[AtE] Bicycling in the Post-Apocalypse

[Luke Bunyip]

Originally Posted by Plane

does Basic have rules somewhere on speed riding bicycle, unicycle, skateboard, etc?...

See below.

Originally Posted by johndallman

High-Tech, p. 230.

[MrFix]

One important thing not mentioned is that AtE does NOT assume the world is TL4. It assumes that economically, TL4 equipment is the most readily producable by average small post-apoc settlement. If the world was TL8 before the collapse, it's TL8 post the collapse too, it's just the ability to produce TL8 goods is stunted in some capacity (like by virtue of a lot of people being dead). Even then, ATE only inflates the prices of TL5+ goods, leaving any bans to discretion of the GM.

Purely going off of the book, the PCs still have access to TL8 bikes and spare parts at x16 cost, which makes off-road bike cost $3200. TL7 and TL6 are much more economical in that regard, merely x8 and x4 respectively, making a TL6 bicycle cost $50x4=$200.

In the end it's up to the GM to decide whether all bike factories shut down after the collapse with no one building settlements around their industrial capabilities or what have you, but by default ATE assumes that a society that could build bikes and rubber tires before the collapse is still fully capable of doing so, it's just more expensive. Same with other vehicles like cars, actually, and here bike has some advantages like not needing fossil fuel or some ad-hoc diesel, and not costing thousands of dollars BEFORE the ATE modifiers.

Utility
Bikes seem like they would be useful for getting around city ruins and perhaps as a makeshift cart you could load your supplies and equipment onto. I tend to think that you can't carry enough while riding one to make it worthwhile as transportation over long distances. Over rough terrain, even a mountain bike doesn't seem to offer too many advantages over something slower and more sure, while a regular bike might just break. You can travel faster than on foot, sure, but would there be a premium on speed after the apocalypse?

Bike itself can carry cargo while you ride it. HT120 says TL6 one has maximum load of 300 lbs, with no note on how exactly riding a bike loaded with weight reduces it's speed. There is a note that bike can be used as a two-handed cart, which means that putting your gear on it and pulling it along only gives x0.1 gear weight to you as encumberance. No idea if that works the same for riding on a bike.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by MrFix

In the end it's up to the GM to decide whether all bike factories shut down after the collapse with no one building settlements around their industrial capabilities or what have you, but by default ATE assumes that a society that could build bikes and rubber tires before the collapse is still fully capable of doing so, it's just more expensive.

I would say that most manufacturing these days is carried out in a far-away country, so it wouldn't matter whether the bicycle factories were still operating, AtE it's getting them shipped to you which is the problem. Your society would be limited to what it could scavenge from local supply chains.

[MrFix]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

I would say that most manufacturing these days is carried out in a far-away country, so it wouldn't matter whether the bicycle factories were still operating, AtE it's getting them shipped to you which is the problem. Your society would be limited to what it could scavenge from local supply chains.

Some manufactures remain in their host countries because it's a neat way to launder money, or they produce stuff that takes advantage of cheap shipping. Plus, nothing stops your game from being set in that far-away country, or even better during TL7 when that wasn't popular. Not gonna go into manufacture repurposing WW2 style.

These are all questions that are answered by "Depends on GM" and "Depends on the setting". Since a lot of the thread already involves the answer of "thematically uncool", I wanted to bring up that mechanically GURPS provides you with all the bikes and bike parts you can buy, just at price increase compared to it's source book.