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mad max on bikes would be amazing (quokk.au)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/sigh_fi
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[–] 17 points 9 months ago (10 children)

If you think about it bikes are perfect for a post apocalyptic scenario, specifically mountain bikes.

  • They use standard parts that you can find in an any abandoned bike store or department store
  • Great for rough terrain that hasn't been maintained
  • Significantly less moving parts and easier to maintain than a car
  • You wont get trapped inside a bike
  • You won't run out of fuel
  • If the apocalypse started recently and infrastructure is still usable you might be able to use ebikes that can go absurdly high speeds

Now lets imagine how it effects the story:

  • You can dramatically show someone tired desperately trying to bike faster than a zombie crowd
  • You can show cool scenes with people on bikes swerving through a crowd of zombies
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  • [–] 11 points 9 months ago* (1 child)

    specifically mountain bikes.

    • They use standard parts that you can find in an any abandoned bike store or department store

    "Standard" in that there are multiple incompatible "standards" for wheels, hubs, chains, cranks, chainrings, shifters, derailleurs, derailleur hangers, brake mounts, brake fluid, handlebars, seat posts and probably 50 other things I've forgotten.

    And department store bikes ignore most of those standards and do whatever is cheap.

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago

    I'll stick to Decathlon MTBs. Decent enough and veeery widespread here across Europe, probably a better than 50% chance of breaking into a house and them having one of those in the shed/garage. Decathlon itself has hundreds of fully assembled bikes in their big stores. Finding replacement parts would be a piece of cake.

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago

    Bikes aren't great for tough terrain. They mostly require roads or paths. In a post-apocalyptic wasteland there would be a lot of those. But, the good thing that is that when the terrain isn't suitable for biking, you can get off and push the bike, or if truly necessary you can carry it. Meanwhile, if a highway is blocked and you're relying on a car, there's no way you're moving the car to the other side of the blockage.

    The main benefit is that the parts are standard, maintenance is pretty easy, all the parts are sitting there, easily visible, so you can spot the problem and fix it. And if it's unfixable, it's pretty easy to swap for another part. Also, a bike with degraded parts still does a job. If you don't have working brakes, you can drag your feet. If you can't shift gears, you can just use the bike in whatever gear it's stuck in. If the wheel is dented, as long as it still rolls, you're probably ok. Pretty much the only things necessary are tires that aren't completely flat and a drive chain that has at least one working gear.

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