Bug out bike. Gear?

[eaglescout123]

I'm trying to build a functional bug out bike, but i'm not sure on what type of bike i will need. along with gear and equipment.

[welderguy]

Not to sound rude , but try google ! then figure out what is best for you , cause I am 6 foot 2 so my choice of bike wouldn't be the same as say my nephew who is 5 foot 6 . as well a terrain in your area compared to mine

[kyratshooter]

Let me ask, are you proposing a BO bike for ever member of your family or do you intend to take off alone and leave them to die in whatever make believe scenario you have in your very frightened little mind?

The series of questions you are asking indicate that you are very young, and as a parent and grandparent I try to be very careful of the knowledge I transfer to children, how it is presented and how it is accepted.

If we knew more about you the people here can be extremely patient and offer good age appropriate advice. We have assisted young adults in all kinds of pursuits, legally of course, and one of your young members once hiked across Canada, in spite of our warnings but using our wisdom.

Of course we have not heard from him in nearly a year, so he may be dead and rotting in a ditch on the Alcan Highway like we warned him would happen!

And please, place your age and general location in your profile so it will not be lost in the threads.

Hey!!

Are you on the school computer???

It's middle of the afternoon and school is still in session. You'll get detention if they catch you!

[finallyME]

Go to a local bike shop, not a big box store. Ask them to size you for a mountain bike. If they can't size you....go to a different store. Any mountain bike will work. But, a properly fitted bike will work the best. Everyone needs a bike, regardless of bugging out or not.

If you want brand recommendation, I am a TREK fanboy. I look on the classifieds and buy used ones. Specialized is also good, as well as Cannondale. There are a bunch of small brands that are good as well. If it is in Walmart, or a big box sports store, I would recommend against it. I have made that mistake too many times.

[LowKey]

Hey, I got a decent mountain bike in Sears about 10 years ago. Granted I don't abuse it a lot. But it certainly hasn't rattled apart yet. Only thing replaced is tires and tubes and back brake pads.

I don't ever plan on bugging out if I can help it. And certainly not on a bike.

[kyratshooter]

"Back in the day" I had the experience of be a newspaper carrier in a small town. Rain, shine snow or sleet I had to get those papers into the hands of pre-computer, tweeter, face-book, Drudge Report and CNN users. The paper was a big deal back then.

I had a big route and carried it on a bicycle. 250 papers daily and nearly 500 on Sundays. Sunday was the big one with colored comics. Thursdays were also bad due to super market coupons.

I was carrying a big load on that bike and it was back before anyone knew what a "mountain bike" was. The bikes were a "business expense" and I bought my own rig. They were standard single speed bikes with coaster brakes that we refer to as 'cruiser bikes" today. Price back then was $29.95 at any Western Auto or Sears store. Most were "store brands" made by the Murray or Huffy companies.

I had a HUGE wire basket on the front handle bars braced down to the axle on the front wheel. I also had wire saddle baskets (painers) on each side of the rear wheel. I would empty that trio of baskets twice each day and three or four times on Thursday and Sunday.

I expected my bikes to last about a year of hard daily use. The route was about five miles and I rode the bike to school each day for another mile. That did not include the miles I clocked on it riding with my buddies as a recreational/social activity, which could be several hours daily.

I never camped off of the bikes, never ran away from home (bugging out), but I did carry some pretty weird loads on them when necessary.

Bikes are still the most efficient method of human powered transportation and I can see them being used in times of fuel scarcity, as they were in England and Europe during WW2, or in urban areas where vehicles are prohibited.

Hopefully they will remain recreational transportation for my lifetime. I'm too old to peddle two miles to the Dairy Queen and back every day.

[Rick]

You are only as old as you feel, brother. Plenty of room in that basket for Dilly Bars.

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[madmax]

Get sized. Go full rigid. Less to go wrong. Carry 2 inner tubes and patches. Bike pump and chain lube. A bike trailer really helps on the weight. Don't buy from Wally world.

[hayshaker]

a good tool kit is a must and kevlar tires .

[tundrabadger]

Properly sized bike is key... I tried riding my stepdads bike once, and since he is 5'7 to my 6'3 it made me want to pull my teeth out. But my own bike, which is the right size for me, I can ride for hours. Keep that proper size bike maintained, the chain and gears oiled, and invest in light bug out gear

[Batch]

I have a Trek with standard mountain bike tires. I heard about fat tire bikes after I bought my Trek.

Some of the guys use them to get down trails to deer hunt that you wouldn't want to ride a regular tired bike down. So, I would look into the fat tire bikes at your local bike shop.

The bikes you buy at the big box stores are made with cheaper parts. I bought a Mongoose years back at Walmart. I was riding a 15 mile trail through Shark Valley in the Everglades. The plastic pedal lost its bearing and pretty much burned right through the plastic. So that I was riding in a metal rod for half the trip. Not the most comfortable way to ride a bike.

[hunter63]

"Back in the day" I had the experience of be a newspaper carrier in a small town. Rain, shine snow or sleet I had to get those papers into the hands of pre-computer, tweeter, face-book, Drudge Report and CNN users. The paper was a big deal back then.

I had a big route and carried it on a bicycle. 250 papers daily and nearly 500 on Sundays. Sunday was the big one with colored comics. Thursdays were also bad due to super market coupons.

I was carrying a big load on that bike and it was back before anyone knew what a "mountain bike" was. The bikes were a "business expense" and I bought my own rig. They were standard single speed bikes with coaster brakes that we refer to as 'cruiser bikes" today. Price back then was $29.95 at any Western Auto or Sears store. Most were "store brands" made by the Murray or Huffy companies.

