We got another horse vs. bicycles for the post apocalypse folks (old.reddit.com)

submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by 7bicycles@hexbear.net to c/urbanism@hexbear.net

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The discussion is an enduring internet classic of people who have seen horses in The Last of Us ascribing near magical powers to it vs. everyone who ever worked with horses saying this is the worst idea imaginable which is fun.

I'm posting this here on account of the amusing amount of comments that presuposse a horse is a car that runs on dirt and just self heals broken bones

EDIT: Bonus points for "a horse can carry so much more" which is demonstably untrue unless you want the poor thing to die real early or strap a cart to it, at which point you have both horse and bicycle problems

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[-] Beaver@hexbear.net 12 points 1 week ago

It's a fun debate to have.

Bike maintenance might become untenable after awhile if you can't get ahold of lubricant or tire repair material. Even some of those new-fangled airless tires will eventually need wear down and need to be replaced. I expect that it would be fairly high priority of a rebuilding civilization to get that figured out, otherwise they're going to have to revert to horses out of necessity.

[-] 7bicycles@hexbear.net 15 points 1 week ago

Bike maintenance might become untenable after awhile if you can't get ahold of lubricant or tire repair material.

I think a lot of this is down to a perception that your bicycle is broken if you can't run tubeless or pneumatics or whatever but whenever people were in the shit these 2 points have been figured out. Fill your tyres with cork or make springtyres, just slather on some canola oil on the chain (more often than some specialized bicycle chain brand) and it works. Nobody does this today because it'd suck and they have other options, but it'd still beat walking

[-] kristina@hexbear.net 12 points 1 week ago

some of those carbon fiber chains can last eons too if you dont get shit fixed by then its kinda over.

[-] Bobson_Dugnutt@hexbear.net 10 points 1 week ago

carbon fiber chains

I've never seen that before, is it like a regular steel roller chain but made with carbon fiber? Or do you mean the rubber belts with carbon fiber reinforcement?

[-] kristina@hexbear.net 13 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

https://www.gates.com/us/en/innovations-and-solutions/urban-mobility-and-powersports-solutions/belt-drive-systems-for-bicycles.html referring to the gates carbon belt, its single speed and common on ebikes. ive been using one almost daily for like 8 years with minimal maintenance and have 8k miles on my bike. in fact i dont think ive even touched the chain once, it doesnt need lube. its made of nylon, polyurethane, and carbon fiber. its attached to an internal geared mid drive hub. its rated for like 10k miles or something. if you got like 10 of these babies in storage youd be set for life i think