Trakhak

My two years of driving and cycling for a messenger service in Manhattan taught me that, despite what necomers to the courier game might think, there was no obvious correlation between daredevil tactics and income. I made pretty good money driving and riding lawfully. But cowboys gonna cowboy, and messengering does (or did) attract its share of testosterone junkies.

livedarklions

Pure macho horse crap.

holytrousers

why no front brakes ?

son_of_clyde

have to wonder how many of these pearl clutching do-gooders in here are "take the lane" advocates

LarrySellerz

He might be practicing for a race, the unsanctioned track bike street races don't allow brakes

rsbob 

Get her on a pro team.

rsbob 

holytrousers

That's weird, why not ?

livedarklions

Have to wonder how many of these rah-rah boys ride more than once a year and actually have any skills whatsoever.

"Take the lane" isn't the same as ride right at pedestrians without brakes and running lights blindly hoping you just shoot a gap.

That guy isn't taking any lane, he's bouncing between them, hoping he doesn't guess wrong about what any driver will do.

livedarklions

Nice of him to recruit a bunch of pedestrians to act as meat pylons. I hope a cop shoves his bike somewhere really mean.

livedarklions

Sorry, not buying that crap in this case.

AlgarveCycling

In the UK cycling with no front brake on public roads is illegal and bike couriers can get into trouble if caught using fixed gear bikes with no front brake - one infamously was jailed for killing a pedestrian in 2017.

I raced track in the late 80's, nothing particularly difficult about riding a track bike in and of itself but racing in a fast-moving group can be 'interesting' sometimes and requires a level of skill.

My bike in Amsterdam was a fixie but had a front brake too albeit there the typical Amsterdam bike is pedal brake only - but freewheel. I can hit 60km/h in a flat sprint so can get about pretty quickly but I would never do that in a busy city; only a moron would go about taking risks that endangered others in a public area where respecting others and their journey's is required. If a courier needs to endanger others and break laws to get around quickly then they are rubbish and should quit and find another job.

LarrySellerz

I’m not sure tbh. Most are all bikes allowed but the serious ones are track bikes only

jack pot 

you're probably right in general because the last i heard was that a lot of messenger operations are using FOOT MESSENGERS instead of bicyclers because of labor laws, wage laws, workers comp laws & UBER

livedarklions

To be clear, I'm referring to this rider in particular, not messengers in general.
I'm not a torts lawyer, but from a liability standpoint, I'd think hiring someone who proudly posts videos of himself illegally riding fast through occupied crosswalks is absolutely insane.

LarrySellerz

is it fair to say that you cannot flow like water?

GhostRider62

Yellow water circling the drain?

Trakhak

If you have no valid argument, ad hominem will have to do.

Koyote

That's funny stuff, coming from a guy who can't figure out how to extricate himself from the pack after he blows up.

livedarklions

I flow fine, thanks. That guy is a pig relying on luck. There's nothing "fluid" about what he's doing, it's completely erratic shifts between vehicles. And no, I don't need to hit the side of a vehicle with my hand because I stupidly cut it too close.

Is it fair to say you admire a sociopath?

LarrySellerz

touching the moving vehicles is part of the culture. its harmless. Roadies do some weird things too so lets not diss the fixie scum too much, atleast he is on a bike!

Koyote

And with this statement, you've outdone yourself.

LarrySellerz

look how often vehicles are getting touched in this footage from a race. It’s totally normal in a city. These 3 guys were the top finishers in Monstertrack that year which is one of the biggest/hardest of these races.

Koyote

Sure, I've read about Monstertrack at The Radavist; here's a fun quote from the article: "Can you imagine 100+ amped, maybe-drunk, ready-to-race, brakeless bike riders navigating from the Lower East Side to Union Square on a Saturday afternoon getting ready to go off in one of the biggest urban races in the world? "

What could go wrong?

burnthesheep

This topic reminds me, title included, of one of those gotcha internet ads like "this one new trick will have moms everywhere jumping for joy at reverse aging!" or "this new driver's law in your state has motorists furious about their insurance!". Maybe the OP writes the gotchas for those adverts.