Boys on bikes!

keane2097

cletus wrote: »

Significant portion? How many teenagers on bikes at the moment do you think have stolen them. Are we assuming here the majority of teenagers in general are criminals?

I teach in a secondary school, so I'm around teenagers quite a bit. Hanging around in a group and being loud doesn't make you a criminal, it makes you a loud teenager hanging out with your mates. Most of them are not aware of the levels of intimidation this can cause people, especially when they are not attempting to be intimidating in the first place.

Are there young lads going around on stolen bikes? Yep. Is it the majority of them, I sincerely doubt it

I'd say the ratio of large gang of juvenile males to gangs who go around robbing bikes is about 100:1.

Tenzor07

TheBoyConor wrote: »

While it is good to see young lads out on bikes, I'd be worried that they will be down on the greenways and walkways by the canals abusing and intimidating passers by. There is an ongoing major problem with gangs of youths knocking people off of bikes to steal them. They do it down there because the paths are narrow and you can't avoid them, you must pass by them. They could push you off, or they might swing a punch or stick at you as you pass by. Often they don't even want the bike - it is bike jacking for the thrill and sake of it. Steal your phone too if they can get it handy. People have been injured and are intimidated going down there.

Like the OP says, he's seen a lot around by the Hellfire and the viewing point, where a lot of people will cycle(within their 5k) on bikes that would be worth upwards of €5k... and inline with HSE recommendations will be cycling alone, to come across groups of up to 10 young men on scrap or stolen bikes is extremely intimidating, all they have to do is push you off the bike and cycle away back down the hill on your bike which is worth more than a used car...
Not an issue pre-covid as a lot of people would cycle in groups and there'd be more normal people around, so less chances of being robbed or attacked.

As the gangs on bikes are in groups then chances are they are all from different households and up at the viewpoint probably more than 5k from home, I would hope the Gardai are actively turning them back home or charging them..

fat bloke

Tenzor07 wrote: »

Like the OP says, he's seen a lot around by the Hellfire and the viewing point, where a lot of people will cycle(within their 5k) on bikes that would be worth upwards of €5k... and inline with HSE recommendations will be cycling alone, to come across groups of up to 10 young men on scrap or stolen bikes is extremely intimidating, all they have to do is push you off the bike and cycle away back down the hill on your bike which is worth more than a used car...
Not an issue pre-covid as a lot of people would cycle in groups and there'd be more normal people around, so less chances of being robbed or attacked.

As the gangs on bikes are in groups then chances are they are all from different households and up at the viewpoint probably more than 5k from home, I would hope the Gardai are actively turning them back home or charging them..

Lest there be any confusion, being the OP I'd like to distance myself from the above opinion (which of course Tenzor is wholly entitled to hold but I fundamentally disagree).

There are loads of people up around the Hellfire and beyond to the Featherbeds -drivers, walkers, sightseers, motorcyclists, sneaky-joint smokers. All groups of lads on bikes which I've met have been civilised and good-natured, open to a bit of banter as I pass. As I said, I'm up there every day for nearly 3 months and illegally parked-cars partially blocking the road is the only and ever-present antisocial behaviour that I want Gardaí to act upon. Certainly not sending young cyclists home.

cletus

Jesus, lads, you'd swear there were roving bands of marauding and pillaging teenagers countrywide going around stealing every bike visible

Boardnashea

Not exactly relevant to OP bt I love when the local Tri Club have an open day for kids and you get all the types of bikes listed above trying to race around the park.
15 year olds on the bike they had when they were 30 cms shorter and, as above, boxing their ears with their knees if they sit on the saddle and 10 year olds who can't get their feet on the ground cause they are dads commuter. They need a rolling start and catch them on the finish line before they fall!
There is always a trail of rust and cobwebs around the track from the machines pulled from ditches and behind sheds.
It alway reminds me of ...
https://youtu.be/_ATOsniJvL8

magicbastarder

is it some sort of transition like this, when a school student goes out on a bike without his uniform and schoolbag?
asking for a friend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIh0kMPdlUc

TheBoyConor

Maybe up by the hellfire and featherbeds isn't as bad as down by the canals, but there is a lot of intimidation and antisocial behaviour going on down there with youths, many of them on bicycles. And I think that teacher should come off of it with the bleeding heart. Groups of juvenile males hanging around with some of them on bikes worth 5 grand - I'd be genuinely surprised if a lot of them weren't stolen and if half of them didn't end up in a ditch or a canal by the end of the day.

