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EMP - Tactical Bicycle To Get Home

Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2015 11:50 am
by Elm City
I work about 25 miles from home. I drive an old Jeep Cherokee XJ. Got the standard Get Home Bag and various other supplies in the Jeep. I’ve been troubled most of all by a possible EMP event which knocks out the grid and most vehicles manufactured over the past 20 years or so.

Walking 25 miles is doable as a long hike over one or two days but I'd like to get home quicker, a few hours at most. I’ve been looking for a decent bicycle to keep stored away in the Jeep, in case I’ve got to abandon the Jeep altogether. I’ve come across this model, the Montague Paratrooper. It folds up nicely for easy storage and appears durable as heck. Pricey, but it is what I’m looking for in a ‘Get Home’ bike. Anybody have any experience using this particular bike, pros or cons? Thanks, EC.

http://www.militarybikes.com/products.html

Re: EMP - Tactical Bicycle To Get Home

Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2015 11:42 pm
by OutOfPlaceNinja
No experience with THAT bike, but I can say that just about any bike will get you home. The two basic kinds I've seen are mountain bikes and "road bikes". Road bikes are a lot easier to get to a decent speed, lightweight, and works well on smooth surfaces. They however seriously lack off road. A mountain bike is a lot heavier and can still be gotten to a decent speed but will require more energy to do so. The main benefit is it can go off road and do decently well (and a small engine can be attached).

On mountain bikes, it seems there are basically two materials used for the frame: steel or aluminum. The steel framed mountain bikes I've had great times with. They are tough and will handle quite a lot of abuse. They are heavier than the aluminum frame bikes though. Also seems the steel frame bikes are getting harder to find. Seems most new bikes sold are aluminum framed. The aluminum frame bikes tend to have bigger bars (can be a problem if you want to put a small engine on it from a kit) and not quite as tough as the steel framed bikes.

If you decide to, you can get a steel framed mountain bike for cheap from somewhere, get a "bike motor kit" (it should be called a bike engine kit), re-sproket the rear wheel to have a heavier spoke, and buy an extra kit and put it in a Faraday cage inside the Jeep as a backup. If worse comes to worse, you can spend a few minutes to remove the engine and chain and scoot on down the road using muscle power (you DO have a socket and wrench kit in the Jeep don't you?). Another motorized option is a DIY or kit for a "friction drive" setup. A weed eater motor can be used along with some commonly found parts to make a simple motorized bike. Wont go all that fast but can save a lot of energy over 25 miles.

My two cents.

Re: EMP - Tactical Bicycle To Get Home

Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2015 11:03 pm
by techman
I agree with ninja,

Any bike is a good option in your case. You can probably find more affordable fold up bikes that you can keep with your at all times. Or get a bike rack for your jeep and keep a bike chained up to the rack all the time.

One more thing I would advise is to practice with it often as well to keep in shape. It is a killer to try such a ride when not in shape. I know.