willtill - 2012-02-01 1:53 AM Definitely a compressor and a tire plug kit. That HAS to be on any bike ALL of the time. We don't carry spare tires....

Ever had to use it?? Not in 52 years I've been biking so I ain't gonna start now .... being prepared (as an old cub/scout) means carrying on-the-road insurance and a cell phone (or CB in the old days). Let someone else do the dirty work while I head for the pool/bar/restaurant. And I've been to Alaska AND Florida (and about everywhere inbetween)...

willtill - 2012-02-01 1:53 AM Definitely a compressor and a tire plug kit. That HAS to be on any bike ALL of the time. We don't carry spare tires....

Ever had to use it?  Not in 52 years I've been biking so I ain't gonna start now .... being prepared (as an old cub/scout) means carrying on-the-road insurance and a cell phone (or CB in the old days). Let someone else do the dirty work while I head for the pool/bar/restaurant. And I've been to Alaska AND Florida (and about everywhere inbetween)...

Yep, 3 times in just the last 5 years while riding over 64,000 miles.

Not on my Vision, yet.  

etspastimes - 2012-02-03 9:28 PM I carry a toolbag in the left saddlebag and a full face helmet with rain suit in the trunk. Pistol and misc junk in the rigth saddlebag. 65000 miles and helped many with the toolkit. ET

And how many did you help with the 'Pistol' ???

Of course in this situation he has never helped someone with his pistol.

I think this is funny, as though a Canadian thug would never resort to a weapon of any kind to do harm to another person in exchange for their money. The criminal mind has been in existence in every society in every time frame throughout history. In Canada every criminal knows his victim is disarmed. (I say "disarmed" because that is what your government has done to its law abiding citizens).

As for helping someone out with my pistol, ( in my country I'm allowed ), I have never had the privilege to date. But there are innumerable accounts of folks both in the US and in many other countries around the world where those faced with eminent life threatening situations by thugs were able to save themselves and or others threatened around them because they were trained, armed and prepared to properly use their firearm with lethal force.

Remember that the police are really only good for one thing in this type of situation: that is collecting evidence at the crime scene after the fact.

A few weeks ago on Christmas night a well trained and prepared grocery store manager in Indianapolis was surprised by a robber that entered the store office with a gun in the back of another store employee with his arm around her neck in a choke hold. When he got inside and demanded cash from the safe or he would kill them both the manager immediately pulled his concealed pistol and shot the robber in the chest and face. Several minutes later the cops arrived as would be expected and gathered evidence as usual. The manager is looked upon as a local hero by most in the community now (no charges were filed). Good thing he didn't follow company policy which forbids employees from carrying weapons of any kind, or the police would probably have been gathering the other kind of evidence once again.

I will say one thing regarding the folks who have indicated they keep a gun in their bike. Leave it at home!!! If you are not willing to be trained in the proper use and means of carrying a gun for self deference do not carry one ever. I say this for two reasons:1. Crimes committed with firearms occur 95% of the time with stolen guns, many of which are stolen from vehicles. A gun left in a vehicle and discovered by a thief will always be stolen, and will very likely be used in multiple crimes before it is recovered by police. You don't want to be responsible for that. 2. By the time you realize your life is at stake and you will not survive without the use of deadly force, that gun may as well be on the other side of the earth. And because you are not used to carrying it you would probably fumble around with it even if you could get to it. By that time you would only have caused the whole situation to escalate much worse than if you had just not had it at all.

As for being prepared out on the road, there are any number of ways and definitions. The original question implied a desire to know what everybody else is doing more or less than he listed in his opening entry in the thread. I personally like to cover the basics on my own as many have listed in their replies. And I think most of the items folks have listed could be useful. I think that self sufficiency is a great American trait that many of us riders possess, and we gain a great deal of satisfaction and personal reward from being able to “save the day” if you will.  But I do carry the means to contact others for help if it does get a little more complicated, and I’m guessing very few if any of us leave the house without our phones any more.

Oh and regarding the handgun, since I have the right, and have thoroughly prepared myself to properly use it, I fully intend to be the boy-scout that is prepared for the time that my wife, friends or fellow citizens are faced with a deadly threat that cannot be stopped by any other means. In my book there is only one thing worse than a murderer, and that’s an able bodied man that is prepared in his mind to allow one to kill innocent, helpless people.

varyder - 2012-02-11 7:06 PM ...yeah Don, I wonder too? Why hasn't someone come up there and whooped up on you yet, eh???

Americans tried a couple of times - and got their ASS whipped (s'true - check your history books).

They found out we make better Friends, than Enemies ....

I know it's true, and you all haven't been messed with since...