Well I think this spawns from crying wolf from when they were playing steal my bike! As far as the U-Lock thing, tis very light compared to what I may do if someone tried to steal my bike!!! These are kids not adults, Don’t get me wrong, violence is not a good thing at all, but I am tired of some piece of s!@# thinking they can just TAKE what they want! Stop them in their tracks and maybe they will learn not to mess with Cyclists!
One has a right of self-defense; if there is a more basic human right, I don’t know what it might be. However, there is NO right of retaliation or private revenge.
For me, U-lock justice usually means shins, knees or their side mirror – which ever comes closest/first. We have an old football saying in Australia “You can’t run without legs!”
Wow. He had it coming… thats an intense strip… I cant even begin to imagin the outrage that will come from those who cant seperate fiction from reality.
Side note: it works better to lock U locks around the neck and maybe say a pole or the bike itself go from there; call the cops, show them urself its not cool to take bikes or let them walk around with a U-lock around their neck/leave them locked to what ever and go get some pizza
D-Locks are a lot wider and can be thicker but also easier to cut. There are BIG D-locks for m/c use. VERY heavy and expensive. Unlikely to be carried on a bike as it weighs more than a couple of bikes! Used at home/work mostly.
I love how, in the second frame, where Chunk is clearly about to bash the thief over the head, the police just yell at the kids before driving off. Now if it had been Stokeley….
Bloody faced bike theif – Karma. He set himself up for that. He had it coming. But apparently his Karma didn’t include a trip to jail.
The boy, Chunk, getting his bike stolen – also Karma – for faking bike theft in order to mess with peoples heads.
OK, that scenario has run it’s course – end of story. NOW, can we get back to Yehuda, Joe and the Kickstand – and keep it LIGHT-HEARTED???? We see ENOUGH of this kind of low-minded crap in the mainstream media. We read your strip because it’s USUALLY more UPLIFTING and usually cute and amusing. If it’s going to be like this we’ll just delete our bookmark and withdraw our support.
PLEASE don’t allow yourselves to become infected with the same diss-ease of dumbassity that seems epidemic in our world today.
As Kevin says Grateful… Also, take note that R&B have an ongoing theme of saying the opposite of what any right-minded cyclist would to provoke thought and comment on life. It’s a case of: Don’t like this content? be patient as it will change when the subject has been dealt with/used up.
Comics much like many other forms of media represent all aspects of life, not just the sunny rainbow colured ones we’d like to see. Every time a story arch comes up that we don’t like there’s really no reason to piss and moan, so far this comic hasn’t let me down once. Also for all the speculation that everyone does, it is rarely correct. Let Rick write the stories and you keep reading them. or not.
To be honest, I kinda hate the way it feels like so many of the readers have taken the liberty of expressing their own version of what should be published each day. This comic seem to cover ALL the different aspects of cycling. Even the bad ones. Go write your own comic or quit yer whining!
As to address the comic itself, i suppose it’s a good thing the cops showed up. The kids were spared one of the less charming rights of passage in American culture: learning to deal with crime and violence. U-locks hurt. Alot. They can kill even.
There’s a fine line between returning a “favor” and unreasonable force. The kids didn’t get a chance to find out just how bad you CAN hurt someone with everyday items. Hopefully that will be the last bike that thief steals…
By “We”, I assume you’re refering to those who live with you in your home? Because I *know* you aren’t speaking for me. This ocmisc strip isn’t just entertaining, it’s thoguht provoking (as you can see by the comments) and it’s informative (again, the comments can demonstrate that). If you see a few panels (out of HUNDREDS) that don’t personally appeal to you, and you promptly threaten the author with ‘removing your support’ what kind of reader are you?
Maybe you should change your name to “Ungrateful”? Me, I’ll keep on reading, and keep on enjoying the strip for everything it brings.
C’mon, dude. Remember how when the strip started it focused on avenging the death of Fred, the ghost of whom was prone to reliving the fatal crash over and over? Smith has always done a great job of balancing light-hearted with more mature content.
Grateful, as I said yesterday, it’s just a comic strip. Rick has a wide range of emotions and experience. Sometimes Rick does heavy, as when Yehuda almost died in a snowbank.
I like it. Always sounding one emotional note would get boring after a while.
Speaking of comic strips, in my opinion, the best example and role model of a cyclist in comics is… Andy Capp.
