truman

How, exactly are squirrels 'weaker'? I cannot run fuill tilt up a tree and then leap 10 feet to another. I cannot survive very long on the food available from my backyard. I cannot predictably breed several progeny at once, I cannot survive long in the cold weather without supplemental clothing. I can't drink puddle water without getting the trots.

If the squirrel was 100 times my size, with feet like 5 gallon buckets, he would not swerve from his path to avoid squishing me. I will expend more energy avoiding killing him, than he would for me.

In the eyes of Darwin, I believe that makes him stronger.

Treespeed

Well I don't know about the rest of you, but the pigeon that I interacted with ran into me. I think suicidal would be the only acceptable term to use. Just like the cat I saw dart between cars the other morning and get clipped. Is this somehow the drivers fault? Cyclists don't endanger the weaker members of our world, the world is inherently dangerous. The slow mice get eaten by the fast cats, and the kids and animals who don't know better run out into traffic. It's sad, but your argument that cyclist obsession with fashion causes these accidents seems like some wierd trip on your part to demonize a segment of cyclists.

Anyways I'm all famished from my long post and I'm going to go have some chicken for lunch.

CommuterRun

In four days squirrels are deffinately going to be endangered around here. In danger of finding themselves right next to the mashed potatoes and gravy.

As far as hitting one on a bicycle, I've never tried it, but I understand that when they go through bladed spokes it's about the same result as running them through a food processor.

MoonlitMatt

The largest animal I hit on my bike was a snake. It got stuck in the tread and flung up at me. I was pretty upset about it at the time.

Some years ago, I purchased a new Jetta. Driving one night a coyote ran out in front of my car out of nowhere. My "I love dogs" instinct kicked in and I swerved. Fortunatly for the coyote, I missed it. Unfortunatly for me, I slid on the sand on the road (damn constuction crews up the road) and slid into a pole, totaling my car.

I've had a few close calls on my bike with flocks of geese. Those suckers LOVE to not move out of the way.

If I wasn't vegan and an animal lover, I'd mount a spear to my fork and have a nice christmas dinner a few months early.

banerjek

You're on my good guys list -- I have a special place in my heart for dogs. My wife thinks I'm insane because I purposely jump into the middle of dog fights when I see them, but I'd rather get a few holes in my arms, hands, and legs than stand by and watch them hurt each other.

Boudicca

Back to the squirrel theme.

Squirrels run a damn sight faster than kids, so just because a squirrel commits suicide by darting under your tires does not mean you run the remotest risk of endangering a child. Even the smallest child is (in case you have not noticed) an awful lot larger than a squirrel and hence considerably more likely to be seen in plenty of time.

Squirrels are also rats with bushy tails. If I have the choice of crashing my bike, or running over a squirrel, the squirrel is going to lose.

JohnnyCool

It's squirrelcide season in MI. I used to live there...and I sweat to God they try to run under cars this time of year. I guess bikes are no exception. One year I hit 4 of the little buggers and had dozens of close calls. It was very strange.

chipcom 

Deer, squirrel and chipmunk suicide season here...I've never hit any of them on my bike, though they sure try to hit me! I have hit a couple of deer and a squirrel in the truck over the years. When I clipped the squirrel, my GF made me get out, collect it, take it home and bury it in the backyard. I didn't mind, even critters deserve better than being left to rot on the side of a road.

Roody

Potter Park, right? The geese there usually hiss like cats and chase you in the springtime, when they're guarding their pups. The squirrels are nuttiest in the fall. One hit the side of my pedal on the upstroke once. At that point in time, he was definitely a flying squirrel. He ran behind a tree and gave me dirty looks because I was laughing so hard at him. I also like when I surprise them on a bridge. They run as fast as they can (pretty fast!) ahead of the bike, trying to make it to the other side. I keep thinking they will dive off the bridge, but so far they have always made it to a tree on the other side.

ho hum

Well, we don't have a large population of squirrels here in my area. There are ground squirrels and chipmunks but not enough trees to speak of to support a large squirrel population.

I live in a farming community. The rabbits will come in and eat 10-15 acres of freshly transplanted crops in a night. The farmers put up fencing around the farms and still have trouble. They will give you all the shotgun shells you want and you can spotlight the little buggers and shoot them till your urge for blood is quite filled. This is a favorite redneck teenage male sport around here. I have to say I enjoyed it myself.

My boys put on Ozzy Fudd singing 'Kill Da Wabbit' and go aid the local farmers here. Sometimes, I just love being a redneck!

DannoXYZ 

Did you feel or hear any crunching???

10ch

On a lighter note, to all of you who've run over the tree rats... you may be interested in the following service >>> https://tinyurl.com/9mcp5 (worksafe)

huhenio

I envy this guy.

The Seldom Kill

Folder - you really can't correlate the small furries to children. As has been said before squirrels and similar animals are much smaller, less predictable and the majority can outrun a child when it comes to speed, quite often an adult for that matter.

If you actually wanted to absolutely guarantee without fail that you did not kill another living creature then you would have to ride at 3mph with the brakes covered and scanning 360 degrees all the time. Do you ride like this at all times?

The Seldom Kill

Incidentally my animal mortality rate is zero despite being chased by a terrier once that threw itself into my rear wheel.

Folder, scenario for you. If you run over a small furry animal whilst evading a dog, are you still going too fast?

Jalopy

That depends... in your scenario, did I run over the furry animal by accident, or did I run over the animal to provide a distraction for the dog?

Jalopy

The Seldom Kill

I didn't think of that. Excellent plan.

truman

Including insects?

chuckfox

Since my commute home often is after dark though wildernessy areas, I've had the opportunity to run over a number of critters. In fact a couple of weeks ago I ran over an opossum on my fixie...that was exiting for both of us:

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...hlight=opossum

The opossum survived...at least he took off after I hit him (squarely with both wheels). I've also hit a chipmunk, a large rabbit, and a beagle sized dog. The rabbit was very traumatic because I was captaining our tandem with my 11 year old daughter as stoker. As I saw the rabbit run into our path I was first concerned that we might go down, then it went flying out of the front wheel, and my daughter started screaming "Oh my God Dad, we hit a rabbit". I told her it would shake it off and hop home..."But it's just laying back there, Dad!" was the response. Needless to say we didn't ride that trail for a while.

The dog was a rural car chaser...that's a whole 'nother story. But none have taken me down so far. Knock on the formica covered pressed wood in my office!

nicomachus

Both out mountain biking and while commuting to work, I've had squirrels jump at my wheels (I guess trying to get to the other side of the trail) only to bounce off the spokes. I hate to think what would happen if it was fast enough to jump *into* the spokes.

I also hit a bird once -- a morning dove. Over a weekend, I was visiting my brother and gf, when the gf (an animal lover de jure) hit a bird while driving. It was dark, she was driving pretty fast for a back-country road, and she nailed the bird with the front bumper. She felt awful and wanted to go back to check on it. I was quietly, smugly thinking to myself that if she was such an animal lover, she ought to be driving more slowly.

Next morning, back home, riding to work. Wham! A bird hits my helmet.

So much for smug thoughts.

LittleBigMan

My wife shoots squirrels for sport. She lures them with birdseed and waits with her BB-gun w/sight. She aims for the head.

I told her that if she wants to keep the squirrels off the bird feeders, she shouldn't kill them. They are territorial, so if you just make them gun-shy, they'll keep the newbie squirrels away.

That's my theory, ennyway.