Any thoughts here on configuring the best bug out bike?

(or bugging in, as has been noted before, bikes would be priceless in some urban disaster scenarios in which roads are blocked by fallen trees or fuel is scarce.)

Do you start with a road bike? Mountain? Hybrid?

Frame preference? Steel?

I only have mountain bikes. Terrific for where I ride but the knobby tires would be slower on miles of pavement.

Pull a trailer? Panniers? Basket? Backpack?

People tend to underestimate the power of a bicycle. The way Singapore was conquered by the Japanese was because all the troops had bicycles! They were able to carry twice the normal load of food, water and ammo and move twice as far in a day as they could on foot. They call it the Great Bike Blitzkrieg that totally overwhelmed the British Forces there in World War II.

That being said....I would say it depends on where you live. I own a KHS XC004 (2007 model) and it's meant for off road use, but it's plenty good on the road. Going with a "Mountain/Cross Country/Free Ride/Hybrid" model will do in really any terrain. If you're having to cut through grass on a road bike...you're not going to get anywhere. Something with quality tires. If you KNOW that if you cut through a pasture you can shave 20 minutes off a road trip evacuation...then you can easily do that on any bike as long as it's not a road bike. Not to mention road bikes generally are meant to carry just a rider for a few dozen miles at the most. You'd want something that can carry panniers, saddle bags, etc. I've rode many miles with a heavy pack and it's no fun.

Not THE answer, but here is one guys idea. Sycip Custom Bicycle Messenger Bike.

I like my bike for this app: Cro-Moly frame & fork, road bike derailleurs (Shimano whatever), mountain bike headset and tires that can do well on pavement because you'll mostly ride pavement, but not so narrow like dedicated road bike tires. I like the Slickasaurus, but there are other tires that also fit the job description -- wide enough but easy rolling.

When I first rode my bike in Alexandria, VA I got on those cobblestones on Prince Street near Union and that sold me on the wide slicks. Dedicated road tires don't do well with ruts, train tracks and other road hazards. Wider tires are much more forgiving IMO.

I wouldn't mind a Moulton Pylon but with the Rohloff Speedhub 14-speed Internal-Gears and a Brooks Ti Saddle and some upgraded pedals for a BOBike.

I won't even drive on those streets.

Dang.

Just learn to ride your bike over the cobblestones like these old timers on their racing bicycles.

That is so interesting, Izzy. I'd never heard of that before. I Googled and that attack commenced one hour and twenty minutes before Pearl Harbor.

http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/articles/singapore.aspx

"...the Japanese had issued their soldiers thousands of bicycles. Western Malaya had good hard surfaced roads, and the Japanese soldiers rode down them, as much as twenty hours at a stretch. The Japanese had sold many bicycles in Malaya before the war, so they were able to find parts and repairs in most towns and villages. When they could no longer repair the tires, they rode on the rims...."


http://www.ibiblio.net/hyperwar/PTO/RisingSun/BicycleBlitz/index.html#III

"...bicycles rather than horses as a means of troop and light material transportation. This decision allowed the foot soldiers to travel farther, faster, and with less fatigue. Due to the vast number of rivers on the Malay peninsula, and the British propensity to destroy the more than 250 bridges they crossed during their retreat, bicycles allowed the infantry (to continue) their advance, wading across the rivers carrying their bicycles on their shoulders,or crossing on log bridges held up on the shoulders of engineers standing in the stream.

The British could not escape the troops on bicycles."

Another tire you may want to check is the Continental Travel Contact Tire -- semi-slick, good reviews w/ 5 star rating at REI (that's good BTW).

Those certainly would be a nicer ride on pavement.

We do bikejoring in snow, on the Mall and the C&O so need the knobbies for that. I suppose they'd eventually wear down on pavement.

Interesting to see the 72 year old British Sturmey-Archer 3-speed hub gear design is still in use even today and still working after 90,000 miles use.