If we overlook his status as an aggressively unemployed wife-beating drunken layabout, Andy is a perfect role model. He rides what looks like a classic Raleigh three-speed with internal hub gearing, full mudguards, rear rack, front and rear lights, etc. He lives in a car-free city. Even the high-status people in the city, such as his landlord and the Vicar, are car-free and walk or cycle everywhere.
Andy Capp has even dealt with a bicycle thief. In one of the January 1994 Andy Capp strips, Andy’s bicycle was almost stolen by a bicycle thief. Andy was walking his bike home from the pub, since he was too drunk to ride.
I wouldn’t want to live in a society that didn’t have police officers. They do a difficult, dangerous, and necessary job. They risk their lives every day to protect ungrateful @sstards like you. If you think you would be better at it, then sign up for the Academy; otherwise, shut your pie-hole.
The big and or normal sized u locks will fit around a human neck it might be hard to find something narrow enough to lock it to other than another u lock though.
Regular sized U-Locks will fit around a human neck and a pole about the diameter of a parking meter with a little room to spare. A prior discussion in the past, with said U-Lock on premises, led to this conclusion.
What “regular” or “normal” sized u-lock would fit around a human neck? The Kryptonite Evolution only has 3.25 inches of clearance within the U. The Abus X-Plus 54, according to their webpage, has a complete width 108mm, or 4.25 inches, which indicates to me a total clearance within the U of no more than 3.5 inches. A wirey/skinny grown man has a neck width of 5 inches. It might work with an 8 year-old, but there is no way you are fitting a normal or large sized standard u-lock around a normal sized neck.
My On Guard U lock fits around my neck, opening is 4.5″. I just tried it (as I have with other locks), therefore it’s a fact. Maybe you just live in the land of people with fat necks.
Put up a picture and I’ll admit I’m wrong unreservedly. I see the OnGuard Bulldog ATB, the biggest one, has a 5″ wide lock. 4.5″ inches would fit on a tweenage or girl neck.
Too much work to prove a point on the internet when others have already done it. Just do a google images search for “u lock neck”. While you’re at it google “pathalogical skepticism”.
I’m not going to get all morally outraged, I’m well aware that this is just a comic, and I was more than willing to accept the scraper between the spokes, but the image of rage fueled child wielding would could potentially be a deadly weapon, with another child egging him on while he is about to beat somebody senseless with it, it a little bit too much for me. Given that scenario, I’m actually glad the thief got away.
The loops and hoops that you felt that you had to go through just to get to express your opinion: unbelievable.
The accusations or “moral outrage”, of “not getting that this is a comic strip” and blah blah blah are just tactics to shut up people who have a different opinion. Don’t acknowledge them.
A couple years ago, in a critical mass altercation between a car driver and cyclists, one cyclist with a U-lock and one cyclist with a pocketknife made the car look like it had been in a crash. They broke both front and rear windows, flattened tires, and a u-lock hit to the head sent the driver to the hospital.
I wouldn’t say ‘never’; the circumstances in the links are clearly out of bounds, but I can think of several scenarios in which a u-lock upside the head would be a perfectly appropriate response.
…and this is why I don’t participate in critical masshole events.
I am all for cycling advocacy but pushing your agenda in an aggressive or selfish manner is not productive. Corking streets to keep everyone together is not always the safest method; it angers drivers much too much and the whole situation escalates very quickly once it starts.
I think people are confusing diameter with circumference which is how neck size is measured for fitting and such. Also necks are made of flesh which is very flexible, U-locks will fit.
I’m not a moron. I was measuring the interior clearance of the typical U-locks and comparing them to the absolute diameter of the average adult human neck. 3.25 inches compared to 5 inches. If you think the human neck it THAT flexible, please take your U-lock, shove your neck through it and link to a photo. I would love to be proven wrong.
I”ve got a 19 3/4″ neck (yeah I’m a big guy) and my Kryptonite Evolution 4 is nearly wide enough to fit coming straight on (4×9 shackle) I’m sure if it were forced by a PO’d bike theft victim it would work on even someone my size. So while you may not be a moron, you’re also not correct in your presumption that it wouldn’t fit. Also there’s this http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/bank-demo3.JPG.jpg That’s a series 2 KryptoLok LS (4×11) so yeah it fits.
