Koyote

It’s not so risky when you’re anonymous.

LarrySellerz

people were riding like that way before premium rush. I’m very impressed with the riders in that vid and I’m not alone

Koyote

I'm not impressed by fools, but you are free to feel otherwise.

mstateglfr 

The older I get the more I see how little it takes for many people to be entertained and impressed.

Rage

That’s kinda what pulled me in, at first. I was really impressed by the guys that rode like that and was flattered they thought I could do the same.

But after a while, I realized I’d rather be a little slower and more conscientious of people on the street than make another five or fifteen bucks at the end of the day.

That and after a few weeks I was less impressed by those guys riding like that.
One guy got into an altercation with a cab driver that resulted in him swinging a heavy kryptonite chain at the taxi’s windshield until the guy in there got out. He also got swung on with that chain. Cops and criminal charges followed after that.
Another guy ran full on into a lady and broke three of her toes.

I just thought it’d be better to go a little slower and take more care riding.
The money kinda sucked, anyway. I rarely made more’n a little over two hundred bucks a week. I got into the game in the middle to late 90s when the writing was on the wall. Kozmo gave us a brief uptick but then that flamed out, too.

icemilkcoffee 

This one is much better. She actually stops at stoplights. I have to say- Mexico City has some pretty decent bike lanes. I am pleasantly surprised.

jack pot 

most are outraged because it takes tons more skill and round things than 99% of bicycle owners got .........and the reason they ride like they do is because lazy A circles demand that their meaningless scrap gets delivered yesterday .... so give the courierS some due cause this is a bicycle forum and not an A&S grievance thread ... it aint easy being the proletariat

WhyFi

It's hard to argue against such a well thought-out and articulated point. Chapeau.

GhostRider62

The Mexican girl was laying down some serious power. The tunnel w/o lights scared the crap out of me.

livedarklions

Sorry, but none of that requires exceptional skills, just being a complete sociopath.

livedarklions

Not that one.
I'd call the completely needless close passes and charging blindly into intersections the opposite of skill.

ThermionicScott 

Better, but I could tell that they cut to the next scene right when she was about to do something "jackass" a few times.

livedarklions

She had power and she respected the crosswalks.

Juan Foote

In truth, if you are the type messenger that is following traffic law, riding "correctly", being considerate of others you certainly will not be making a lot of runs quickly and probably won't be a messenger long. My understanding is that most messengers either age or nerve out, or get hurt bad enough that they can't. It is a dog eat dog type of business.

Have any of you actually paid attention to how the Amazon and FedEx drivers in your area act with a 2 ton van + parcels?

livedarklions

There's a difference between not riding "correctly" to letter of the law and just plain taking stupid risks with the safety of your own and others for no good end. The OP rider clearly crossed that line.

No idea what you're saying about FedEx and Amazon drivers--I've seen many, many of them, and I've never seen them do anything even remotely that risky.

icemilkcoffee 

Aside from double-parking (which is legal for them) I honestly have not seen Amazon and FedEx drivers do anything even remotely like what these bike messengers are doing. In fact, even cab drivers, who actually have to pay out of pocket for every minute they spend in their leased cabs, manage to follow traffic rules much better than these bike messengers.

Reflector Guy

Skill?? LOL I've had that kind of skill since I was about 12 years old. I think pretty much all of us here could lane split or turn left against a red light if we needed to.

Cojones, sure, I could see that..... But the same could be said about Russian Roulette.

Juan Foote

Eh, maybe just a GA thing then (I doubt it) but those guys run around here like they were at AMS all the time. It has gotten so bad on our street that I actually called Amazon. They pretended to care. Nothing changed.

jack pot 

Merci....................or should it be mercy me

Juan Foote

You have clearly never seen that Kevin Bacon movie about bicycle messengers. I seent it twice. Eggspert level.

I watched half of Footloose and can dance like Fred Astaire.

/skillz

jack pot 

a lot of prayers have been said and are awaiting answers for all those sociopathic bike messengers who done been hit and runned and ruined for pittances ...................................... and riding fast and loose for pay is real cool unless you really have to do it to get by

Camilo

Yea they drive legally and safely.

Erzulis Boat 

I think recumbent riders and the weirdos on those little wheel "travel" bikes are the ones that do that. 95% of cyclist are wimpy geeks, they wish that some fixed gear maniac would be associated with them. Trust me, nobody has ever seen the similarity between this guy (video) and some cyclist with a helmet mounted safety mirror and a reflective vest.

Just kidding. Sort of.

LarrySellerz

it’s a learned skill, and unless you can do it on a track bike I advise you don’t try it on a geared bike or you might overextend and hurt yourself

indyfabz

The best thing about this thread is that no one seems to have confused cojones with cajones.