who has a bike as a bov?  i just bought a klr650 and i'm in the process of setting it up for adventure touring.  i figured a bov bike and an at bike would be set up about the same.  if you got em lets see em...

for patrolling the farm.....Honda xr200r....



Bought the camo paint....just haven't done it yet.....

This....3 four wheelers....JD mule....Kawasaki 125.....rhino..........not toys.....necessary....

Worked for this Kid

You can ride along the railroad tracks and make some serious time.

Here's mine. The side boxes can be used to carry either water or gas between the outside molding and the inside molding.

what kind of boxes are those?  i haven't seen them before...

Hepco and Becker

link

Got the full kit off ebay( new never installed) for 1/4 of retail

That's the way to go. Imagine a Katrina like event. Cars/trucks parked and abandoned on the roadways, and checkpoints.

I'll see you at grandma's house. or maybe not.

Old school tag to learn about interesting boxes.



Don't have a bike but with the way things are selling these days I might wind up with one this winter. Gonna need a big one to haul me around though.



Had this window open forever and now I know about the boxes.  Thanks for the link.

I love motorcycles.  As a matter of fact I make most of my annual income on a motorcycle.  However, as much as I love 'em, I do not regard them as a viable BOV.

First of all, they are far too exposed.  They offer zero protection from anything, including elements and are therefore useless a good portion of the year up here.  Secondly, they are too small to offer decent load carrying capacity.  I cannot get a family of three, plus gear on a bike.

With that said there IS a role for motorcycles in survival.  Not all shtf scenarios involve bug outs and end of the world.  I'd suggest that MOST SHTF events don't involve those extremes.  In most cases SHTF means something less extreme.   Long term economic down turn is a good example:  Zombies are not invading but job loss, hyperinflation and other economic factors can make life tough.  A bike fills a role in these situations. Its a cheap to operate vehicle that gets good mileage.  For what its worth a very very large portion of vehicles on roads in thrid world countries are motorcycles for this reason.

Here is my two wheeled SHTF vehicle:



2009 BMW F650GS (which is a 800 cc machine, despite the retarded BMW naming).  It's not a true off road machine, but will handle trails and gravel without difficulty.  And with 71 horses its far more capable for longer distance highway and commuting than a KLR.

They have good points and bad points. Weather in your AO. Distance to your BOL. The load you expect to carry. Will you be solo or with others?
How protected are you on your way to your BOL? I think it can be a great option. But it really depends on the type of situation you are bugging out from.


Another concern is how well you ride. Do not just buy a bike and leave it in the garage and expect it to be a viable form of BOV.
I wouldnt get on my harley and ride with guys that have little experience....I would not expect someone with little experience to get on a duel sport and ride well in a bug out situation either.

what type of bags/boxes do you have?

that is exactly what my bike looks like.  what year is yours?

My bike is the only reason I could get out of my neighborhoods through the toppled trees after both Andrew and Gustav, in two different neighborhoods. Life in the hurricane zone is a serious of forced preparedness lessons, yet some still amaze me with their refusal to learn. I already know i can strap a lot of gear to it and run halfway across the country, plus 2 full Jerry cans and a large pack on my back as well, with or without 'passable' roads - between, around and through dead cars and the ill prepared if necessary.

there are pros and cons depending on situation, just like everything else.




my family (including dog) fits with our B.O.B.s, guns and extras


(id rather take my truck, but....who knows...)





 

I'm looking for a dual sport, not necessarily for BO,
but for when the roads turn to sheet and aren't passable, even for 4x4s.

use for fetching supplies, to and from work(?), or BO if need be.
still researching........

my thoughts as well...

here ya go.  

Snowmonkey:

The side cases are original BMW Motorrad Vario cases.  They are extremely expensive.  I would not have bought them but the original owner of the bike was a BMW fanatic.  They are great cases, just a little too $$$. They are a little over $1000. I think most riders end up with various aftermarket panniers, usually in Aluminum.  The varios are neat in that they do adjust for width.  

