During an idle moment scrolling through the Google App on my phone I was presented by an article from Bikepacking.com reviewing the Relentless Spur slingshot. It appears to be a catapult (ammunition included) albeit a fancy one with a number of handy bike tools built in.
So what am I missing? Why would a cyclist want a catapult? Are bikepackers now expected to hunt for their meals? Some new cycle sport perhaps, akin to Nordic biathlon with a shooting element?
Genuinely bewildered & interested.
https://bikepacking.com/news/relentless-spur-shot-v2-intro/
It's a US thing, presumably. I remember on the MTBR forums a few years back, discussion of whether you should or shouldn't take your handgun in your camelbak when going on a rider; this I'd guess is the more liberal alternative...
I think I saw the same article pushed to me, didnt click on it, assumed it was some sort of attachment for attaching bags to your bike (given the website) so didnt read further.
As any schoolboy knows though, without a way of bracing it against your forearm, you are severely limited in power based on your grip strength.
It's a US thing, presumably. I remember on the MTBR forums a few years back, discussion of whether you should or shouldn't take your handgun in your camelbak when going on a rider; this I'd guess is the more liberal alternative...
I'm all for a weekly laugh at the bizarre world of the US, but given the remoteness and chance of encountering a random meth lab or cult training camp in some areas; I don't judge them too harshly on this.
It is more sensible for example than purchasing a full size pickup and then still attaching a towbar bikerack, while leaving the truck bed empty.
Catapults started the arms race. True story
Catapults started the arms race. True story
Surely it was the slingshot that started it - catapults were the next step on the escalation.
I could see me using a catapult with stun darts to clear the SDW of walkers on a sunny Sunday mind (Humour)
Catapults, am I missing something?
Probably - takes a bit of practice to become proficient.
I could hit a small greenhouse a fair distance away with my Black Widow!
What was the title of that book on cycling with the advice on how to kill dogs by ramming one fist down their throats while killing them with the other? Proper OGs didn't need sissy things like catapults.
Is the point not just… fun?
Catapults, am I missing something?
Probably - takes a bit of practice to become proficient.
I could hit a small greenhouse a fair distance away with my Black Widow!
I still have my black widdow somewhere. Last time i tried it the rubber snapped and it really hurt.
I put it away again.
Could understand it for those riding in places with far more dangerous wild animals, than we have in the UK.
I had one after too many dog attacks in places like Tibet and the Indian Himalaya. The herders' mastiffs there are huge, vicious and trained to attack. Rabies is common. You really don't want to be bitten by one of them. One of the scariest incidents I've ever experienced was in the early 90s, walking out to the Nepalese border after avalanches shut the road - two went for me as a pack. I honestly thought I was a goner.
Could understand it for those riding in places with far more dangerous wild animals, than we have in the UK
What was the title of that book on cycling with the advice on how to kill dogs by ramming one fist down their throats
How to cycle with a prosthetic arm?
Catapults started the arms race. True story
Surely it was the slingshot that started it - catapults were the next step on the escalation.
I could see me using a catapult with stun darts to clear the SDW of walkers on a sunny Sunday mind (Humour)
Surely it was the throwing by hand of an object?
Slignshots are soooo last year, full on siege weapons are where it´s at now... The real bikepackers are all carrying a mini Trebuchet these days, I also hear Surly are about to release a belt drive gearbox bike that converts into a half scale Ballista.
Catapults started the arms race. True story
Surely it was the slingshot that started it - catapults were the next step on the escalation.
I could see me using a catapult with stun darts to clear the SDW of walkers on a sunny Sunday mind (Humour)
Surely it was the throwing by hand of an object?
Followed by atlatls
Milbro gutty was great back in the day with the aluminium build, leather patch but the 5mm2 rubber used to go eventually with nowhere to buy spare
A few times I've blacked out my thumbnail with a stray bullet, hurt like chuck it did
What was the title of that book on cycling with the advice on how to kill dogs by ramming one fist down their throats while killing them with the other? Proper OGs didn't need sissy things like catapults.
Richard's Bicycle Book - proper eye opener for a teenage Dawes Galaxy owner in the early 80s (I know, I was never cool). IIRC the arm down the throat was the last resort if battering it with a frame pump didn't put Rover out of action!
Carried around here with fishing rods by youths who may (or may not) have been fishing. There is a bylaw banning them now because so many windows have been broken. I can’t see the need to be arrested as I ride my gravel bike off the driveway.
To those mentioning the Black Widow, I raise you with the Diablo. I never got one mind. I managed to hide a BW in a draw at home until my mother found it and wasn't too pleased. The Diablo...it looked so awesome.
My friend had a diablo. Its basically just a deadly weapon.
Catapults started the arms race.Arms started the arms race, surely?
No it was the starter pistol.
Just lofi entertainment isn't it? Ever had an evening sitting around at a camp spot, talking random topics over a beer, skimming stones or aiming pebbles into a pot? Same thing. Easy to pack, easy to make from a bit of inner tube and a stick which I think is where it started. Like anything bloke-bike, after a few years there are techy lightweight anodised versions. I don't have one but I can see the appeal.
I had a black widow when I was a kid, got it from the fishing shop. Those things were genuinely lethal. It's funny now to think of kids messing about with them and a load of ball bearings.
No Xboxes in the 80s, no Insta, to mobiles.
Catapults and ball bearings, home made bows with bamboo arrows with darts as tips, getting your friends to lay down in the street while you ride your BMX at speed over precarious jumps made from scrap wood and bricks.
Or pectoral fins?
A de-evolution arms race? I'm going amino acids, shove that in yr starter pistol.
I upgraded, Black Widow to Diablo to Diablo pro (with the balance weights) we used to sit in the rafters of a mates dads barn trying to hit rats.
Until his dad found out, then we used to go out into the fields and hit empty bottles.
Until his dad found out about all the smashed glass (had livestock in the fields sometimes).
Everyone else got an absolute bollocking from their parents. Mine were never home to answer the phone.
I *probably* still have them in the attic. The catapults, not my parents.
Surely decent riser bars are the basis of a far more powerful catapult than that.
