pedal peddlers

PEDAL PEDDLERS
( warning: very poor Internet connection.  Please forgive delays in comments and e-mail )
*

I mentioned a few days ago the huge bite out of my generous minions windfall I spent on bike parts, and I'd like to clarify and expand on that. I don't think bikes are essential for after the apocalypse. They are NICE, but they have a limited shelf life. Just like your deep cycle 12v batteries will die long before your solar panels, the rubber feet of your bike won't last as long as the metal above. Firearms and ammunition can in theory last several lifetimes, if its user isn't blasting away in orgasm inducing semi-automatic, sound and fury signifying nothing ( yes, yes, we'll agree to disagree ), and plastic might even come close to that longevity, protected from the sun.

*

But some things you are just going to have to learn to say goodbye to sooner than you'd wish. You can still use a bicycle as a stationary machine, grinding flour or moving a metal grinding wheel or washing clothes ( one of the best parts of the movie Mosquito Coast. I haven't seen that one since it came out. I loved the book and read it several times, and the movie does capture some of that flavor ), but its use for transportation has limits. And no, you cannot use a hose or similar as a substitute. Lack of a cushion of air will break spokes and potentially crack welds. You can use improvised tires but that is just an End Of Its Life last ditch hack.

*

It should also be noted that airless tires have had a hit and miss-mostly miss-history, but they CAN help keep your bike going past its normal expiration. In my opinion, however, you are getting a 20/80 trade-off ( 20% life increase for 80% more money. The reversal of the regular 80/20 Rule. I could be wrong. I just don't hold much hope after researching ). In short, for me personally, I feel a bike is one of those items to be used and enjoyed, a great tool, but not one that can be counted on for a significant period of time. It is firmly in the Oil Age camp, and sadly, the Consumable Replacement Camp like matches or Mylar bags.

*

So why in the name of all that is good and holy and just have I put so money into bikes over the years, and just “wasted” my one off windfall on bike parts? Because while a bike has mostly down potential after a collapse, the odometer just ticking on its demise with every mile, DURING a collapse a bike just keeps saving you money and resources. With crap gas mileage and insurance, I was spending $20 each trip to town in my old beater pick-up, once a week. At the time bike tires were $15, front wheels $25 and rear $35. Tubes, even Green Goo ones, were about $7. How many bike parts could I buy, monthly, JUST from not burning gasoline ( over $4 a gallon, during the last economic crap storm )?

*

Pedaling daily to work saved me $50 a week just in gas. And while the old workhorse did me proud and got the RV house up to where it needed to be, she was an old tired nag and was starting to need more work than the vehicle was worth. Just two relatively minor repairs and I was out more than what I just spent on years worth of bike parts. And the carburetor and clutch problems were meanwhile getting worse. No one is surprised that taking a bike costs almost nothing compared to running a motor vehicle. But a price comparison is the least of my concerns.

*

My default setting has almost always been NOT owning a car. When I do get one, it hurts my budget far more than most people because I'm used to the savings. No, what had me concerned wasn't how much money I could save but rather, could I have a car at all? This is what most of you should be concerned with. It is why I bought the junk land I did-because cars will not be running soon. Bicycles will be the only option, and that option shrinks by the day. I have screamed and hollered at you incessantly to give up your car dependency. You looked at me as if I had a dingus growing out of my forehead. I said to that, hello! Anyone care to guess how long oil is going to last?

*

Then the Fracking Fanboys grabbed their drums and sparkly unicorn glitter marching band uniforms and made lots of racket proclaiming Fracking Forever! Fracking Energy Independence! One Gazabillion years of energy! I told you years ago-YEARS AGO-that it was looking like 2020 was about going to be it for fracking, from its production history. Just as there was a tiny bit of fracking before it became our savior, there would have been some left, perhaps a million barrels a day, but it wasn't going to be enough to matter ( like ethanol, which did more to give us subsidized cheap meat than it did anything else. From that alone, meat price increases are not surprising ).

*

What this economic depression means is that fracking isn't going to get a slow five year ramp down, but rather almost an all at once production crash. It also means overseas oil importation is going to be in danger, once the dollar inflates enough. The depression didn't kill the economy, fracking oil peaking last year in production caused an economy killing depression. Which kills fracking earlier. But it was going to happen anyway. Now, knowing all that, now that it is reality rather than a theory of mine ( “still a theory! Production resumes at a button push! Happy Motoring Forever!” I already hear you ), how do you feel about your auto dependency?

*

But Jim, you Olympic god, 'Murica still has plenty of conventional oil, and it will be nationalized, and we can ration it and...Yes, yes, very good. I'm sure the most dire of dire scenarios shall not come to pass. Let us concede that. But now ask yourself, how am I going to AFFORD running a car? In case you missed it, government goods always cost more, and supply is disrupted and less produced oil means tar and asphalt shoot up in price and local states will be desperate for revenue, here in three...two...one...and bankers are desperate for profit as their derivatives holdings melt down and so jack insurance costs and car-jacking skyrocket from out of control crime which drives up insurance anymore and should I go on?

*

Okay, I will. Tomorrow.

( .Y. )

( today's related Amazon link click HERE )

*

Please support Bison by buying through the Amazon links here ( or from http://bisonprepper.com/2.html or www.bisonbulk.blogspot.com ). Or PayPal www.paypal.me/jimd303 

*** Unless you are in extreme poverty, spend a buck a month here, by the above donation methods ( I get 4% of the Amazon sale, so you need to buy $25 worth for me to get my $1 ) or mail me some cash/check/money order or buy a book ( web site for free books, Amazon to pay just as a donation vehicle ).

*** My e-mail is: jimd303@reagan.com My address is: James M Dakin, 181 W Bullion Rd #12, Elko NV 89801-4184 ***E-Mail me if you want your name added to the weekly e-newsletter subscriber list.

*** Pay your author-no one works for free. I’m nice enough to publish for barely above Mere Book Money, so do your part.*** junk land under a grand **  Lord Bison** my bio & biblio***my web site is www.bisonprepper.com *** Wal-Mart wheat***Amazon Author Page***Screw the NRA, join the GOA HERE*Unofficial Bison mascot HERE
* By the by, all my writing is copyrighted. For the obtuse out there