Philphine

I didn't know weather to post this in altbikes or here (or if it's posted somewhere already). thought it was interesting though

https://www.google.com/search?q=moto...ive&gws_rd=ssl

never done a bike with a motor, and if I did I'm thinking electric, but one of my future projects is a hacked up mongoose dolomite/massif combo to end up with (a not particularly serious try at) a fat tire edgerunner looking thing. this will probably add some inspiration to whatever I cobble up.

fietsbob

Old Heavy schwinns. with Foam filed tires , since the world will be in Chaos you can not get any inner-tubes ,

buy a Geiger counter too. all the Nuclear reactors will be un monitored.

BBassett

I think electric is a good idea and common sense unless you are the kind of person that would chopper to the top of a hill to coast back down. Some people are too self-obsessed or stupid to understand the consequences. Internal combustion has been superseded especially a 2 stroke engine. The problem with electric is the solar panel you will need to go off grid is going to be expensive. I went with a fully suspended bike rather than a fat-bike because I ride a lot of roads to find great base camps and I wanted a low rolling resistance.

zebede

I think this is the more realistic prediction to reduced or non-existent industrial production.

What can you maintain and keep rolling?

Heavy duty Frames with low maintenance tires.

I HATE to loose the wonder of the ages (the pneumatic tire) but considering that you would have a range extending & efficient (compared to walking) transportation. You would be the KING OF THE ROAD at about 10 mph!

Philphine

that looks serious. haven't forgotten the idea, just letting it develop in my head and as I find parts. I need to get my pic taking ability back, but I have started a regular tire version of the fat tire bike I was thinking about (somewhat. I'm really thinking of it as a hooligan cargo bike). just happened across parts that worked for the idea. it's letting me play with some ideas that may transfer to the fat bike idea because it would be harder to come up with fat bike parts again to experiment with.


I have a few solar panels. not sure if they'd be too big for a bike. i'll need to actually start playing with the idea, and see what motor I could luck across, if I try a motor at all.


thanks all, for the thought on it.

ted m

Heavy bike fat tires. A single speed woukd last a long time.

But if you really want to get into the whole EOTWAWKI (end of the world as we know it) there are tons of forums for that.

Personally, I believe survivors would be those that band together and form communities to look out and care for each other. The lone survivor going from town to town on a bicycle is going to get sniped.

tyrion

And they'll take his bike and make cross-bows out of it.

CliffordK

If you have an electric motor and batteries, then you also have to have provisions to recharge them, otherwise they're just dead weight.

A cargo bike is nice for some things, but can be slow.

There would be advantages of having a pedal powered bike that you can maintain 20 MPH on.

Dave Cutter

When I think survival... I just don't think "Moped"... electric or gasoline powered.

If escaping the city for a survivalist base camp.... a big SUV full of a lifetime of provisions might be my 1st choice.

But on the trailer hitch rack, strapped to SUV's the roof, or... on in the trailer towed behind.... I'd take along at least one bicycle. Likely if just one bike was all I had room for it would be my gravel grinder. Then once settled in a safe place... I could use the bike to explore the area.... meet and barter with the neighbors, and/or even use it as a push bike for carrying heavy loads (like firewood).

ted m

A more practical need might be a short term hurricane Katrina type situation where a bike with racks and some capacity would let you ride to a FEMA type site to get food and water

Dave Cutter

In which case someone in the neighborhood (if not myself) will have a working automobile and we'll just drive over to the water/provisions distribution center. Or call for out of town/state help to drive in with needed supplies.

I would guess that most difficult or emergency situations would more often require "hunkering down" in place (which in my case would be in a city).... than trekking off to a mountain hide-away. Things like storms... or winter cold-ice-snow, weather require shelter-in-place tactics (and supplies). Bicycles or motorized bikes might not be ideal in winter emergencies.

I think when we post about "survival" situations.... however unlikely... we're thinking about war and/or destruction on a species-ending global scale. Like a meteorite storm, or planet killing sized comet. Or pandemic event that takes a third or half of the population.

Or maybe.... climate (planet killing) events followed by nuclear attacks as well as invading troops, weaponized pandemic, a break-down of government, order, and distribution of supplies.

ted m

Perhaps, but bicycles are usually permitted through barricades and walls that get erected for security in times like that. When they shut down parts of philly for the pope, you were screwed without a bike or cart to haul groceries.

KD5NRH

That's why I'd think the best bet is a good hybrid with a gas motor direct driving a wheel, (so no mods to the existing drivetrain, and can still be used if a chain/pedal/crankarm fails) and a provision to completely remove the dead weight of the motor easily with minimal tools when fuel isn't available (without damaging it, as the small quantity needed for several miles on a ~30cc motor could easily turn up later) and lots of cargo capacity.