I had a HUGE wire basket on the front handle bars braced down to the axle on the front wheel. I also had wire saddle baskets (painers) on each side of the rear wheel. I would empty that trio of baskets twice each day and three or four times on Thursday and Sunday.

I expected my bikes to last about a year of hard daily use. The route was about five miles and I rode the bike to school each day for another mile. That did not include the miles I clocked on it riding with my buddies as a recreational/social activity, which could be several hours daily.

I never camped off of the bikes, never ran away from home (bugging out), but I did carry some pretty weird loads on them when necessary.

Bikes are still the most efficient method of human powered transportation and I can see them being used in times of fuel scarcity, as they were in England and Europe during WW2, or in urban areas where vehicles are prohibited.

Hopefully they will remain recreational transportation for my lifetime. I'm too old to peddle two miles to the Dairy Queen and back every day.

Man, does that sound like my earlier years...24" Gambles Murphy baloon tires, then 26" Firestone smaller tires ....same big basket, and saddle baskets....year and a half is about right....but I did all the rebuilding.

Later I actually bought a 12 speed racing bike, made in Austria, first multi speed bike in town that wasn't a Schwinn....so light I carried it up and down the basement stairs every day.

After a while I added the baskets to that as my paper bike.......and could carry your whole camp on it....which I/we did many times.
So a use as a bug out vehicle is possibly a real good idea.......
Look at the use they get in other countries and load carried.

As a old guy, my think is a bit different.....
Almost bought Schwinn w/ small 2 cycle motor on it....at a yard sale......Dang, that thing was noisy.

There are electric versions, that could be charged with a solar charger.....don't know how much gear you could carry.

[kyratshooter]

I also learned how to turn a wrench while keeping the bicycle on the road for paper route use. Being a bike mechanic has come in handy several times in my life. I even held a job as bike assembler for a local hardware store during the Christmas rush for several years. The bikes came in boxed and had to be assembled and adjusted properly. Teach all day then go to the hardware store and assemble and tweak two or three bikes before collapsing from exhaustion.

I always wind up coming back to this guy. He rode a moped across Canada back in the 1970s and documented the ride pretty well for that time frame. He is also an all around outdoorsman and had a pretty good website geared to the Canadian outdoor experience.

He was on a moped, but that is nothing but a bike with a minimal motor, not even classified as needing tags or insurances in my area.

He has that thing loaded down like a pack mule!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Muma

Back in WW2 the citizens of France were deprived of access to any petroleum fuel at all. The British were only allowed fuel rations if their need were part of the war effort, so they were basically deprived of fuel for travel too. They developed a bike culture that is still strong.

However, the most bike oriented transport system I have studied is that of Holland. Much of the land is dead flat, so there are no hills to overcome. They have bikes for old, bikes for young, cargo bikes and all sorts of strange two and three wheeled contraptions.

https://www.google.com/search?q=bike...2&ved=0CDYQsAQ

Then there are the bikes that were used on the Ho Chi Minn Trail. They were reinforced for load carrying and the pedals removed, effectively turning them into a tandem wheeled cart never intended to be pedaled.

https://www.google.com/search?q=bike...0QsAQ&dpr=1.35

[hayshaker]

when i was 12yrs i got a huffy roadster for my B-day it was a awesome bike. peddle brakes no gears and fast.
nowadays they call them beach criusers in keywest Conch criusers.

[Patrick's Bushcraft]

Build yourself a "bug out bike", or whatever you want to call it, "Stealth Camping Bike," "Survival Bike," etc, so you can use it to get to places you wouldn't normally travel in a weeks time by foot, and simply to just enjoy being out there. Set it up with the basic necessities that will last for a long time. Camouflage it. Don't start buying equipment for it at Wal-Mart. Start out with a good frame, solid steel is prefered because there's less flex when loaded down, but a good aluminum frame will work. Make sure you like riding it and can see yourself going across country on it. Take your time and get quality, little by little, such as military surplus. There's lot's of good made in USA stuff on ebay and you'll help support US people.
I can tell from experience of owning a couple of setups that you'll want to take a minimalist approach with your gear. Keep it light, ultra light even. It's really a custom thing preparing your bike you'll find. Water bottles are essential. I go into the desert so I carry more water bottles than you may need. Consider your location and where you want to go riding/camping with your bike.
There's a lot of ways you can set up your bike, racks, bags, panniers, etc...here's a bike I'm working when I get time to give you some ideas:
custom bug out bike.jpg

[Canadian-guerilla]

is your bike for speed or weight carrying ?

speed - mountain bike - front basket - rear baskets / knapsack

weight - cargo bike

imho

the Vietcong pushed bikes loaded between 300-400 lbs on the Ho Chi Minh trail


speed vs carrying capacity vs go anywhere mobility ?

what's your priority ?

[GorpJunkie]

Google the Surly Pugsley... I own the Black Ops version. There's a variety of models and price ranges to fit almost any budget, and the accessories are amazingly versatile. They can even handle sand or snow. The forum will not let me post a link, so you're on your own for tracking it down. Hope that helps.

[sjj]

...........

[kyratshooter]

Good luck with that.

My area is not favorable to bike evacuation, though one should never say never.

Several years ago they decided to have a Tour De Kentucky, just like those fancy French fellows. They started in the east and headed west.

Bad mistake!

No one got out of Harlen alive!

[Rick]

...or sober.

Years ago my wife and I road 20 miles a day and did centuries a couple times of year. I have no misgivings about my ability today...or lack thereof...with a bike in hill country. 21 gears were a God send back then.