My ideas have been reinforced. Cars/trucks do not work for evacuations when 2 million others are leaving at the same time.

You need something different. Like a hybrid motorcycle, which is part street part dirt bike.

Recommendations? Also, how to evacuate your whole family since bike only fits 2 people at a time and can't carry much?

I like my 400 Yamaha Kodiak ATV. 4WD and plenty of room for gear. It's not street legal but in a mass evacuation scenario who's going to notice?

Regards, Vince

I'd have to go with ATV also. Room to cary gear, and all important gas cans. Not as easy to lane split, but better on the median and shoulder.

The main issue with motorcycles and ATV's is range as they usually have small gas tanks.
I have only seen pics in the news about the main highways, what about all the side roads, how full are they. I know when we have something major happen here the highways backup but the side roads still move decent.

Perhaps soem of our LEO members can chimn in, but I would not want something not street legal. Even in a catastrophy, there will be some LEO who feels compelled to sideline you.

It might not be street legal, but who will be restricting you to the street? <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Has anyone seen a true hybrid, gas-electric or diesel-electric, project built on an ATV or a Gator?

I seriously doubt that, in an emergency of this magnitude (Katrina/Rita), that there will be any law enforcement officers available--let alone who will care-- to enforce such a relatively minor infraction. If any are so inclined then they better be on ATV's or dirtbikes, because they'll never catch me otherwise. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Regards, Vince

We had a quite grand flood here in 1998. I personally witnessed a man pulled over for an inspection sticker violation at the edge of a low water crossing. I'm sure there was more to it than that, but he did something to p them off, like drive on the shoulder maybe?

I've wondered who would be restricting the streets too? I've seen a couple traffic jams where people got tired of waiting and pulled the 4x4 lever and drove through the grass to the next exit, why stay on the road if your about to loose your life in a big storm?
My parents have a John Deer Gator, it holds 5 gallons IIRC and has the bed behind which could carry more. I've had it up to 45mph before so the performance is close to motorcycle/atv level. Its kind of wide for some places though.

I know they make combonation dirtbike/streetbikes. They arn't the best thing on and off road, but they work and they are street legal. Personally I would see if I could change it to a diesel motor, get 200 mpg, and carry a 5 gallons of diesel on the sides with those side saddle gas carriers and a bag with my gear on my back. Figure 8 gallons of diesel or so would get me 1,600 miles. But, I haven't seen anything like that yet. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

I can't speak for everyone, but for myself, I may stop someone if they drew attention to themselves by doing something stupid, like jumping approaches, but in a mass evacuation it is an emergency. Also if you are off road I'll never catch you.

As a sidelight I used to race and ride as a kid. There wasn't a cop that could catch me either. <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

As long as you had proof that you owned the machine you should be OK. There are however in any line of work there are "Rookies" who are by the book regardless of circumstances, so you are taking your chances. The main problem I see is getting home after the storm, tec. has passed. Then the laws will be enforced and you could have trouble.

Dual sport bikes on the other hand are a great alternative and with the addition of an oversized (enduro) tank they are good for a long way. Also most street bikes are better off road than their owners give them credit for, just stay out of the deep sand and mud. Even with a stock gas tank they get about 40+ mpg and with a two gallon tank thats 80 miles. If you strap on a 2 1/2 gallon spare you have almost 200 miles.

Oh the other thing that may get you noticed is strapping long guns onto the bike. Some cops get funny about that especially in urban areas. I still have an old Honda CT90 (looks like a girl's bicycle) that I use for bird hunting in the fall. In fact I was just waiting for my boys to get off the school bus so we can go. Take care, and stay safe.

It is still better to be tried by twelve than carried by six.

http://diesel-motorcycles.com/models.htm

I want one of these. <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Interesting bike, but not available just yet.
I have been riding motorcycles for 40 years both on and off road, and I actually write motorcycle travel books for the southwestern U.S. (shameless plug) [url=http://www.southwestmotorcyclerides.com] is my web site. I have ridden over 500K miles on bikes. More of that riding has been road riding on Harleys, but I have also had many dual sport bikes, which is what you want if you are looking at a bike.
Let me suggest two good ones: 1) Kawasaki KLR 650 is a very good dual sport and has a 6.5 gallon gas tank for great range and 2) a BMW Paris-Dakar dual sport. These are no longer in production, but you can find some around. they have a 9.5 gallon gas tank for extreme range, but they are somewhat top heavy and I call them a pregnant waterbuffalo, but they are a good bike.
Having said that, I would agree with others that an ATV is better for bugging out of clogged cities. You are much more stable, can carry MUCH more (including gas) and the newer EFI ones are getting better gas mileage all the time. The Suzuki KingQuad has a 4.6 gallon tank and gets (your mileage may vary) 20-25 mpg so about 100miles just with one tank, maybe more if you are very sparing in how you ride. With 5 more gallons you can get 200+ miles, not bad if you are trying to escape a storm. My .02.

