Just wondering about the many sharply defensive reactions people have to me on my lil ol’ bike, and how common bike-mounted goodie snatching really is.
Shouldn’t there be a none of the above option? Or a recipe?
I interpreted “seven-foot wookie on a bicycle” as “none of the above”, and apparently so have several other dopers.
Aww, dang! I did indeed forget the “none of the above” option, and tried to put it in immediately after hitting the button to post – but apparently the 5-minute edit option does not apply to polls.
That’s okay, the “wookie” button works fine for NOTA; still, when I first laid eyes on the results so far, I thought for one shining moment that we had a bona fide wookie crime wave going on. Hee hee, imagine the headlines:
“WOOKIES GET WONKY”
“HIRSUTE HOOLIGANS”
“CHEW-BIKE-A RIDES AGAIN”
hee hee hee hee hee
I’ve only once had something stolen from me–a Game Boy game, at school. And it was because I left my bag unattended in a classroom all day. Kinda dumb not to lock it in my locker.
Actually, they took the Game Boy, too, but put it back. So apparently they thought I wouldn’t notice the game was gone. Even weirder, when the resource officer made them return it, I got a different game back. (One of them was Super Mario Land, the other Super Mario Land 2.)
What if it was a gang, on mixed-gender tandem bikes?
The Wookiee that robbed me was only 6’7", so I didn’t vote.
I got robbed by a gang of Wookies on unicycles. One of them had a two-wheeler so I could vote.
You shouldn’t be riding a bike next to pedestrians. That must mean you are riding on the sidewalk. Bicycles belong on the road as a vehicle obeying all the same traffic laws as automobiles.
I don’t know about brujaja, but two or three times a week I ride my bike to work. I take Chicago’s lakefront path, one of the country’s busiest bike paths. It’s technically a “multi-use path” and is swarming with walkers, joggers, beach-goers, and (ugh) roller-bladers. But it is very much intended as a bike path, and I ride next to hundreds of pedestrians.
No, I have never stolen someone’s purse while riding.
Why do you assume that pedestrians are only afraid of theft by bicyclists? I suspect that their greater fear is being struck by them.
Good question. It’s because of something I call the “WHPC” – Well Heeled Purse Clutch. It’s a distinctly specific move characterized by a moment when, as I approach from behind, I can see the individual citizen register having heard my approach. This is invariably followed by a worried half-glance over the shoulder and, despite my reassuring smile, a convulsive tightening of the grip on shoulder bag, laptop etc.
This happens even though I am in the road (as directed by law) and they are on the sidewalk. I guess them wookies got long arms. 
GreasyJack and Smapti: Co-ed purse snatchers and wookies of sub-standard height are still criminals. Use your best judgement.
In 50 plus years I have not once heard of anyone in any town or city I have lived in being afraid that bicyclists would snatch purses or anything else. I certainly have never seen anyone adopt a defensive pose while I was riding one. And while I have heard many cases of shoplifters or vandals using bicycles as getaway vehicles (frequently getting caught within a few blocks), I have never heard of anyone committing any kind of theft while actually riding a bike.
Hahahahaaa! How on earth did you find a picture of a wookie on a bike? No, wait a minute, I know how you found it. The same way I found a picture of a cat in a turban. 
So, no paranoid (slash prudent) pedestrians with a rictus grip on their reticules in your necks of the woods? Good god, *what do they tell people * about the East Bay?
Don’t they know that you should always let the Wookie win?
When your personal fashion statement screams “look at me!”, then you dissect everyone’s every action or reaction as passing some sort of negative judgement onto you, it’s a reflection on you not them!
(Then you come here and stealth brag about what an intimidating street presence you present to the world.)
When you actively dress or behave in ways that scream attention whore, you sort of lose the right to complain about the nuance of every glance, you receive. But really, and I cannot say this strongly enough, I can assure you that no one is thinking about weird and wonderful you. People got their own shit going on, every damn day!
Shouldn’t you examine why this is always the focus and framing of your threads?
If I thought I was in danger of being run into by some idiot getting too close on a bike too, I’d sure as hell grip whatever I was holding tightly so it doesn’t go flying away from me and possibly get damaged once I’m knocked down.
This.
Once in Boston, I waited patiently at one of those 10 way intersection for what seemed like five minutes (but wasn’t) for the pedestrian light. Finally, it came on and I started to dart across the street before it changed back. Only to miss by an inch being totalled by a broad on a bike. Who turned around and started cursing me.