Cyclist suffers shocking injuries as hooded gang steals £12,500 Specialized and beats victim

hawkinspeter wrote:

Meanwhile I want to see a Road.cc test of these wheels - I bet they'd be squeakier than my disc brakes

 

The mechanic who fitted the rear mudguard had clearly seen the front mudguard fitter being put up against a wall and shot!

If you're feeling nostalgic Pashley still make a version of the Parabike.  Theirs doesn't have the nifty folding frame of the BSA Airbourne Bicycle though, nor the chainring spider manufacturer's signature!

hawkinspeter wrote:

NOtotheEU wrote:

Not designed to be fired from the bike but could be in an emergency. If your assailant has less than 100mm of armour this will be perfect.

Heretic! That's not a bicycle!

Anyhow, I appear to have fallen down a military bicycle squirrel-hole and have found this interesting site: https://onlinebicyclemuseum.co.uk/wwi-military-bicycle-hire-ww1/

They did a book called "Bad Teeth No Bar" which is now out of print but I found a cheap copy on eBay and just bought it.

Now that's a weapon you can rely on, as the .303 Lee Enfield that came into use with the British Army in 1880s and was only finally replaced as a sniper weapon around 1990 or so. I'm not sure on the reaction you'd get cycling around with it though. I expect you'd get a posse of armed response officers jumping on you rather quickly here in the UK. In Texas though the police would probably give you a cheery wave as you pedalled past.

Of course .303 rounds would likely cause some issues to anyone living in houses around the thieves.  Or indeed several hundred metres distant.

It would certainly allow you to fix issues with motor vehicles though.

Interesting customs in different countries and how the law slices and dices.  Here's an example of what most people would recognise as a serious bit of kit but is apparently legally no different to a snuff box at the antiques sales in the US.  Just don't use shells that go bang when they hit.

chrisonatrike wrote:

Of course .303 rounds would likely cause some issues to anyone living in houses around the thieves.  Or indeed several hundred metres distant.

It would certainly allow you to fix issues with motor vehicles though.

Interesting customs in different countries and how the law slices and dices.  Here's an example of what most people would recognise as a serious bit of kit but is apparently legally no different to a snuff box at the antiques sales in the US.  Just don't use shells that go bang when they hit.

That's a useful point you make about '303 rounds. They do go quite far. Using .45 pistol rounds would probably be better. There was a rifle made using the action of the .303, the folding stock from either a Sten gun or the wooden stock from a Thompson, plus the silenced barrel from a Thomspon. It was used by special forces. It was quiet and wouldn't have so much recoil, plus the rounds wouldn't go so far either. I think it's even more compact than an LE, so you could bolt it to your toptube. 

OldRidgeback wrote:

There was a rifle made using the action of the .303, the folding stock from either a Sten gun or the wooden stock from a Thompson, plus the silenced barrel from a Thomspon. It was used by special forces. It was quiet and wouldn't have so much recoil, plus the rounds wouldn't go so far either. I think it's even more compact than an LE, so you could bolt it to your toptube. 

Indeed and good point about not deafening everyone.  If it's the one I'm thinking of you may still be able to get a reproduction version from the US.

I thought you were going with this shotgun for bandit defence.  Lots of short ranged firepower but a bit bulky on a bike.

chrisonatrike wrote:

OldRidgeback wrote:

There was a rifle made using the action of the .303, the folding stock from either a Sten gun or the wooden stock from a Thompson, plus the silenced barrel from a Thomspon. It was used by special forces. It was quiet and wouldn't have so much recoil, plus the rounds wouldn't go so far either. I think it's even more compact than an LE, so you could bolt it to your toptube. 

Indeed and good point about not deafening everyone.  If it's the one I'm thinking of you may still be able to get a reproduction version from the US.

I thought you were going with this shotgun for bandit defence.  Lots of short ranged firepower but a bit bulky on a bike.

It is indeed the one you were thinking of. There's an original in the Imperial War Musuem which is where I first found out about it.

Recoilless I assume?  That would be sensible, albeit sad for anyone behind you.

There are almost certainly other examples but surely a suitable weapon to pair with a bike would be the Fusil Mitrailleur Modele 1915 CSRG or Chauchat?  Given it was mostly made in the Gladiator factory, formerly producing bikes, motorbikes and cars?

On the other hand the reliability was never exceptional and the vibration from the long recoil might count against it.  However the Belgians made a better version post-war.  In fact Belgians cycle troops acquitted themselves well at the beginning of WWI and WWII.

The Chauchat was notorious for jamming. The French Army disliked it so much they replaced it quickly in WWI and then offloaded the weapons to the US Army when they entered the war in 1917. The Americans then found out very quickly why the French had been so willing to sell them the Chauchats.

(Another rabbit hole) Word is that the French model wasn't a wonderful weapon and especially not for the battlefields  but the story is complicated.  It was pretty cheap, it could be made in non-firearms factories and it was there when needed - in vast quantities.  Unless you lump all "Maxim-style machineguns" together the most numerous automatic weapon of WWI was - the Chauchat.

Apparently the US troops were particularly unhappy as some had trained on Lewis guns, Browning Automatic Rifles or Browning heavy machine guns - all much better weapons.  However due to supply issues but also so as not to "spoil the surprise" (keeping the new "superweapons" for the 1919 big push) they were then given French weapons.  The US version of the Chauchat had fewer holes in the magazine but they were flimsy.  Much worse some vital dimensions were wrong - there were some issues with sights for both types.

But - unless you're a Belgian cycle trooper - it doesn't seem to be an ideal bicycle gun anyway!

It's called a Negligent Discharge by the way. There are no accidental discharges.

In this case yes but sometimes, particularly on older guns, a mechanical malfunction can occur.
Iirc underpowered ammunition in early open-bolt submachine guns can cause the bolt to cycle back far enough to chamber and fire the next round but not far enough to catch on the sear.

Also this is officially my favourite road.cc thread

chrisonatrike wrote:

Overkill and - at around 240kg - might unbalance your bike.  The recoil will also affect the handling.

30-06 rounds will do the job perfectly well.  The following design actually existed.  You could probably disguise this as a front basket.  The tandem model might be better though as your stoker can help feed the ammunition belt.

Looking at where the grip and trigger are it might increase the risk of an accidental discharge during a hard stop though.

I sprayed my coffee everywhere when I read this. Genius.

Any police sting will be seen by spotters. This needs to be an infiltration exercise. Perhaps the rozzers are waiting for an innocent to die before launching special ops.

Fignon's ghost wrote:

Any police sting will be seen by spotters. This needs to be an infiltration exercise. Perhaps the rozzers are waiting for an innocent to die before launching special ops.

They need to employ some young gamers/drone pilots and have some drones for capturing evidence along the crime hotspots. Who's going to suspect some young adults playing with drones?

hawkinspeter wrote:

They need to employ some young gamers/drone pilots and have some drones for capturing evidence along the crime hotspots. Who's going to suspect some young adults playing with drones?

Might be a good "swords into ploughshares" project if the Russo-Ukranian war ever comes to an end before the world runs out of Ukranians.  Nation of skilled drone builders and operators there.  They could even work remotely if UK folks are worried about immigration...