gerv 

Read this funny article in the Daily Beast, Where are the Bicycles in Post-Apocalyptic Fiction?

Author points out that bicycle might not be ideal for traveling large distances, but have a distinct advantage over wheelbarrows, horses, cars with no fuel.
Quoting futurologist Randal Parker:
Don't you think a bicycle would be ideal after the Collapse?

bici_mania

I often find myself thinking about that sort of thing, I have become a fan of apocalyptic movies and tv in the last few months and have wondered why no one rides bikes. On film I imagine it is because it isn't as dramatic mad max cars and killing people for fuel.

I think "what would be your choice of bikes in a post apocalyptic world?" Is an interesting question.

Roody

Probably a mountain bike--rugged, versatile, easy to get parts.

Artkansas 

This thread from a few months ago seems oddly appropriate. https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ght=revolution

fietsbob

tires will be history..

Artkansas 

In The Storytelling Animal, Jonathan Gottschall posits that involved story listeners/readers not only don't worry about disparate details, they don't even notice them. The story holds us in thrall.

Most people live in a car-based world, and have no problem in shifting back in time for alternatives, stories have helped them live in those times. They don't even think of alternatives that are possible today. The wild west, King Arthur and ancient Rome are more easily accessed by most people than thinking that the answer to post-car travel was always there, on the side of the road.

Artkansas 

Once again, this has already been discussed on bikeforums. https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...-for-Commuting

wolfchild

Usefulness of a bicycle after the apocalypse, would depend a lot on the location of a person. For example if there are 3 feet of unplowed snow then a pair of snowshoes or xc skiis may be a better option.

zeppinger

Or three feet of dead bodies.

Roody

I'm thinking that zombies probably can ride bikes?

sauerwald

We moved to California 3 years ago, and my wife is very paranoid of earthquakes. We have a shed in the back yard with emergency supplies, and one of the things that she set up was a messenger bag for me, to keep in my desk at work, which I should grab on the way out the door after the big one - it has in it, among other things, a spare key to my bike lock. I expect that after a big earthquake, it would be easier for me to get home on the bike than by any other means.

gerv 

Wouldn't you think someone could figure out how to create some tires from all the car tires we have lying around? I'd be more concerned about spokes and chains. Wonder how easy it would be to manufacture in your back yard?

Roody

If things ever get that bad (and they won't), many people would die, leaving behind all their bikes and other stuff. It would be a time of abundance for the few survivors. At least that's how it was after the Black Death in 14th century Europe.

(This is assuming that the apocalypse wasn't caused by something like a huge flood that wrecked the bikes and other stuff.)

bragi

Bikes depend on the same high level of industrial infrastructure as cars do. They need paved roads, or at least well-maintained dirt roads, a steady pipeline of manufactured parts, and a set of rules that basically says that you're not allowed to kill someone just because they're vulnerable. In a post-apocalyptic world, bikes would not be physically possible, and even if they were, the people who used them would become prey pretty quickly.

For what it's worth, I think talk of apocalypse is counterproductive, even dangerous. Have you ever hyper-focused on a huge pothole in the road, only to hit it head-on and gotten banged up? Imagine what happens when an entire culture morbidly obsesses about its destruction instead of obsessing about what needs to be be done next to improve things.

MichaelW

I have noted before that after a large natural disaster (earthquake, flood, tsunami, hurricane etc), the first transportation to get going are people on bikes. It is a staple cliche of newspapers to show a guy cycling through a flooded road. The security situation, post-event is normally pretty safe. People tend to come together rather than eat each other.

This discussion does raise the interesting problem of how do you make a bicycle. The critical elements are ball bearings and chains, most of the other items can be made in small workshops. Even today there are people hand-making tyres and wooden rims.

Roody

For example, I believe the Wright brothers actually MADE bikes in their small shop in Dayton, OH. I donT know if they made the chains and ball bearings. Even cars were made in small shops before Ford and Olds figured out how to scale up. There were over 100 small car manufacturers in Michigan alone prior to about 1910. I wonder if something similar would evolve in a post-apocalyptic world.