Obviously mongo does not know that those most familiar with violence tend to be most aware of its dangers and limitations. Those most able to handle themselves skillfully in tough situations use alternatives. Violence is rightfully sudden, total, and only engaged in when necessary. I join Mr. Snyder in leaving the chest beating to the desk chair heroes, wannabes and neverweres.
George, I’ve been assaulted. I’ve had to use pepper spray once or twice to get home in one piece. I’ve been on the ground with my bike on top of me, still clipped in and getting kicked. In no instance was I sitting at a “desk chair”, nor did I “wannabe” anyplace but safe at home. And if I would have had anything more lethal at hand, you’re damned right I would have used it. “Better judged by twelve than carried by six.” In jail you get visitors. In a grave, not so much.
When you are both bloody and the other guy is hurt more than you are, it is pretty hard to prove to the police that you aren’t the aggressor and that the other guy isn’t the victim.
U-Lock Justice? Or revenge?
Not good the thief got away, but better that he wasn’t killed… even accidentally after being subdued.
Well I think this spawns from crying wolf from when they were playing steal my bike! As far as the U-Lock thing, tis very light compared to what I may do if someone tried to steal my bike!!! These are kids not adults, Don’t get me wrong, violence is not a good thing at all, but I am tired of some piece of s!@# thinking they can just TAKE what they want! Stop them in their tracks and maybe they will learn not to mess with Cyclists!
One has a right of self-defense; if there is a more basic human right, I don’t know what it might be. However, there is NO right of retaliation or private revenge.
U-lock justice is just fine, as long as it doesn’t approach deadly or excessive force. The kids should now have a solid lesson about Crying “Wolf”.
Much like this guy did: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlvooxcbIZ0
For me, U-lock justice usually means shins, knees or their side mirror – which ever comes closest/first. We have an old football saying in Australia “You can’t run without legs!”
Seen it all before huh, Stokeley?
Wow. He had it coming… thats an intense strip… I cant even begin to imagin the outrage that will come from those who cant seperate fiction from reality.
Side note: it works better to lock U locks around the neck and maybe say a pole or the bike itself go from there; call the cops, show them urself its not cool to take bikes or let them walk around with a U-lock around their neck/leave them locked to what ever and go get some pizza
but u-locks dont fit around necks, at least mine doesnt
That’s ’cause you need a ‘D’ lock.
Aren’t D-locks and U-locks just two terms for the exact same thing? Regardless, neither would come even close to fitting around a human neck.
D-Locks are a lot wider and can be thicker but also easier to cut. There are BIG D-locks for m/c use. VERY heavy and expensive. Unlikely to be carried on a bike as it weighs more than a couple of bikes! Used at home/work mostly.
mine fits on my neck! i’ve done it for fun! (wow, i’m a nerd)
Anti-abortion protestors use them all the time. Lock themselves to clinics.
Iv seen U locks around peoples necks before. put it around my neck better never closed it…. sounded like a bad idea
Theft ain’t cool, violence ain’t cool either.
PS – has anyone ever tried to stick an object into moving spokes? Unless going very slow, it’s almost impossible…
Easy to do in this strip, the wheels don’t have spokes. Anything is possible in carttoons.
I love how, in the second frame, where Chunk is clearly about to bash the thief over the head, the police just yell at the kids before driving off. Now if it had been Stokeley….
Bloody faced bike theif – Karma. He set himself up for that. He had it coming. But apparently his Karma didn’t include a trip to jail.
The boy, Chunk, getting his bike stolen – also Karma – for faking bike theft in order to mess with peoples heads.
OK, that scenario has run it’s course – end of story. NOW, can we get back to Yehuda, Joe and the Kickstand – and keep it LIGHT-HEARTED???? We see ENOUGH of this kind of low-minded crap in the mainstream media. We read your strip because it’s USUALLY more UPLIFTING and usually cute and amusing. If it’s going to be like this we’ll just delete our bookmark and withdraw our support.
PLEASE don’t allow yourselves to become infected with the same diss-ease of dumbassity that seems epidemic in our world today.
As Kevin says Grateful… Also, take note that R&B have an ongoing theme of saying the opposite of what any right-minded cyclist would to provoke thought and comment on life. It’s a case of: Don’t like this content? be patient as it will change when the subject has been dealt with/used up.
settle down grateful. i thought it was fun. i was really looking for to see what would happen and i still am…
Comics much like many other forms of media represent all aspects of life, not just the sunny rainbow colured ones we’d like to see. Every time a story arch comes up that we don’t like there’s really no reason to piss and moan, so far this comic hasn’t let me down once. Also for all the speculation that everyone does, it is rarely correct. Let Rick write the stories and you keep reading them. or not.
