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

I guess im just not seeing the maintenance issue as much as anyone else. As long as you have a somewhat functioning village sized society replicating either a basic bicycle or a horseshoe shouldn't be too hard, no? Like if we maintain the basic engineering knowledge.

I guess wheels are tougher, requiring rubber. But you could use other materials, i mean humanity did. Wooden wheels work for a bicycle, it just sucks compared to rubber.

[-] PorkrollPosadist@hexbear.net 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I guess im just not seeing the maintenance issue as much as anyone else.

I agree. Cars are absolutely ubiquitous. Nearly every tool one would ever need to maintain a bicycle can be found in any suburban garage. Not to mention, there are a handful of auto mechanic shops and hardware stores in every single town where more niche tools can be found. A calamity of one sort or another which severely disrupts supply chains might make niche materials and gases more difficult to obtain, but even in the event of a global nuclear war, there would be many surviving manufacturing facilities and the means to produce these things. There is an inconceivable amount of manufacturing capacity which is dedicated to consumer slop and industrial supply. A lot of production facilities dedicated to cranking out Labubus and golf carts and robotic vacuum cleaners can be re-purposed to produce staple items like tires, wheels, and ball bearings. Larger plants making automobiles, oil and gas machinery, etc can also be repurposed.

It won't exactly be efficient, but the obliteration of production for exchange value would free an unbelievable amount of productive capacity. If the markets which make these factories profitable go up in smoke, the buildings and machinery will still be there.

Wooden wheels work for a bicycle, it just sucks compared to rubber.

Compared to the old-school road tires which run at 90+ PSI, a wooden wheel might actually be more comfortable (ok this is a joke). There is a lot of potential in plastic recycling as well. Butyl (rubber) inner tubes are already being replaced with TPU (a flexible thermoplastic also used in 3D printing) in performance road/gravel bicycles.

[-] 7bicycles@hexbear.net 5 points 1 week ago

I think both'd be pretty hard to do but for entirely different reasons. You can probably find a lot of people who could technically weld you together a bicycle frame but then how do you weld in the post apocalypse. The horseshoes is way easier to manufacture but then that has the problem of there isn't exactly a lot of guys, material or manufacturing equipment left to manufacture horseshoes because nobody needs them anymore

[-] PorkrollPosadist@hexbear.net 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

but then how do you weld in the post apocalypse.

RETVRN TO TRADITION

(okay it still conventionally relies on brazing / welding, but I don't think it is an absolute requirement of the technique. Though brazing makes for a very strong bond between the lugs and the tubes, they could conceivably fastened by bolts or rivets)