Look at what goes on:
https://www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/shocking-footage-shows-cyclist-repeatedly-17125449
https://www.thejournal.ie/canal-crime-courts-4122979-Jul2018/ - I know people will say I'm victim blaming but that woman was a fool to keep going down the path with this carryon happening daily. She should have picked a safer route. She could have avoided it if she was a bit smarter about it
https://www.thejournal.ie/dublin-cyclist-attacks-4925837-Dec2019/
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/gardaí-conducting-grand-canal-patrols-after-attacks-on-cyclists-1.4118613

I remember listening to the discussions on these attacks. In a lot of cases they were after the bikes.

I would be extremely wary of congregations of juvenile males who are in an area without any specific purpose.

cletus

TheBoyConor wrote: »

Maybe up by the hellfire and featherbeds isn't as bad as down by the canals, but there is a lot of intimidation and antisocial behaviour going on down there with youths, many of them on bicycles. And I think that teacher should come off of it with the bleeding heart. Groups of juvenile males hanging around with some of them on bikes worth 5 grand - I'd be genuinely surprised if a lot of them weren't stolen and if half of them didn't end up in a ditch or a canal by the end of the day.

Look at what goes on:
https://www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/shocking-footage-shows-cyclist-repeatedly-17125449
https://www.thejournal.ie/canal-crime-courts-4122979-Jul2018/ - I know people will say I'm victim blaming but that woman was a fool to keep going down the path with this carryon happening daily. She should have picked a safer route. She could have avoided it if she was a bit smarter about it
https://www.thejournal.ie/dublin-cyclist-attacks-4925837-Dec2019/
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/gardaí-conducting-grand-canal-patrols-after-attacks-on-cyclists-1.4118613

I remember listening to the discussions on these attacks. In a lot of cases they were after the bikes.

I would be extremely wary of congregations of juvenile males who are in an area without any specific purpose.

I am that teacher, and believe me, I'm far from a bleeding heart.

The only poster talking about youths on 5k bikes is you.

That section of the canal is well known as a dangerous area, has been for a while. There is a thread on this forum about it. Those incidents that you are pointing out are being carried out by a relatively small number of thugs. They're thugs now, and they'll most likely be thugs when they're adults.

However, that small group is not representational of male teenagers as a whole.

I don't know what age you are, but I'm 40, and I remember being a teenager. If I wasn't in school or working a part time job, then wherever I was, I was there without a specific purpose. Mostly hanging around with friends, and probably being too loud.

So I'll ask again, theboyconor, what percentage or portion of teenagers on bikes, around the city and county of Dublin if you like, are roaming gangs of bike thieves?

TheBoyConor

well if I saw a pack of scummy looking juvenile males going around abusing and intimidating people on a mish mash of rusty old scrap bikes and ill-fitting and expensive road bikes, my first thought is that the expensive ones are probably robbed.


Why don't the Gardaí go up there and take the serial numbers of those bikes and see are they robbed. Then we can talk about percentages. But we know the Gardaí won't do a single thing - because there's no point and they too are probably half afraid.

Gangs like this being rude and obnoxious are extremely intimidating, even if they don't realise it. Especially to the elderly or infirm.

In my work, I have had my work crew assaulted, charged with stolen vehicles, bricks thrown through windscreens and much more. Marauding gangs of young fellas, many of them in bikes are the usual culprits.
In once case a crew working in a public area had to endure a morning of harassment that reached a climax when the big man of the gang decided to ram a stolen jeep through the job site at speed, sending barriers, tools and freshly poured concrete in all directions. It is only through quick reactions and luck that workers people weren't injured or killed. Their crime? trying to install better facilities for these ungrateful scrotes.

So I hope you can forgive me for being somewhat suspicious when it comes to congregations of juvenile males. My experience of them has been mostly extremely negative.

Mc Love

The OP was talking about a group of mates, not thugs. You can tell straight away if they are skobes too though, so I think its unfair to say that if you see a group of boys on bikes that they are thugs.

On my morning cycle, there were two lads on bikes on the road, waiting for another mate to join them, but this was between 07.30 & 08.00 - fantastic to see young lads like this heading out on their bikes.

Just to add - most of the skobes I see are on scramblers and the like, not on push bikes.

keane2097

TheBoyConor wrote: »

well if I saw a pack of scummy looking juvenile males going around abusing and intimidating people on a mish mash of rusty old scrap bikes and ill-fitting and expensive road bikes, my first thought is that the expensive ones are probably robbed.


Why don't the Gardaí go up there and take the serial numbers of those bikes and see are they robbed. Then we can talk about percentages. But we know the Gardaí won't do a single thing - because there's no point and they too are probably half afraid.

Gangs like this being rude and obnoxious are extremely intimidating, even if they don't realise it. Especially to the elderly or infirm.