To be honest, I kinda hate the way it feels like so many of the readers have taken the liberty of expressing their own version of what should be published each day. This comic seem to cover ALL the different aspects of cycling. Even the bad ones. Go write your own comic or quit yer whining!
As to address the comic itself, i suppose it’s a good thing the cops showed up. The kids were spared one of the less charming rights of passage in American culture: learning to deal with crime and violence. U-locks hurt. Alot. They can kill even.
There’s a fine line between returning a “favor” and unreasonable force. The kids didn’t get a chance to find out just how bad you CAN hurt someone with everyday items. Hopefully that will be the last bike that thief steals…
By “We”, I assume you’re refering to those who live with you in your home? Because I *know* you aren’t speaking for me. This ocmisc strip isn’t just entertaining, it’s thoguht provoking (as you can see by the comments) and it’s informative (again, the comments can demonstrate that). If you see a few panels (out of HUNDREDS) that don’t personally appeal to you, and you promptly threaten the author with ‘removing your support’ what kind of reader are you?
Maybe you should change your name to “Ungrateful”? Me, I’ll keep on reading, and keep on enjoying the strip for everything it brings.
C’mon, dude. Remember how when the strip started it focused on avenging the death of Fred, the ghost of whom was prone to reliving the fatal crash over and over? Smith has always done a great job of balancing light-hearted with more mature content.
Grateful, as I said yesterday, it’s just a comic strip. Rick has a wide range of emotions and experience. Sometimes Rick does heavy, as when Yehuda almost died in a snowbank.
I like it. Always sounding one emotional note would get boring after a while.
Speaking of comic strips, in my opinion, the best example and role model of a cyclist in comics is… Andy Capp.
If we overlook his status as an aggressively unemployed wife-beating drunken layabout, Andy is a perfect role model. He rides what looks like a classic Raleigh three-speed with internal hub gearing, full mudguards, rear rack, front and rear lights, etc. He lives in a car-free city. Even the high-status people in the city, such as his landlord and the Vicar, are car-free and walk or cycle everywhere.
Andy Capp has even dealt with a bicycle thief. In one of the January 1994 Andy Capp strips, Andy’s bicycle was almost stolen by a bicycle thief. Andy was walking his bike home from the pub, since he was too drunk to ride.
As usual the donuts are useless…
I wouldn’t want to live in a society that didn’t have police officers. They do a difficult, dangerous, and necessary job. They risk their lives every day to protect ungrateful @sstards like you. If you think you would be better at it, then sign up for the Academy; otherwise, shut your pie-hole.
The big and or normal sized u locks will fit around a human neck it might be hard to find something narrow enough to lock it to other than another u lock though.
Regular sized U-Locks will fit around a human neck and a pole about the diameter of a parking meter with a little room to spare. A prior discussion in the past, with said U-Lock on premises, led to this conclusion.
What “regular” or “normal” sized u-lock would fit around a human neck? The Kryptonite Evolution only has 3.25 inches of clearance within the U. The Abus X-Plus 54, according to their webpage, has a complete width 108mm, or 4.25 inches, which indicates to me a total clearance within the U of no more than 3.5 inches. A wirey/skinny grown man has a neck width of 5 inches. It might work with an 8 year-old, but there is no way you are fitting a normal or large sized standard u-lock around a normal sized neck.
Make it fit!
My On Guard U lock fits around my neck, opening is 4.5″. I just tried it (as I have with other locks), therefore it’s a fact. Maybe you just live in the land of people with fat necks.
Put up a picture and I’ll admit I’m wrong unreservedly. I see the OnGuard Bulldog ATB, the biggest one, has a 5″ wide lock. 4.5″ inches would fit on a tweenage or girl neck.
Too much work to prove a point on the internet when others have already done it. Just do a google images search for “u lock neck”. While you’re at it google “pathalogical skepticism”.
The Ulock can be a deadly weapon.
http://media.www.chicagoflame.com/media/storage/paper519/news/2005/07/19/News/Two-Charged.In.Uic.Student.Death-963531.shtml
One killer got 18 years for 2nd degree murder, the other jumped bail back to his own country.