CliffordK

Chicken?

https://www.bikeforums.net/19568464-post14456.html

Lots of different possible scenarios. I've been going car-free for the last couple of years. I'm not always fast, but I can haul some mighty heavy loads with the bike, and go for quite some distance.

I don't know about "security". I suppose that is a bridge I'll have to cross later if it comes to it.

zebede

I keep a folding bike in my trunk for emergencies.

Dave Cutter

Cool. Are you a bit of a prepper?

Years (decades) ago I had a car that was unreliable and I took to keeping a bicycle in it. More recently... I have a AAA membership and a phone (and I still have a bag of tools in the car). But there have been times when I have thought of keeping a folding bike. But not because I worry about a break-downs as much a finding opportunities to ride.

But to be totally honest... I think there is a drop or two of prepper blood in me. But I am just not ready for a Get Home Bag

zebede

I just have too many bikes! I bought this really nice folding bike off Craigs List, a Mezzo I4, cheap.
I don't ride it much at all, for a while it lived under my desk at work, Now it lives in the trunk of my diesel beetle. Which I only drive on the weekends (short work commute by bike).

I would also like to have a folding kayak in my car, so I am always prepared (for fun!)

fietsbob

Worksman, with solid tires and a steel spoke wheel , They have heavy welded spoke wheels..

KD5NRH

That's actually not far off what I was thinking; small motor mounted to the nose of a front rack, with a friction drive wheel, a spring to hold it against the tire, a detent to hold it away from the tire when not in use, and throttle on a lever that also moves the motor to engaged/disengaged positions. Mount the fuel can on the rack, and basically the whole thing could be removed by pulling the pivot pin and unhooking the spring. Fuel tank could be a regular gas can or any other container with a 1/4" fuel line fitting on the bottom, so you could have a TruFuel quart can for cruising short distances or a 5 gallon can when you head out to look for a new homestead across the country.

KD5NRH

One thing I was thinking would be cool is some sort of mini flat-bottom boat/trailer setup that could be pulled by the bike and carry the bike too; the river that runs through the park has several shallow areas, but would be a free ride at least to Waco about 80 road miles away, then onto the Brazos and down to the Gulf Coast if I had a way to get back. Another possibility would be something that could be made cheaply and easily enough (coroplast and single sheet of scavenged plywood) to justify leaving it at the pullout point with a "free - have fun" sign on it. Since it would only be used for downstream runs in fairly calm water, it doesn't exactly need to be built for an ocean voyage, nor particularly well mounted to the trailer frame if it's to be left at the downstream end; the put-in point would be about a mile from my house. Gear could then be carried in the boat to the put-in, and transferred to the trailer itself for the ride home. Basically, it would cut the effort of a tour to the coast in half, plus seeing a route that most don't. (The Bosque is technically and legally navigable, but with the exception of a few fishermen canoeing short distances, I don't know of anyone actually boating it, and certainly not end to end like that.)

BBassett

This is my favorite survivalist style bike for "looks" alone. It'd be fun to ride but I wouldn't want to ever have to pedal it somewhere. I can't even think of it as "she", but I don't think of my bike as "her" either.

The solar panel will almost have to be foldable like the Hi-Power Cycles - HPC SunCapture 300- Folding Solar Panel and Charger - Hi-Power Cycles A more rigid panel would act like a sail at the worst times.

https://lunacycle.com/luna-5000w-rhino-cargo/

BBassett

The airless tires you mention are getting close. There are quite a few choices now, from solids, solid but multiple density, solid with voids, multiple material builds including carbon fiber rods! Plastic composite with rubber skin. The problem is everyone that isn't trying to sell them still thinks rubber composites (tube or tubeless) provided the best all around ride. But your right about rubber not being something to depend on after civilization fails. For now, I just use a lined and coated 50 gal. barrel that I store tubes and tires in, and then pressurize with nitrogen. Slows the degradation of the natural rubbers extending their life significantly. I started off using Nitrous Oxide but would find myself giggling on the shop floor everytime I had to unseal the container. So I switched to Nitrogen. But I do still use whippets in my CO2 tire charger.

Dave Cutter

A very interesting thread. I was inspired to take this idea to google and get the "popular' idea of what a survival bike might look like.

Mopeds... both gas and electric and various motorcycles, even some specialized diesel motorcycles (the fuel would last forever). And Swiss Army style tough bicycles. All great ideas.

zebede

Likely scenarios include wide spread lowered living standards. So if you see bulk bicycle tubes sold by the barrel, at a price too good to be true on Ebay....please check the date code.

Philphine

part of the idea came from stumbling across survival bikes on you-tube a few years back. quite a few on there.