Here's mine, also have a trailer hitch carrier which hauls it nicely behind the 4Runner in the background.

if you just got a KLR, you should dig up the KLR 650 thread we had here a few months ago.

but, at any rate, for KLR specific stuff head over to www.KLR650.net for all the tech info on what needs work on this bike. ot has a few weak points from the factoory.

i havre a heavily modified KLR 650 and also a modified 250 that i'm fininishing up some work on. sorry, no pics handy.

what bags do you have on the bike on the right?  


that is one hell of a sig!!!!!

do you remember the exact name of the thread?

me and the wife were just talking about using a bike as a BOV.. now we just have to learn to ride one..

2007. The 08s were out, but I wanted an 07 with proven history, versus the new style.

Interesting thread. I am wondering if those who have bikes as BOV have it setup to possibly pull a small trailer?? I have thought that this would be a pretty good idea. Any thoughts from the Pros?

I have a KLR as posted on page one . But am very interested in getting  a Rokon.



Between the side car( 600lb load capacity)  , and the trailer(600 load capacity). 4.5 gallon of  gas or water per Wheel on the bike and 2.4 gallon on the sidecar wheel.  Plus all the other accessories from a PTO generator to the farming implements. It's not the fastest bike in the world but getting there is more important then getting there fast.

I have a KLR too, it's good a a lot of things but I don't know about as a bug out vehicle-for one reason only: It doesn't have good acceleration at freeway speeds.

When you ride a KLR solo on the freeway you can mix it up in rush hour traffic fine. you can zip in and out of 75-80mph traffic with ease and it will top out around 105. Putting a tall windscreen knocks 5-7mph off the top speed, and saddle bags make it even worse-but the real problem is that acceleration with all that drag really suffers. There are a lot of cars on the freeway that can out accelerate a KLR650 without hanging all your bug out gear on it.  Things are going to be hectic enough in a bug out as is, you'd make a nice target for someone to just pull up along side you and bump you off the road and take your shit.

If you plan to travel freeways or cover ground I'd go for a Kawasaki Versys or Suzuki V-Strom. The displacement is the same but having twice the cylinders makes a HELL of a lot of difference on power.

Now, that said, a KLR would be a pretty good bike to have AFTER SHTF. You can cover long distances quickly and get good fuel economy and as motorcycles go the KLR is pretty quiet. But if sneaking around and running as cheap on gas as possible is important to you, you'd be much better served with an old 50-110cc Honda trail bike or a bicycle.

on the bmw buddys bike .there home made out of electronic storage boxes

THE ULITMATE BUG OUT BIKE. Still trying to figure out how to side mount the jerry cans

mines an 07 also...

Mine.....


014 by sky_soldier_82nd, on Flickr

KLR 650 something-something.

i've sen some people who have trailers, but it's a SMALL percentage of the MC community who uses them, and most of those people are the full dress cruiser or Gold Wing people. they're not very common in the Dual Sport arena.

some are homebrew, some are commercial.

i'm not very interested in trilers om motorcycles. trailers on mountain bikes, like the BOB trailer seem interesting, but i'm no longer in an area where i ride a bike every day. if i was still in Kali i'd probably have a BOB trailer.

i've sen some people who have trailers, but it's a SMALL percentage of the MC community who uses them, and most of those people are the full dress cruiser or Gold Wing people. they're not very common in the Dual Sport arena.

some are homebrew, some are commercial.

i'm not very interested in trilers om motorcycles. trailers on mountain bikes, like the BOB trailer seem interesting, but i'm no longer in an area where i ride a bike every day. if i was still in Kali i'd probably have a BOB trailer.

consider that roughly 2% of the motorcycle community rides Dual Sport. bikes.
my wild guess is that one tenth of one percent of that market uses trailers.

About 6 years ago I did a LOT or research on ROKONs.  There are a fascinating bike indeed.  They are no more powerful than a lawn mower.  And the due to the low horsepower the are not build all that robustly.  I rode one on the road and off the road.  It really felt like I was riding a lawn tractor on two wheels.  The bottom line is there was no way I could justify $6,000 on a cool lawn mower.  And at 6 hp the implements are a joke.    The think could barley get out of its own way with just me on it.  A 125cc Dual Sport is WAY more capable than a ROKON.  

If they were $800 i might consider one.  

And let me tell you I REALLY wanted to like this bike.  After riding it the dream was gone.  


