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Originally Posted by johndallman

Bicycling isn't Driving (Bicycle), because it's easier than that, but it can be treated the same in most ways. It's a common background skill of the twentieth century, for the cheapest form of vehicle, and sees a revival in post-apocalypse settings but I suspect it doesn't get used a whole lot in games.

Driving requires a confession. I cannot drive (sight too poor) and don't really understand the emotional importance of the skill to so many people. Seeing it used a lot in games for (Automobile) and (Heavy Wheeled) made me wonder about the arbitrary quality of the boundary at 5 tons weight. That's 10,000lb, as GURPS always uses short tons, and since having a vehicle change skill when it gets a cargo loaded or removed seems silly, I presume it's maximum loaded weight, which is the weight in vehicle stats anyway. I could believe in lighter vehicles that had (Heavy Wheeled) characteristics, like vertical steering columns and air-brakes, and ought to use (Heavy Wheeled), but that comes under Rule Zero.

Piloting has a similar arbitrary boundary between (Light) and (Heavy) aircraft, and maximum take-off weight is a standard attribute for real-world aircraft. One could change the division to (Single-Engine) and (Multi-Engine) since single-engine aircraft over 20,000lb MTOW are mostly jet fighters capable of over 600mph, and thus (High-Performance). Air crashes are deadly, hence Piloting has an important rule for critical failures: if your skill is 15+, re-roll critical failures, which only happen on a further failure.

Vehicular dodge is Handling + Skill/2; note that there is no +3 as for personal dodges, but Handling has significant variations, in the range +/-4, although most vehicles are in the middle of that range. Skill is the main thing though; do the operator's Combat Reflexes apply?

High-Tech has rules for bicycle movement and load-carrying, notes on Driving, and more vehicles. Ultra-Tech adds more, and the Action series fills in more details.

What have you done with these skills in a game that was weird or amusing? What's missing, or wrong? Does it all feel convincing?

I've never used Bicycling in GURPS. I've built a character in another campaign who was a modest super-speedster with a ruggedly built bicycle for extra speed. And I once ran a campaign where a character who was a Ben Grimm knockoff travelled in a pedalled vehicle—but it was a van with the engine yanked out, not a bicycle.

Bicycles would be very appropriate in a steampunk campaign. The bicycle (a) was the great liberatory mobility source and (b) was the original technology that led to automobiles and airplanes.

Bill Stoddard