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.