Glimpse of bicycle courier world

[vtec]

Unless you have a bankroll that will enable you to cover any potential fuck-up you might end up being responsible for, insurance is a good idea.

...and that is, also, assuming that everybody else aren't lacking moral fibre and common decency.

And while the first is rather unlikely, the latter has - sadly - been repeatedly proven not to be the case.


And anyway, we are talking life insurance here - which has nothing to do with personal responsibility and everything to do with taking care of your dependants in the case of your untimely demise.

Firstly I'm not going to do much damage to your car on my bicycle, but fair point for all the cannonball drivers around. Secondly, I have no dependents. If you think people take care of their dependents then I think you should watch "Idiocracy". An excellent but underpublicised movie by Mike Judge, and seemingly an indication of where society is heading.

[vtec]

So by the sound of it there's no really entry into it for newbies anymore?

I suppose it would have to be in a large city like Auckland to be worthwhile anyway.

There's potential in Christchurch, however, we are a dying breed. The electronic communication has really killed a lot of work. Numbers of bicycle couriers have halved in the last 5 years. So until the economy turns around there will be no entry unfortunately unless you are an established legend.

I met bicycle couriers in Santa Cruz when I cycled from San Fran to LA at the start of the year, a tiny town. So it's totally doable in Christchurch.

[retro asian]

Did anyone see that bicycle courier on 60 minutes the other day?
He was insane, riding in front of cars that were pulling out...doing all sorts of crazy stuff. Drivers or pedestrians had no chance of seeing this push bike.

At least he kinda admitted that he was a bit dodgy with his riding, so if he gets hurt he deserves it.

[RantyDave]

I've made up to $300 ($500 customer) in one day, but some days you only make $100.

Jesus! That much risk for $100-$300 a day? Screw that.

Nice riding, though. FWIW I used to hoon around London in a similar style until a bike courier pulled up next to me at the lights and said "Like your riding man, you are NUTS!" and I thought I'd better start calming down a bit

Dave

[YellowDog]

Complete nonsense. The cops should get onto this.

Who needs insurance for such an obvious accident waiting to happen?

[vtec]

Trust me RD it's not about the money. Being able to live on the earnings from doing something you love is pretty cool though. I keep coming back to it from much higher paying office jobs. I lose my mind in offices.

YellowDog, the cops should get onto speeding motorcyclists, runners, wheelies, stoppies. Nah just kidding, I like that stuff too.

P.S. The cops are onto us, there's not much they can do to us though (unless we actually do damage or cause harm). Please note there are probably only about 15 bicycle couriers left in Auckland, and we are very much in the minority, so this doesn't represent the majority of the cycle community at all. They get annoyed with us too.

[Mikkel]

Firstly I'm not going to do much damage to your car on my bicycle, but fair point for all the cannonball drivers around. Secondly, I have no dependents. If you think people take care of their dependents then I think you should watch "Idiocracy". An excellent but underpublicised movie by Mike Judge, and seemingly an indication of where society is heading.

It doesn't take a lot of scratches on a new Ferrari to make it expensive - then there's the unlikely, but not impossible, situation where for some reason you muck something up, cause a car to swerve and hit another vehicle. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to think up a scenario where a small "harmless" mistake causes a very nasty situation. ...highly improbable, but "Shit Happens!". Just because you are the one most exposed to potential consequences of your actions doesn't mean it's ok to create dangerous situations - something that some motorcyclists also seem to forget in the heat of the moment.

I'm not saying that people, in general, are taking good care of their dependants but just because you live in a democrazy doesn't mean that the norm is right. I'll look for Idiocracy - although I fear it'll just make me even more depressed.

[Drunken Monkey]

Complete nonsense. The cops should get onto this.

Who needs insurance for such an obvious accident waiting to happen?

erm....LOL........?

[vtec]

Back on the insurance thing, you would find that the crashes that people have that could have been avoided WOULD be avoided a lot more often if they weren't insured. Put life ahead of money. I'm only risking my own life doing this. It's been a long time since someone has managed to get me with their car.

[vtec]

Did anyone see that bicycle courier on 60 minutes the other day?
He was insane, riding in front of cars that were pulling out...doing all sorts of crazy stuff. Drivers or pedestrians had no chance of seeing this push bike.

At least he kinda admitted that he was a bit dodgy with his riding, so if he gets hurt he deserves it.

Just one point, he wasn't relying on anyone seeing him. That's how you have to behave to survive. Sure you don't need to go that fast and most cyclists don't... but he was a bicycle courier. Totally different animal. He know's we are dodgy, but he's been doing it for 15 years 9 hour days 5 days a week, 2 weeks of holiday and he's still in good working order. I think that's testament to the safeness of his actions.

[Ender EnZed]

this doesn't represent the majority of the cycle community at all. They get annoyed with us too.

I can imagine that. And I should point out that if you grab onto the back of my jacket at the lights you're going to sustain a lot more damage than any car could do to you.

Aside from that it looks like a lot of fun for something (I assume) you can't go to jail for and kinda makes me wish I wasn't so unfit.

[vtec]

80% of people don't notice us holding their cars (we are invisible remember). Also, if we're holding onto a bike it's because we've asked and they've said yes, otherwise it wouldn't be safe.

[YellowDog]

Must be funny when the rear spoiler comes off in your hand (unless it's your rear spoiler)

[vtec]

Must be funny when the rear spoiler comes off in your hand (unless it's your rear spoiler)

Yeah, um, rear spoilers are fixed with screws and bolts and things. Out of the thousands of cars I've held onto I had one come off the side (was still fixed to the car, just wonky), because the boot was all rusted through, car was a mess. Generally if you use the spoiler to shut your boot, you'll be using similar forces to me holding onto it, try it. Mostly I hold onto wheel arches or Ute trays or the back of trucks though, cause spoilers went out of fashion in the 90's and less and less cars have them.

However, I could possibly break one of these cause of the leverage, so I won't try holding onto it.

[vtec]

This video features Mike from Waiheke, the oldest bike courier in Auckland. He's always intrigued to hear my motorcycle racing stories, he enjoys that passion.

Also, in the first vid I posted up there's some footage of Jenna, who last year representing NZ at the bicycle courier world champs, WON IT. Auckland is arguably the toughest CBD in the world to work as a bicycle courier. Makes machines out of the couriers.

This is cool too. About NYC couriers. It's pretty big there, some awesome characters.