JoeyBike

I bought a book for a friend of mine who is a big Zombie Apocalypse movie/game fan. The book is called:

The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead


I flipped through it before I purchased it. The #1 means of transportation to avoid harm from the undead is a bicycle. Quiet, faster than zombies, and can get away from the city to remote parts of the country. Interestingly, the #1 weapon....a sword. Quiet, efficient, never needs reloading, probably won't malfunction under duress.

You see, the problem with using a bicycle after an apocalypse if you are trying to make a Hollywood movie or best selling book: The hero(ine) would escape danger in about half an hour. Then what?

muu

A flat tire when they least expect it puts them right square in Zombieville. Zombie Bike Shop owner is carrying the last patch kit on earth.

JoeyBike

Keep a set of Schwable Marathon Plus tires on one bike with some Stan's No Tubes sealant in each tube and you should not get a flat tire for many years. By then, the zombies/road warriors will have starved/killed each other.

I have covered nearly 10,000 miles on bike tours without a flat tire, albeit on roads cleaned by non-anarchy before-the-apocalypse means. Punctures are generally not a problem when using quality, flat-resistant rubber. I would bet my life on them, and do - as getting a flat in certain neighborhoods I commute through would be almost as bad as Zombieville for a breakdown.

gerv 

The chain itself would probably be the most difficult to manufacture. But they were made in what were essentially small workshops. You can see below how much is involved in making modern chains.

I can see that keeping a bike on the road would be difficult, but you could probably figure a way to make some parts.

https://www.livestrong.com/article/36...f-bike-chains/

JoeyBike

The bicycle is certainly a product of the Industrial Age, but after the Apocalypse, even assuming many people survive, there will be bikes, and subsequently bike parts, lying around for decades - especially the ones stored indoors and at least out of the rain. Way before the supply of bikes run out, roads and such will be reabsorbed by Nature fairly quickly leaving only "goat trails" or wagon tracks. Nice thing about most bikes, if the going gets too tough they can often be carried or at least stashed for later use.

agent pombero

The biggest question is will there be bicycles and sex in heaven or hell?

grizzly907la

Absolutely. Military's around the world have used bicycles to traverse hundred's of miles of rough terrain, transporting troops, scouting and encircling operations. A basic bike is easy to maintain, requires easily attainable/fabricated parts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_infantry This article does a good job of breaking things down. Granted you can't travel as fast as a car, however you can trek over long distances with a bike, though it would take longer.

Dahon.Steve

My concern would not be running out of bike parts or tires. It would be other people!

During Hurrican Sandy, I had to ride in bad neighborhoods that were pitch black with no lights other than those on my bike. Any person could have taken me out with no problem. I suspect that after the Apocalypse, travel will only happen during the day and with a gun. Even then, it will still be dangerous since a bicycle will be worth its weight in gold.

shipwreck

I don't think the author has actualy read or watched much P-A fiction.

Off the top of my head is Stephen Kings "the stand" Many characters in the the book rode bikes. One character even had the realization that he was an idiot for not doing so after getting heat stroke walking.

And there was a show called "Jeremiah", starring Luke Perry and Malcolm Jamal Warner. There were lots of cars(set fifteen years after the plague, never stated what they were running on)but also plenty of bicycles as transport. Thats just two, and I could mention several others. S.M. Stirling and his Emberverse come to mind, but I have not read them all.

As a potter with a kick wheel and wood fired kilns, I have had lots of people remark that I would be set up for off the grid production when the end comes. I never say so, but thats kind of goofy, cause of the sheer volume of tupperware that will be left laying around.
Same with bikes, there would be no real need to worry about manufacturing anything for them, and when the tires were gone, there would be ways to improvize something. By that time our current effete focus on ride quality would not be that important, just something to roll over rutted paths while pushing the laden bike with a stick lashed to the bar. AND, if they were not all eaten, by the time tires were gone hopefully the horse population would have gone up.

And I bet that the most used bikes would be the venerable Schwinn varsity, continental, and collegiate. No special tools, built like tanks, and there were a lot of them made. Bso's wouldn't make it past a year of use.