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It was a nice morning here, so I went out to work on pruning fruit trees and some garden things.

I heard some motorcycles across the valley, mostly because it is flooded and reflects sound well. I thought at first they were the usual ninja bikers doing 130 mph on the back roads, but within a minute my idea changed. Not the screaming donor cycles, but a more subdued and smooth sound. They moved across the bottom of the ridge on the road, I estimated there to 3 to 6 bikes.

They then moved out and came my way. I went out to get a view of the main highway and counted 13 of these touring road bikes. Moving right along 80 to 90 mph. They went in town and picked up some dude on a Harley, came back out the highway and off to take a run around the lake.

Riding around the lake up about 300 feet in elevation with a 1,000 foot ridge between us, I was still able to hear them clearly, and the Harley especially. Without the Harley, they would have been noticeably quieter.

I thought there were 3 to 6 bike and there were 13. Even though they make some noise, you simply cannot estimate how many there is by noise. It seems this might be a good way for a light calvary type unit to move around. Work excellent if you had to move around urban areas.

I tried posting a link, but this is problematic sometimes.

2010-yamaha-XT1200Z-Super-Tenere.jpg
 
Yeah some of the new bikes with stock exhaust is amazingly quiet.

A couple years ago we were on a bike trip and there was a Honda 1000 sport bike getting fuel. I was expecting awesome sound out of it when he fired it up. It was so quiet you could barely hear it.

With my ZZR 600 I did a Two Brothers slip on and it sounded good, but was kinda loud with no noticeable performance difference.

With my Kawi Concours I did an Area P full system with computer and air filter. It has a nice low even tone, not too loud and sounds really good. With this set up there is a very noticeable difference in performance but it was a much higher cost.
 
Yea to bad bikes can be taken out with a single strand of 1/8" aircraft cable strung across a road.

Or bad weather...I'd recommend an ATV over a motorcycle.

Mind you there is something to be said about the logic of towing a trailer with a couple mountain bikes or a motorcycle so you can stay mobile. The last thing you ever want happen is to be stranded on a road with a bunch of sheep.

How many people keep water in their cars? How about a blanket? It blows my mind...

*edit*

But the last thing you want to do in SHTF/TEOWAWKI is be on a road.
 
The advantage of these bikes is for quite movement, Light Cavalry, but dependent on fuel. A horseman can do the same but horses have their own disadvantages still mobility equals survival in many situations
 
No one mode of transportation will fit all be all. My point here is just what erudne points out...quick movement. Even if the OPFOR is mounted in a heavier vehicle, 1 well placed .308 rounds disables that vehicle, unless suitably armored. My son was a platoon sgt in Iraq. They were a QRF, Quick Reaction Force mounted in about 4 MRAPS. When sh*t went bad and others needed help, they rolled in from the base and took care of sh*t. Concept and idea is the same. QRF for suburban areas. If I was faced with much off road, then ATVs are the way to go, although your speed drops big time.

I have a bike rack to mount on my Explorer, that is a good idea.

Riot points out the obvious...I was east bound on 99W into Dundee yesterday when it all screeched to a halt. Fortunately, I see every thing like this as a drill. I was reasonably familiar with the area, asked the wife to get the map out and I took off on some side roads. Went around the problem quite nicely.
 
This is why you don't put performance tuned exhaust on your vehicles.

My 20+ year old cherokee you get more than 20' away from it, and you can barely tell it's running. The important thing with vehicles, is making sure you suppress the dome lights when working at night.
 
Just a hint I learned years ago from a wise old man. Bikers were coming in at night and tearing up his fields. He ran a piece of Scotch tape across the road they used. At night tape looks just like a cable in a headlight. Every one of those bikers went under the tape and it was still there in the morning. There was a lot of screaming obscenities but the jot the message and never came back.
 
The advantage of these bikes is for quite movement, Light Cavalry, but dependent on fuel. A horseman can do the same but horses have their own disadvantages still mobility equals survival in many situations

Yes them hayburners do have their disadvantages, but we keep a couple around for moving distances in road closed or roadless areas. They can be Elk packing machines, same goes for whatever needs hauled. Don't want to offend anyone here, but horse meats very edible and can be damn fine fare as well,,,,, just in case.
 
A lot of motorcyclists immediately put loud pipes on their bikes.

The pipes that come from the factory are usually pretty quiet, but often still louder than a car exhaust.

Yeah, but some are just for the noise but like cars, many are for actual performance. I did a full exhaust system and a chip in mine.

On my Concours my performance went up dramatically, but I also went from ~38.5 MPG up to ~42 MPG, even with spirited riding. I do roughly 500 miles a week so it does make a difference.
 
No one mode of transportation will fit all be all. My point here is just what erudne points out...quick movement. Even if the OPFOR is mounted in a heavier vehicle, 1 well placed .308 rounds disables that vehicle, unless suitably armored. My son was a platoon sgt in Iraq. They were a QRF, Quick Reaction Force mounted in about 4 MRAPS. When sh*t went bad and others needed help, they rolled in from the base and took care of sh*t. Concept and idea is the same. QRF for suburban areas. If I was faced with much off road, then ATVs are the way to go, although your speed drops big time.

I have a bike rack to mount on my Explorer, that is a good idea.

ATVs are good for hauling more cargo/personnel, and for utility, but their terrain capability lacks a lot when compared to a good dirt bike, especially in the woods of western OR where it can be hard to get between trees and over obstacles.

They also make quite a mess when stuck, and get stuck they often do. I can often tell when the quads have been through a trail, it is a mess, it is much wider, and there are usually wallows where they have gotten stuck.

Riot points out the obvious...I was east bound on 99W into Dundee yesterday when it all screeched to a halt. Fortunately, I see every thing like this as a drill. I was reasonably familiar with the area, asked the wife to get the map out and I took off on some side roads. Went around the problem quite nicely.

99W has turned into a bit of a mess both ways, from Newberg to McMinnville - especially around Dundee every weekday about 5PM. Fortunately, as you point out, there are often detours and it pays to know them.
 
How about a stick thrown across the road? Yep don't take much
For dirt bikes and good riders, it would take something like this to stop them:

tree-across-road.gif

and only then because it is up off the road:


I am going to take some of my logs and setup a practice area for riding over them.

Actually, some bikes might fit under that first tree if the rider was determined enough.
 
And I can barely hear myself fart. I'd kill for 2 good ears!!!!

The other day I was outside cutting up wood and I had on some HL powered muffs. I didn't have them turned on. I stopped and took them off while resting. I heard a neighbor dog barking, just barely so I turned them on and was dismayed with how much more I could hear; the wind, three dogs barking instead of one and a lot more going on.

On the one hand it is nice that everything seems quieter (except for the ringing), on the other I know I am missing a lot. I really need to get hearing aids. :(
 
Agreed, but you will probably survive it in a car/truck vs. on a Motorcycle...
It depends on the cable, but yes, there is a greater chance of survival.

If you want a relatively inexpensive barrier against vehicles along a perimeter then a stout cable with periodic stout posts, stretched tight, can do a lot.


And you can hide it in vegetation. This and a ditch and embankment, can channel vehicles into having to use a road. If the vegetation is something like brambles and/or other hard to walk through vegetation (holly trees work) then that discourages foot traffic. Hiding concertina in the brambles helps too but would open you to liability if the ROL was still in place.
 

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