4hmom

I was recently reading a book about the Nazi occupation of Holland and it talked about since apparently rubber was confiscated the people wrapped their bicycle wheels with cloth rags and rode around. Would that really still be faster than just walking? Or maybe they just used the bikes to carry stuff or maybe to save their shoes since they were probably hard to replace.

fietsbob

Land use has the farmers living in the village, then riding their bike out to the farm.

mustachiod

https://www.bikeforums.net/commuting/351452-wooden-tires-commuting.html

for some reason, i feel the need to post this: Travis Pastrana shoe bike https://www.automotto.org/entry/dc-sh...manage-stunts/

SunnyFlorida

It must of been pretty rough living under those conditions. I wonder what other material they used? Maybe they used tightly woven straw with a nice layer of farm animal crap. Anything to make the Nazi's not want to take the bike.

StephenH

Here in the US, rubber was in short supply. Natural rubber, which was the main variety used, came largely from territories that fell under Japanese rule, and then the increase in military activity meant there was less availability and more need, with the result being tire rationing.

I've seen pictures of a bicycle wheel fitted with small wooden blocks for the same reason. I've also heard of car and tractor tires being filled with various substances to prolong their lives well past the normal stage (including filling tractor tires with concrete).

ZippyThePinhead

I can recall my grandfather talking about driving a truck with plywood tires during the war. He worked for a couple of years stateside before being inducted in 1943.

Sixty Fiver

Wartime restrictions would have meant that unless a product had a military application it may have been in short supply so during wartime tyres would have been run until they were threadbare, booted, and without tubes may have been filled with straw or rags to keep them rideable.

FlatTop

An old friend of the family told me of applying hot tar (probably asphalt) from some road repair crew to his bicycle's rims. He was a kid with no money for tubes and tires. He said the result worked, but predictably didn't last very long.

slowandsteady

Walking speed is about 2 - 4 mph. Even a bike with rags on the rims is going to be faster than this. Plus you can coast on a bike. It is less energy and you can cover much more ground at a higher rate of speed.

tatfiend 

Very early bikes such as the Micheaux (?) had steel tires like on wagons and most carriages of the era. Solid rubber tires came into use on bicycles in the late 1870s I believe and pneumatic tires for bicycles were invented by Dunlop in 1888. Even today most high wheeler reproductions use solid rubber tires.

Remember that during WW2 most bicycle wheels were very heavy gauge steel by ciurrent standards so expedients may have worked which would not last long today.

Robert C

My father told me that during the war he put rope inside his bicycle tire.

StephenH

"Even today most high wheeler reproductions use solid rubber tires."

That would be "all"- there's not a pneumatic bike tire available larger than the 36" Coker tires (and those bikes aren't reproductions of anything, just cool bikes.)

rnorris

An electronics technician at my workplace, now long since retired, experienced occupied Holland as a boy. He told us his mother rode many kilometers on a bike on just the rims to find food for the family. His father was in hiding for 2 years to avoid forced conscription, but fortunately was never found by the Nazis. Their house was near an airfield that was repeatedly bombed by the Allies, so the windows were all blown out and there was no way to get replacements. He had many stories like these, some horrifying to listen to, but his family all survived.

StephenH

See this thread, in particular, the picture on the second page of it.
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ommuting/page2

spinnaker

A friend told me that his father would put wet oats inside his tire. The oats would expand then harden.

tatfiend 

Many expedients were used to replace car tires too during WW2. My parents told of wooden blocks being bolted to rims in place of car tires by some people, and this was in the SF bay area. Definitely a low traction solution IMO so hate to have to try an emergency evasive maneuver or stop.