In my work, I have had my work crew assaulted, charged with stolen vehicles, bricks thrown through windscreens and much more. Marauding gangs of young fellas, many of them in bikes are the usual culprits.
In once case a crew working in a public area had to endure a morning of harassment that reached a climax when the big man of the gang decided to ram a stolen jeep through the job site at speed, sending barriers, tools and freshly poured concrete in all directions. It is only through quick reactions and luck that workers people weren't injured or killed. Their crime? trying to install better facilities for these ungrateful scrotes.

So I hope you can forgive me for being somewhat suspicious when it comes to congregations of juvenile males. My experience of them has been mostly extremely negative.

Marauding gangs of young fellas on bikes carrying around bricks to throw through car windscreens? Will you ever **** off.

cletus

TheBoyConor wrote: »

well if I saw a pack of scummy looking juvenile males going around abusing and intimidating people on a mish mash of rusty old scrap bikes and ill-fitting and expensive road bikes, my first thought is that the expensive ones are probably robbed.


Why don't the Gardaí go up there and take the serial numbers of those bikes and see are they robbed. Then we can talk about percentages. But we know the Gardaí won't do a single thing - because there's no point and they too are probably half afraid.

Gangs like this being rude and obnoxious are extremely intimidating, even if they don't realise it. Especially to the elderly or infirm.

In my work, I have had my work crew assaulted, charged with stolen vehicles, bricks thrown through windscreens and much more. Marauding gangs of young fellas, many of them in bikes are the usual culprits.
In once case a crew working in a public area had to endure a morning of harassment that reached a climax when the big man of the gang decided to ram a stolen jeep through the job site at speed, sending barriers, tools and freshly poured concrete in all directions. It is only through quick reactions and luck that workers people weren't injured or killed. Their crime? trying to install better facilities for these ungrateful scrotes.

So I hope you can forgive me for being somewhat suspicious when it comes to congregations of juvenile males. My experience of them has been mostly extremely negative.

Go back and have a read of the first post, and see do you think that's what the op was talking about

Pigeon Reaper

I think I took a wrong turn and ended up in after hours....

Sam Quentin

cletus wrote: »

Jesus, lads, you'd swear there were roving bands of marauding and pillaging teenagers countrywide going around stealing every bike visible

Just in Dublin

Sam Quentin

TheBoyConor wrote: »

well if I saw a pack of scummy looking juvenile males going around abusing and intimidating people on a mish mash of rusty old scrap bikes and ill-fitting and expensive road bikes, my first thought is that the expensive ones are probably robbed.


Why don't the Gardaí go up there and take the serial numbers of those bikes and see are they robbed. Then we can talk about percentages. But we know the Gardaí won't do a single thing - because there's no point and they too are probably half afraid.

Gangs like this being rude and obnoxious are extremely intimidating, even if they don't realise it. Especially to the elderly or infirm.

In my work, I have had my work crew assaulted, charged with stolen vehicles, bricks thrown through windscreens and much more. Marauding gangs of young fellas, many of them in bikes are the usual culprits.
In once case a crew working in a public area had to endure a morning of harassment that reached a climax when the big man of the gang decided to ram a stolen jeep through the job site at speed, sending barriers, tools and freshly poured concrete in all directions. It is only through quick reactions and luck that workers people weren't injured or killed. Their crime? trying to install better facilities for these ungrateful scrotes.

So I hope you can forgive me for being somewhat suspicious when it comes to congregations of juvenile males. My experience of them has been mostly extremely negative.

Here here well said.. if no one can understand the 2 sides of this thread, then they must be living under a rock.

smacl

Tenzor07 wrote: »

Like the OP says, he's seen a lot around by the Hellfire and the viewing point, where a lot of people will cycle(within their 5k) on bikes that would be worth upwards of €5k... and inline with HSE recommendations will be cycling alone, to come across groups of up to 10 young men on scrap or stolen bikes is extremely intimidating, all they have to do is push you off the bike and cycle away back down the hill on your bike which is worth more than a used car...
Not an issue pre-covid as a lot of people would cycle in groups and there'd be more normal people around, so less chances of being robbed or attacked.

I'm cycling up to the viewing point every morning at the moment early enough and even by 6:30-7am there is a steady trickle of roadies going up and down by then. It's not really that isolated. I stopped cycling up there at lunch so as to avoid the crowds. The amount of bikes out on the road is quite heart warming in my opinion. I've seen quite a few families with reasonably young kids tackling Stocking lane and fair forks to them. Lots of teens cycling up to the Hellfire, but then there's always been teens up there.

Hamsterchops

As long as everybody is wearing cycle helmets then all is ok. Far too many boy cyclists currently shooting about without their helmets

I take my kids out for a cycle everyday and we wouldn't never venture out without helmets.

smacl

Hamsterchops wrote: »

As long as everybody is wearing cycle helmets then all is ok. Far too many younger cyclists currently shooting about without their helmets

I take my kids out for a cycle everyday and we wouldn't never venture out without helmets.