Are ATVs street legal though?

Most of the time no. I was surprised in WV visiting my parents though when there were a few on the road. Which I don't think is a bad idea, put street safe tires on them and lights and signals and they are no different that a motorcycle or one of those tiny smart cars they keep talking about importing.

Wow. I have fair bit of experience with diesel engines, and I can't imagine the feeling of the vibration of a one cyl deisel directly under my ass for a long period of time. High revs, OK; low speed? Ouch. If HD is doing it, i'll believe it, but I don't necessarily want to ride it.

Although I wouldn't consider this a Hybrid, I think it's fitting in this conversation. A friend of mine introduced me to this motorcycle just recently. According to what he's told me after doing much research, It seems the Russian military has been using this for many years. He called me after witnessing the miles and miles of cars that choked the highways out of Houston. He wanted to resume our alternate route conversation with a new vehicle to suggest. What do you think?

http://www.imz-ural.com/gearup/

Back in the late 90's I read a story about a woman who rode one of these across the upper U.S. border. The only reason she was able to complete the trip was that the Ural distributor knew she was a journalist and supported here by sending or driving parts to her at whatever location that she happened to break down. If you're going to stake yours or your family's life on a piece of equipment, you'd better buy quality.

I've had numerous hybrid/endro/ on/off road bikes. IF you are an expert at off road riding and over 6ft tall then purchase a KLR650. If you aren't tall AND an expert I'd recommend a smaller cc engine. Say a 400-500cc for 2 people or 200-400cc for a single person. The problem with larger CC bikes is that off road they can be hard to navigate really rough terrain. A 200cc bike will be able to go highway speeds and be small, light enough to go over some rugged offroad terrain.

I found the KLR 650 had a poor turning radius (for a bike) and it was a little tough to lug around especially when going over hard terrain. On road and on light duty offroad it rocked. The tank was huge and it has a LOT of pep to spare. The only other issue I've found is that liquid cooled engines MUST have a quality rad guard. Personally, I prefer air cooled engines (simpler, no radiator to pop, no fluids to monitor).

These are just my thoughts, take them or leave them.

If you know how to ride a bike I'd get a bike over an ATV any day. Just pack relatively light or have supply drops enroute if you can't.

-Nim

"If you know how to ride a bike I'd get a bike over an ATV any day. Just pack relatively light or have supply drops enroute if you can't."

Me too, but then what do you do with the girlfriend? And the dog? You can all go on two, or even one, ATV. And an ATV can be ridden by someone with zero riding skill, unlike a motorcycle. And since you can pack more weight, you don't have to worry about supply drops.

Regards, Vince

Edit: It strikes me how very different everybody's evacuation needs could be. How many people? How much gear? How far to go? What terrain? How much gas/gear/sleep do you need? How fast do you need to go? What are you running from? Where are you going?

What I take as gospel could be pure bunk for somebody else.

I've given this issue a little thought and I think a good solution is a small dual sport bike (mine is a Yamaha TW 200). It is capable of carring some gear, going off-road, or travelling most roads.While full speed interstate travel would be unpleasant with this bike, it is small and light enough to cary on a hitch mounted dirt bike carrier. This makes it possible to have two vehicles without a trailer. I use mine to avoid towing a car behind an RV, but it would server well in an emergency. The bike gets 70+ miles per gallon (with a two gallon tank) and will handle some very rough terrain. I can even share fuel with my triple fuel stove using my camping fuel bottles as an extra reserve.

Marcy

I want one of these!
http://www.terracarry.com/9600series.htm

Very cool indeed !

No kidding, very cool ! I want one too !!!

Something like this is a cheap / reliable / easy to maintain option:

Ducati Condor 350

I don't understand why motorcycles don't get much better gas mileage. That Ducati, for example, has a 16 hp motor and gets 52 mpg, about the same as a Geo Metro that can carry 4 passengers and/or a lot more cargo, and has 5x the curb weight. What's the deal? The Honda Insight gets even better mileage (around 70 mpg) and with a 10.6 gallon tank, has around 700 miles range.

This is what I'm looking at

http://diesel-motorcycles.com/

enjoy
Brad