# Poll:  Those scandalous bicyclists!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-those-scandalous-bicyclists/662769>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [July 6, 2013, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-those-scandalous-bicyclists/662769 "2013-07-06T02:41:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-those-scandalous-bicyclists/662769/21 "2013-07-07T19:13:48Z")

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**Elbows**! It saddens me that you surmise the situation this way. I assure you, I am not “stealth bragging.”

I live in the SF Bay area, where every third person has colored hair, tattoos, and multiple body piercings. (muy own son has one-inch “tunnels.”) I work in two neighborhoods in Oakland, one in West Oakland, which is economically somewhat depressed; and one in a part of North Oakland that is very well-to-do. This neighborhood is very near the campus of the prestigious local art college. Believe me when I say that I am not any particular attention-getter, appearance-wise.

From inside of my head, I don’t feel like there’s anything dangerous, intimidating, or suspicious-looking about my appearance, and I genuinely do not understand why people react to me this way.

I am the furthest thing from street-tough.

My question about bike-mounted purse snatching is an honest inquiry into how prevalent this phenomenon really is. If a couple dozen people weighed in and said, “Yeah, that happened to me,” then I could maybe understand why people have it in their heads that I could be contemplating doing that to them.

As it stands, I’m still puzzled.

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**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-those-scandalous-bicyclists/662769/22 "2013-07-07T19:31:27Z")

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Okay, look:

[Here I am.](http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd69/brujaja/P06-07-13_21-30_zpse91aed2d.jpg)

Do I look like a hardened criminal? Potential mugger? Possible stealth wookie?

Would you feel a need to protect yourself from me?

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**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-those-scandalous-bicyclists/662769/23 "2013-07-07T20:56:36Z")

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> [@brujaja](#):
>
> Do I look like a hardened criminal? Potential mugger? Possible stealth wookie?

If you were a Jedi wookie, you could make yourself appear non-threatening. I’m not convinced.

I might look over my shoulder and clutch my bag tighter if I heard a bike coming up behind me fast, because in my experience, some bicyclists have a rather devil-may-care attitude about jumping curbs and passing pedestrians on sidewalks, and you often don’t hear them until the very last minute.

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**Author:** ![colander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@colander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colander)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-those-scandalous-bicyclists/662769/24 "2013-07-07T21:13:33Z")

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> [@brujaja](#):
>
> Okay, look:
> 
> [Here I am.](http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd69/brujaja/P06-07-13_21-30_zpse91aed2d.jpg)
> 
> Do I look like a hardened criminal? Potential mugger? Possible stealth wookie?
> 
> Would you feel a need to protect yourself from me?

If pedestrians flinch when you speed by them, it is because _you are passing too close to them._ I promise you that none of them give the tiniest fraction of a shit what color your hair is.

Lemmy would be ashamed of your ill-considered bike antics.

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