You're on the wrong thread, for helmet discussions try here; https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057030568

MojoMaker

Wrong thread, wrong forum.

eeeee

Mod Warning: This is a thread appreciating the increasing number of young people on bikes. It is NOT a thread on helmets, (there's a mega thread on that linked above, please familiarise yourself with the arguments made several times on that thread before contributing) nor is it a thread castigating young people on bikes. There is a separate thread for issues with youths on the canals.

This is an appreciation of the jump in numbers of young people on bikes. It's great. I personally can't wait for the non - boy gangs / mixed gangs to form!

Any further OT posts will just be deleted.

magicbastarder

eeeee wrote: »

I personally can't wait for the non - boy gangs / mixed gangs to form!

Thargor

Same thing in Bray, bikes everywhere, cars everywhere in the last couple of days aswell unfortunately, nice while it lasted.

I got used to walking out into the road so I didnt pass within 2m of another pedestrian coming at me but sadly thats a bit suicidal in the last couple of days as the cars are back with a vengeance.

joey100

There's at least one youth project on the southside of Dublin that runs a bike making/maintenance programme with the young people. Pretty sure it's accredited too by the city and guilds. Most of the parts are scrap or donated to the youth project. Always been very popular with the young people in the area.

There's a youth project on the Northside of Dublin that recently set up a road biking group with the young people. Secured their own funding for it and meet on Saturday mornings and head out for 50/60km on the bikes. Designed their own gear and are all on lovely LOOK bikes. Was a worry at the start that there wouldn't be interest in it, thought that young people were more into mountain bikes but it's been over subscribed and there's a waiting list to join.

I know when I done direct face to face work with the young people in the youth projects we used to bring them mountain biking and they loved it. Without fail they would look for a bike that was too big for them, so I wouldn't take the fact you see young lads on bikes that are too big to mean anything! Seems to be just what they loved. Between that and the BMX indoor track in Cherry Orchard they were two of the things we done with them that they loved the most, and they were good at it.

Great to hear that there is some heading out on the roads themselves and up to the mountains.

Chips Lovell

People are afraid to leave their homes, Joe.

68 lost souls

Looking forward to getting back on the bike, all the area discussed is within my 5km and I'm missing it something serious. Its great to see them out but obviously all of them are currently breaking the COVID19 lock down rules if they are in groups and risking their families health.

The last 2 years in our estate there's been a good number of young lads on their bikes which is great. I was on my way home last summer exhausted after taking the long way home over the mountains and there was a gang standing on the entrance of the estate clapping me on shouting "WHEELIE! WHEELIE!" at me,I felt awful to disappoint them but I am no Peter Sagan and could barely get out of the saddle at this stage, must practice my wheelies when Im back in action to not disappoint them next time

martyc5674

joey100 wrote: »

There's at least one youth project on the southside of Dublin that runs a bike making/maintenance programme with the young people. Pretty sure it's accredited too by the city and guilds. Most of the parts are scrap or donated to the youth project. Always been very popular with the young people in the area.

There's a youth project on the Northside of Dublin that recently set up a road biking group with the young people. Secured their own funding for it and meet on Saturday mornings and head out for 50/60km on the bikes. Designed their own gear and are all on lovely LOOK bikes. Was a worry at the start that there wouldn't be interest in it, thought that young people were more into mountain bikes but it's been over subscribed and there's a waiting list to join.

I know when I done direct face to face work with the young people in the youth projects we used to bring them mountain biking and they loved it. Without fail they would look for a bike that was too big for them, so I wouldn't take the fact you see young lads on bikes that are too big to mean anything! Seems to be just what they loved. Between that and the BMX indoor track in Cherry Orchard they were two of the things we done with them that they loved the most, and they were good at it.

Great to hear that there is some heading out on the roads themselves and up to the mountains.

That all sounds fantastic- fair play to all involved

eeeee

@joey100 that's really fantastic.
Made my day reading that!

magicbastarder

eight teenagers on bikes just went cycling the wrong way up the (usually) busy road past my house, and you know what, it's bleedin' great*.

two of them pulling effortless wheelies the likes of which i've never been able to manage. little bastards.

*social distancing issues apart

eeeee

Their wheelie game is so strong! I am muchly envious of their skillz

cletus

I teach in a relatively large school, we have about 100 Sheffield stands. Pre-Covid, there was never more than 3 or 4 bikes locked up out there. Did a quick count this morning on the way in, and there's around 25 bikes there. While still not a huge percentage (we've about a thousand students), a 6 fold increase is positive.