I’m not going to get all morally outraged, I’m well aware that this is just a comic, and I was more than willing to accept the scraper between the spokes, but the image of rage fueled child wielding would could potentially be a deadly weapon, with another child egging him on while he is about to beat somebody senseless with it, it a little bit too much for me. Given that scenario, I’m actually glad the thief got away.
The loops and hoops that you felt that you had to go through just to get to express your opinion: unbelievable.
The accusations or “moral outrage”, of “not getting that this is a comic strip” and blah blah blah are just tactics to shut up people who have a different opinion. Don’t acknowledge them.
You make a very valid point, JeanM.
Stuff just doesn’t happen the way it’s supposed to: The cop did his job, in an ironic sort of way.
He was on the beat; he saw a crime about to happen, and he took action to stop it. In this case, he saved Chunk from going to Juvenile Hall.
I rode 83 miles yesterday in the paradise masquerading as Steuben County, New York. No irony, but lots of fun.
ha! i’ve lived in Steuben Co. that paradise only lasts one or two months of the year. enjoy it while you can. :-)
A U-Lock should never be used against people.
A couple years ago, in a critical mass altercation between a car driver and cyclists, one cyclist with a U-lock and one cyclist with a pocketknife made the car look like it had been in a crash. They broke both front and rear windows, flattened tires, and a u-lock hit to the head sent the driver to the hospital.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008074874_webcriticalmass26m.html
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008075512_reading27.html
The cyclists were charged. The driver was not charged, despite driving over one guy’s leg.
I wouldn’t say ‘never’; the circumstances in the links are clearly out of bounds, but I can think of several scenarios in which a u-lock upside the head would be a perfectly appropriate response.
…and this is why I don’t participate in critical masshole events.
I am all for cycling advocacy but pushing your agenda in an aggressive or selfish manner is not productive. Corking streets to keep everyone together is not always the safest method; it angers drivers much too much and the whole situation escalates very quickly once it starts.
I think people are confusing diameter with circumference which is how neck size is measured for fitting and such. Also necks are made of flesh which is very flexible, U-locks will fit.
I’m not a moron. I was measuring the interior clearance of the typical U-locks and comparing them to the absolute diameter of the average adult human neck. 3.25 inches compared to 5 inches. If you think the human neck it THAT flexible, please take your U-lock, shove your neck through it and link to a photo. I would love to be proven wrong.
I”ve got a 19 3/4″ neck (yeah I’m a big guy) and my Kryptonite Evolution 4 is nearly wide enough to fit coming straight on (4×9 shackle) I’m sure if it were forced by a PO’d bike theft victim it would work on even someone my size. So while you may not be a moron, you’re also not correct in your presumption that it wouldn’t fit. Also there’s this http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/bank-demo3.JPG.jpg That’s a series 2 KryptoLok LS (4×11) so yeah it fits.
There’s also http://climategroundzero.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/TOP10.jpg
http://www.life.com/image/90254013
http://www.life.com/image/56309008
There’s a bunch more
I stand corrected by one of those pictures!
3 other links are broken.
With that said I only have a 15 1/2″ neck and there is absolutely no way in hell that my Kryptonite Evolution 4 would fit.
Obviously Mr. Snyder has never had to defend himself against imminent threat of physical harm.
Obviously mongo does not know that those most familiar with violence tend to be most aware of its dangers and limitations. Those most able to handle themselves skillfully in tough situations use alternatives. Violence is rightfully sudden, total, and only engaged in when necessary. I join Mr. Snyder in leaving the chest beating to the desk chair heroes, wannabes and neverweres.
George, I’ve been assaulted. I’ve had to use pepper spray once or twice to get home in one piece. I’ve been on the ground with my bike on top of me, still clipped in and getting kicked. In no instance was I sitting at a “desk chair”, nor did I “wannabe” anyplace but safe at home. And if I would have had anything more lethal at hand, you’re damned right I would have used it. “Better judged by twelve than carried by six.” In jail you get visitors. In a grave, not so much.
Normally I’m a fairly mild-mannered person. However, my ancestry is Highland Scots, Viking, and Cherokee; push me too far, and you’ll wish you hadn’t.
brooklyn window wash. (big bike chain to the windshield). i don’t condone it but it happens.
When you are both bloody and the other guy is hurt more than you are, it is pretty hard to prove to the police that you aren’t the aggressor and that the other guy isn’t the victim.