That fat tire dual sport that TJ has is the correct answer to any perceived ROKON application.  

I have an 08 KLR650. I would not want to bug out on one due to the low cargo capacity. I would use one for scouting/patrol/messenger vehicle transportation during a BO scenario. I would also use it as an escape/evasion vehicle due to it being able to go where a car/truck/street bike couldn't follow. Sure the dirt bikes/quads could outrun it easily offroad but the KLR has them beat on the street.
I once heard the KLR referred to as the 2 wheeled equivalent of a jeep CJ/Wrangler any of the specialized vehicles can easily beat it on their own turf but for a jack of all trades it is hard to beat.

scout, patrol, explore, errands, messenger, and caravan scout on a narrow track to see if heavier / bigger, trailer-hauling vehicles can make a section.

I look forward to owning one.

I'd thought I had the other topic bookmarked but it seems I was just plucking pictures out of it.  That was 5th-10th of Nov, along with following a link to the KLR forums
http://www.klr650.net/forums/index.php

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=10&f=17&t=639714&page=1

I have though often about this as well.

Wouldn't require anything heavy, just needs to be as wide as your bars, carry 100 lbs and have some ground clearance.

Are you sure about that?  I would think that it would be about even.

I think an older (1960-80) dual sport is the way to go.  Something with knobby tires, a kickstart peg, old school magneto ignition, and no fuel injection.

A lot of these new fangled bikes being posted will be just as useless as cars in certain SHTF scenarios. Repairing a CDI ignition system or water logged ECU is not something I want to deal with out in No Man's Land.

You do have a valid point but not many quads can hit 90+. I have a 2005 Kawi Brute Force 650 and it is scary over 50mph. I am sure many dirt bikes can hit 90 but unless you are running street tires I can't imagine them being all that stable at higher speeds. I commute on my KLR and cruise around 70mph. Yeah, I am sure a lot of dirt bikers could pass me easily but riders of a comparable skill level I would have to hand it to the guy on the KLR.

Now if you include the super-motards.....

I have been moving some heavier trailers with my jeep, still just messing around with 4k lbs trailer and load with a jeep rated to tow 7400 lbs by the factory and I have the factory towing setup and jeep is all stock.



When messing around on unimproved roads, gravel or dirt or whatever, that load can really try to move the jeep around some.  Mostly it comes from driving a bit faster than conditions might warrant but have trailer brakes so you can let the load slow you down vs. no trailer brakes and all that weight is pushing the jeep will get interesting now and then.



I seriously doubt I would pull a trailer with a motorcycle or mountain bike.  That trailer messing with your fewer contact patches is not a good thing and when something runs out in front of you from the woods you might be going an acceptable speed for road conditions but stopping quickly may or may not let the trailer push you around.



I also doubt a lot of motorcycles will do well at low speeds with high loads depending on if they are air cooled or not.



Just figured I would let some people consider that with the trailer on motorcycle concept.



I never came close to wrecking or damaging anything but it really makes me reconsider some of the folks who do serious off roading with some of the military surplus trailers and it made me toss the idea of getting a cheap trailer for the mountain bike just because I might run across it.



For some it may be a viable option.  Not going to say someone should not do it.



I just think it is something to consider when a motorcycle does not have 4 contact patches so if the trailer messes with pushing you it could result in a wreck a lot quicker than with a 4 wheeled vehicle.



My uncle had a 400 2 cycle polaris and one heck of a heavy duty "garden cart trailer" thing and that trailer went over and took him with it.  Not all that steep a slope but that trailer is heavy as all get out and when it wanted to go over it took him with it.



I have the trailer and use it with my 500 polaris and it is still a stout trailer but I use it around the yard on flat ground mostly.



Anyway, I would seriously consider trying out your trailers and vehicles fully loaded for a bug out and see how it goes.



Easy to turn a bug out into a shtf if you wreck and get hurt.

You missunderstood me, I was defending the KLR off-road.  I would think the KLR could beat a quad off-road and be close behind a dirt bike.  I also think a dirt bike could be close behind a KLR on-road but they would both leave a quad way behind.  I have been thinking about a KLR that is already set up with a nice rack and set of aluminum side cases.