macteacher

Hi all,

Just wondering how many of you have your commuter set up for national emergencies or any type/form of armageddon. Do you have any sort of contingency plans for using your bike in a situation where cars will not be useable? Im thinking of stocking up on a few extra tubes and small parts just incase if anything ever happens I could be prepared.

mijome07

Don't forget "pepper spray". There will be others who will want your stuff.

Artkansas 

Well, in such a case, I don't think I'll have a job to commute to.

I assume that you are talking about something more serious than a bad snowfall. Most bikes I have are really solid enough that beyond lubrication and flats, they could probably go for a year or more. If you are proposing a situation where parts are completely unavailable for over a year. I think you will have far bigger problems than that.

knobster

I'm building a 72 hour emergency hiking pack that I plan on using a BoB type trailer to carry. In the emergency pack I have 3 sets Slime tubes, but no other parts. Haven't thought this part out very much though.

The recent snow storm here in Oregon and then the flooding a couple weeks later really made me think about emergency use of a bicycle.

Roody

I think you might want to pack a pump with those tubes.

What kind of catastrophe are people worried about?

Allen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYZHvP4tKzU

Square & Compas

Classic, I love it, especially the assless chaps and the flipping the bird, classic.

Cyclist0383

Who knows, but I've noticed a rash of these uber paranoid posts on various forums as of late.

Artkansas 

It's people projecting their fantasies onto the Obama Presidency.

wahoonc

No Armageddon plans here (not really), but I do keep plenty of spares for many of my bikes on hand. I live over 20 miles from the nearest LBS. We live a bit off the beaten path so we always try to keep plenty of things on hand.

As far as using the bike to outrun the zombies...I have used my bike(s) to my advantage after a couple of hurricanes, specifically Fran in '97 and Katrina in '05. During Fran I was in Fayetteville, NC the neighborhood I lived in was completely cut off due to massive trees down across all the roads in the area. I was able to move about freely on my MTB/Commuter. During Katrina I was Jacksonville, FL where I had evacuated to from Mobile, AL. I was back in Mobile within 2 days. The biggest problem was a fuel shortage. Many of my coworkers were spending every other day in gas lines for up to 4 hours to get 5 gallons of gas. Me? I had stocked up on fuel prior to the hurricane, and had brought my bicycle along. I parked the truck and road my bicycle to and from work.

FWIW I usually take my bike with me when I go to out of town job sites, people always ask me why...I tell them it is my dingy/lifeboat. In the US we are seldom more than a day or two away from a gas shortage. I keep my truck tanks at least half full or if working way out of town, I keep them full. If the crap hits the fan I will head for home ASAP, drive as far as I can and cycle the rest of the way. Of course I live right next to a huge military base that probably would be on the primary target list. So if that is the flavor of Armageddon it probably would be pointless to head home.

Aaron

Lizzylou

Hmm, I have a small emergency medical kit in one of my panniers. You know, with bandaids and single servings of advil. Does that count? The kit came in really handy last year on a school field trip when we discovered a tick in the scalp of one of the girls I was chaperoning.

Oh, and I live 3 blocks from the LBS... he stock piles the tubes for me, and I buy them on an as-needed basis. Besides... if it came to that, I think I'd be more worried about getting food than about getting tubes. Keep your priorities in order for goodness sakes.

mickey85

Honestly, I consider my three "real" (not parts) bikes to be in good working order, with solid mechanicals and rubber. Like Lizzy, I keep a small medical kit with me in my saddle bag, with a couple snickers, two tubes, a patch kit, a small pump (enough to get me rolling again) and a spoke wrench. Since one of them is a hub-shift, one is friction shift, and the other is soon to be friction shift, and everything is QR on all but the Free Spirit, I don't bring along screwdrivers or wrenches usually, because in 99% of the instances, they're just not necessary.

With bikes, I'm not too concerned. Think about it. Relatively, they're cheap. They're reliable, they don't need much maintenance, and you don't have parts moving at 4,000 RPM, so you won't have mechanical failures due to that either.

I'd be much more concerned about enough flooding to submerge the bottoms of my cars' transmissions and oil pans.

Doohickie

Nah. When the apocalypse comes, I'm goin' down.

atbman

I assume that, should Armageddon arrive, as an atheist, I will not be part of "The Rapture". I have, therefore, put aside a supply of helium cartridges whith which I will fill my tyres and happily float up alongside the Chosen Ones.

It has just occurred to me that I will need to make further arrangements: since the bike will obviously invert itself (the tyres being the lightest part of the bike), I will need to fit some sort of safety harness from which I can hang, lest the bike depart into the celestial orbit without me.

Should this prove ineffective, I will rapidly seek out a similarly sex-starved pensioner and bonk my way into eternity.

rugerben

Oh g-d he used the p-word!!!! Everybody run for your lives!!!!!!!!!!

CastIron

I carry a wad of bills for hookers and blow. Might as well go out in style.

lil brown bat

I'm caught in a web of indecision. See, we're having a big debate at work right now about zombies: what a zombie really is, what causes them, what they want to eat, how they can be killed, etc. I figure there's no point in assembling an emergency kit unless you know these things, because what would be the point? You could load up on gasoline and butane lighters only to find out that zombies don't burn that well.

Be prepared, definitely, be prepared for Armageddon, it's a great thing to do if you don't have a hobby.

77midget

Get it-it will save your life.

https://www.amazon.com/Zombie-Surviva...2631374&sr=8-1

Artkansas 

Watch the Night of the Living Dead. It's the authoritative source on zombies.



And yes, Zombies really are in black and white.


For something a bit lighter, check out Wristcutters by Goran Dukic. They are not exactly zombies because everyone in their world has arrived there after committing suicide. It's an after-world where everything is slightly worse.

injuryjeff

My bike shop is ready for when the ship sinks.

Why stock up on parts (even though I do) when you can stock up on bikes?

The way I see it, I have 8 bikes. It's kinda of like a dog sled team. When the food runs out, you take the slowest, lamest dog and feed it to the others.

Humm......I should stalk up on dog sled teams.......they could pull my bike, even without gears and with a flat.

In all seriousness. I would assume any somewhat serious cyclist would have a fair number of tools/supplies. My shop always has 6-7 extra tubes, a chain or two, random spare parts, pumps. Makes life easier.

treebound 

Phooey, now I have to go back to thinking about getting a Pugsley type of bike for those go anywhere in any season type of rides.....

kylejack

In the event of civil unrest and rioting, I will riot my way to the LBS and quickly grab what I need while stupider people are still trying to get gasoline.

dewaday

Just make sure the wheels on your shopping cart don't wiggle back and forth.

treebound 

I hate when that happens, it's really bad when rope towing the cart behind the bike....

sonatageek

I suggest reading the book 'World War Z' It will let you know how things will come down when the zombies happen and how to fight them. One of the things the book points out is, post Apocalypse, bike wrenching skills (and the like) will put you in a higher status job then being a banker or PR flak.