Bicycles

[wile-e-coyote]

Just curious: How many preppers own and maintain a good bicycle for purposes of getting around if it becomes prohibitively expensive to drive on a daily basis? (Or at least own a good bike)

Recently I've been doing some upgrades and replacements of parts on my hard-tail mountain bike. Mostly because I want to ride it for fun and exercise. But it occurred to me that if things get really bad and gas gets to the point where you really have to make hard choices about when and how you use your car/truck, I might be using my bike to get around.

 

[Davetex]

Watching this one.

 

[baboon]

I have a mountain bike that's rideable.

 

[IXLR8]

Keeping a few extra tires and tubes may not be a bad idea. They would become very scarce and be a decent barter item. They are not very expensive.

 

[ChaseB1991]

Good idea. Never thought about adding one to my plan.

 

[Exile Machine]

I've got an old recumbent that I keep for SHTF purposes. It's a beat up old BikeE, one that was so heavily recalled by the CPSC that the company went out of business. Rides real nice and holds a lot of gear behind the big padded seatrest. All day comfortable. I did replace both of the mechanical parts that were subject to the recall just for safety's sake.

-Mark

 

[Young Gun]

GT Backwoods, an entry level hardtail mountain bike. It's great for most trails and around town, with a good set of panniers you could make it fairly functional. And just because it's late and I'm bored, heres a ton of pics.

 

[ROGER4314]

I have 8 bikes, including a tandem and recently gave away 4 others. I keep a full stock of tires, tubes, parts, special tooling and a professional work stand right here.

In 2011, I rode 3,414 miles on bicycles and logged every mile in the TGT physical fitness threads. There's a heck of a lot more to keeping a bike as reliable transportation than sticking one in the garage. Part of the process is to keep YOU in shape!

Keeping the tires aired up is important as once they go flat and sit that way, they're toast. That means weekly or bi-weekly service.

Using a bike for emergency transportation is a terrific idea if you are serious about maintaining the bike to keep it ready.

Flash

 

[Young Gun]

I run 2 inner-tubes in each wheel/tire to prevent flats (one cut, one normal). So far it's worked great at stopping thorns and small punctures, and it's quite a bit cheaper than converting to tubeless for me. I don't notice the weight difference, especially on a 29" wheel, 30#+ bicycle. You're right though, at least once a week I have to inflate the tubes or they'll start going flat. Same with my motorcycle actually, it has innertubes and they need frequent checking.

 

[ROGER4314]

Once the tires go flat, the tubes deteriorate quickly in the folds where the tire is flat. It helps a lot to hang the bikes upside down so weight isn't on the tire.

For long term use, stay away from "flat proof" type products. With as many bikes as we have around here, I started using that stuff in all of them and started having the tubes POP after the winter riding slowdown. The "flat proof" products appear to weaken the tubes after a year or so.

Keep an inventory of your tires and tubes and when you order them, get extra as they may not be in stock, later.

Get a GOOD tire pump and use them instead of your air compressor. That keeps the tubes dry and .....we need the exercise too, right? I spent $80 on my tire pump and it's been worth every penny! The plastic Walmart pumps go south in a hurry.

Flash

 

[wile-e-coyote]

Good stuff Roger.

I can always get behind buying quality. But I will say that my cheapo Wal-Mart pump has been chugging along for years. I really want to buy a nicer pump but the damn thing won't die LOL.

 

[Mexican_Hippie]

I looked at the 4 wheel "surrey" bikes for the fam. There's 6 of us so I'd still need 2. They're not cheap.

Also they could carry a ton of stuff without the people in them.

I need another project like I need another hole in the head so not going to build my own.

 

[TheDan]

Have a large family? You need one of these...

 

[TxBigfoot]

I recently bought this used Trek. I'm going to use it to ride back and forth to the gym.

 

[Mexican_Hippie]

Have a large family? You need one of these...

Brings a tear to my eyes!

 

[wile-e-coyote]

Just picked up my bike from Bicycle Sport Shop to get it checked over and adjusted by pro bike mechanics. This is a Frankenbike I bought years ago. It's got a good frame that is built tough for big guys, but when I bought it had a cheap component set (Except for the Shimano XT rear derailleur). I've now pretty much replaced everything on the bike with competition quality parts.

One day I'd like to have the frame stripped to bare metal and have a flat black powder-coat put on it.



As a daily driver, I'll admit, this may not be the way to go.

 

[ROGER4314]

I did some bike racing in Kansas City but was too heavy to be very competitive. The track we used was a 3.7 mile circuit around the old airport. In most cases, we raced against a stop watch.

The bike that I used was an Italian frame of some sort and it was rigged with full "Campy" equipment. I need a strong frame. With some of these light frames, I can distort the bottom bracket so much that the chain will jump! From my experience, go for strength instead of light weight.

Some guys spend a thousand Dollars to whittle off a few ounces of weight in their components than slide a water bottle into a cage that negates all of the weight savings!

In Tulsa, my favorite ride was from Peoria street to Keystone Dam, 26 miles away, then turn around and return. I can pretty well go anywhere I need to go....even as an old and large rider!

Flash

 

[MississippiRifleman]

I've been riding the same Diamondback X-link since 2000, and it's been my all around, do everything bike that never quits. I swapped the knobbies out for Michelin Transworld X street tires and added an Old Man Mountain Sherpa rack made for full suspension bikes. I used to put a hundred miles a week on it going back and forth to work at Camp Shelby, and now I'm looking at commuting from McKinney to Plano, but traffic is WAAAAAY worse here and more dangerous by an order of magnitude.