Bicycles After SHTF

I recently came across an article on bicycles as a mode of transportation for preppers/survivalists at Survival Blog, entitled "Mobility Without Petroleum or Electricity." The author goes over some of the different types or classes of bicycles--road bikes, mountain bikes, hybrid/commuter, recumbents, gravel bikes, and single gear--before discussing accessories and equipment for bicycles and a few other thoughts. 

    I've discussed bicycles before (see "Post SHTF Bicycles--Some Thoughts" and "Self-Defense While Bicycling") with both articles including links to other articles and resources. Like many other things involving prepping and surviving a SHTF event, what bicycle to choose is going to depend on many different factors such that it is not really possible to point at any one solution. But having used a single speed bike for two years as a missionary*, including in the winter and snow, I can tell you that such a bike may not be the best at any one thing, but it can probably do 90% of the things you would need from a bicycle as far as transportation and is mechanically simple. But if you are going to be doing a lot of rough riding on trails, you probably need something built for trails; and if you are going to be travelling a long distance on roads (by which I mean trying to cover long distances at a time, not a thousand trips back and forth to the local grocery store) you will also want a different bike; and if you have to do a lot of climbing hills, you definitely will want something with more gears.

    I think the three most important equipment or accessory items you will need for a prepper bicycle, however, are lights (both so you can see and be seen), some way to carry items, and fenders. 

    The lights we used on my mission were small lights attached to a generator or dynamo. When you wanted the light on, you flipped the generator over so the wheel of the generator rested against your front tire (the light and generator attached to one of the front forks). As you peddled, the generator would produce the power for the light. You can still get lights like these. However, you can also use a headlamp (which you should already have anyway) if needed. The advantage of the light and generator combo is just that you don't need to recharge it or get batteries. But it is another mechanical component that can wear out or break down, and it does add extra resistance making it harder to peddle--so, like everything, there are tradeoffs. 

    The prepping bike is useless without being able to carry cargo. The most basic equipment for carrying cargo is some sort of cargo rack to which you can strap items or attach panniers (aka, saddle bags). One time, while on my mission, we had to transport a fairly large TV from the local church to an apartment (and this was back when TVs used picture tubes, not the lighter flat screens of today). While probably not the safest thing to do, we were able to strap it to the cargo rack on the back of a bike and transport the TV from and back to the church. And while most delivery people had switched to gas powered scooters, it was not unusual to see someone delivering food on bicycles with special boxes on the back of their bikes to hold and insulate the food. 

    While panniers are great for protecting your gear or supplies from rain or prying eyes, they have their limitations which is the size and lack of rigidity. I would recommend having a basket of some sort to carry items like milk jugs and other groceries that might be of irregular size or that you don't want squished (e.g., loaves of bread). Better yet, have a couple. A basket attached to the handle bars works well for many items and, if you need to, you can put a daypack into the basket. I've also seen fold up baskets that attach to the side of cargo racks much like a pannier. While I haven't tried them, I've thought that it might be useful to have a basket like that on one side of my bike rack and a pannier on the opposite side. If you want to go low-tech, you can simply strap a basket (a plastic milk crate works great) to the cargo rack. 

    Another piece of gear I would make sure to have are fenders to help keep down the amount of water that will be splashed up onto you or your equipment when riding. 

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* I just want to clarify that it wasn't a simple matter of biking from our residence to a church or some other location at the beginning of the day and returning in the evening. Rather, because we proselyted by stopping people on the street, we were on our bikes all day long, rain or shine, unless we were teaching lessons or taking meal or bathroom breaks. We generally would ride along a route, stopping as needed to try and talk to people, then ride a bit further, and so on. This was all week long (although we took time off on Sundays to go to church and had roughly 8 hours on another day--our Preparation Day--to do any shopping, write letters, engage in recreation, etc., followed by more proselyting in the evening). And, of course, being youths, we also did a lot of crazy stunts with the bikes, raced each other, and used them on trails and such for which they were probably never intended.