of them tried to grab me, but i got past.

I'd love to know to what extent I read the situation, and to what extent I caused it by apearing worried.

Just reminded me of when my Mums friend got jumped on by 3 youngsters years ago, the one that jumped on his his back was propelled backwards into a brick wall then fell moaning on to the floor as this was happening a right hook broke the jaw of the second mugger whilst the 3rd one run away. I still at this story today especially as Joe who did this was 67 ;p

This thread has reminded me of something from about 6-7 years ago. riding down a wide footpath in stepney, on the mobile, towards E14 and there was a group of about 6 lads. i just got a bad feeling and stuck the phone in my gob so i could get both hands on the bars and immediately one of them tried to grab me, but i got past.

I'd love to know to what extent I read the situation, and to what extent I caused it by apearing worried.
Best thing to do, is not not acknowledge them at all, pretend like they wern't even there. If your feeling safe(ish) give an "evenin' lads" and nothing else.

It was just like this when I was a kid.

You would not stray further than a couple streets because as soon as you did people WOULD rob you. Because it is slightly further away, you would be surrounded an jumped before you had time to spin your little legs away. Thankfully there was not as many weapons involved in 90's urban Birmingham. People just really like to steal bikes from kids. This was just before everyone started having phones, so a bike was the most massively valuable easily stealable thing people had on em.

Me and all the kids I knew were really careful about this sort of thing. Yet everyone still had people trying to mug them, threatening to stab them etc. My younger bother got his bike stolen (which was actually a competition prize) about 100 metres from our house next to his primary school.

These days it seems bike stealing, and even bike riding has fallen totally out of fashion with the kids. They are just so used to having an array of hugely valuable stuff around them (like Iphones) bikes with suspension & disc brakes can be had for £80 new at shop. there really is not much that is exclusive/desirable about a bicycle.

Of course this must be a little different in london, where bikes are popular than ever. Kids are in more serious gangs, have knives and are genuinely more violent.

If this kid was taught how to ride on the road, and had a fast but totally shit looking bike. I think it would be a great way to *avoid *confrontations, by distancing himself by being in the road rather than walking past street corners where the riff-raff congregate.