Bicycle tires, post-apocalypse

[dinah]

Weren't bike wheels originally made of wood?

this is my thought. the ride wouldn't be as smooth...but it would work.

[Ultralight]

You've hit on where post-apocalyptic fiction breaks down for me. There always seem to be unspecified sources of ammunition, shoes and gasoline. Black powder in makeshift muskets maybe, but a lot of PAF includes automatic weapons. People seem to scavenge resources from the old civilization way beyond the point you'd expect oxidation and putrefaction to have run it's course. There don't seem to be enough sick people or rotten teeth. People seem way too clean and too literate. In some climes, you'd need to spend a good quarter of your time chopping wood, which would probably not do much to advance the plot.

The roads and bridges often seem to be in much better shape than you'd expect un-maintained pavement to look after a few years.

I realize most of this stuff is produced for adolescents, but even so the standard of verisimilitude seems pretty low.

Might be worth reading the World Made By Hand series. James Howard Kunstler is the author.

[bae]

You've hit on where post-apocalyptic fiction breaks down for me.

This sort of fiction rarely dwells on what happens when you no longer have access to antibiotics, and simple minor cuts and scratches can kill you in a horribly painful manner.

[Ultralight]

This sort of fiction rarely dwells on what happens when you no longer have access to antibiotics, and simple minor cuts and scratches can kill you in a horribly painful manner.

Yeah, I watch The Walking Dead and think: All that blood and guts... people'd have so many infections on the daily!

[The Storyteller]

These should last a good long time...

http://www.airlesstiresnow.com/Airle...res_c_123.html

And then there is wood, like wagon and buggy wheels before we had rubber.

[LDAHL]

this is my thought. the ride wouldn't be as smooth...but it would work.

Didn't they use to call some of the early bikes "boneshakers"?

[Gardenarian]

Thanks all!

I have read "World made by Hand" and also the "Dies the Fire" series (by S.M. Stirling.)
As I recall, in Kunstler's (excuse me, but VERY sexist) novels, people mainly used horses and boats for transport, though I'll probably steal some ideas from him.
In "Dies the Fire," Stirling got around the problem by having a whole lot of very handy people being the survivors ("Oh, I just happen to be a bowyer and a blacksmith! And you're an herbalist/doctor/veterinarian? - how convenient!) They did use bikes but I don't think he addressed the tire issue.

I have read about wooden tires being used, but as the roads fall apart I think this would become more and more difficult. (Though the people in the story do work to maintain major routes.) Boneshakers sound about right! I have considered some sort of sap/leather/wood combination but don't know if it would be feasible. I might have to take out the bikes...though my main character (as of now) works repairing and rebuilding bicycles. I could give her a different trade.

My story is not aimed at a particular audience, but I think the finished book will fall into the YA category. Believing as I do in the innate goodness of the great majority of people, it describes more of a utopian than a dystopian future. Most of the events in the novel take place about 50 years after the End Times, in what is something like a transition town/permaculture society. There are still books and some clothes, but anything that would be likely to spoil, break down, or rot has done so (medicines, canned goods, solar panels...bicycle tires....)

There is no single cataclysmic event that brings about the apocalypse; there is increased flooding and decreased snowpack (drought), violent storms and fires that overwhelm the ability of the government to maintain the infrastructure, an economic collapse brought about by various factors, rampant viruses and famine, and a complete breakdown of the electrical grid, all of which happen over the course of about 20 years.

Most of the people I know do not have horses, antique weapons collections, water or wind mills, wells with hand pumps, nor the kinds of skills needed to make, maintain, or do things by hand. From what I see, most people (including me) would cling to the past as long as possible rather than accept that industrial civilization is over - thus leaving the next generation in the lurch.

The survival literature I've read for research mainly focuses on the short term (food storage and the like) or wilderness-type survival.

I'd like to avoid the inconsistencies I read in so many futuristic novels.

[dinah]

It sounds very interesting!

[LDAHL]

Thanks all!

There are still books and some clothes, but anything that would be likely to spoil, break down, or rot has done so (medicines, canned goods, solar panels...bicycle tires....)

That's interesting. In such a world, as in the pre-modern world, old things might assume new importance. Access to salt, for instance, was important to preserve food, and for processes such as tanning leather. Governments in the past assumed monopoly powers over saltworks as an important source of revenue. In many circumstances, especially long-range travel, alcoholic beverages were a good deal safer to drink than stored water. India Pale Ale came about for long sea voyages. You needed pine tar to keep stuff from rapidly rotting in wet climates.

[Ultralight]

That's interesting. In such a world, as in the pre-modern world, old things might assume new importance. Access to salt, for instance, was important to preserve food, and for processes such as tanning leather. Governments in the past assumed monopoly powers over saltworks as an important source of revenue. In many circumstances, especially long-range travel, alcoholic beverages were a good deal safer to drink than stored water. India Pale Ale came about for long sea voyages. You needed pine tar to keep stuff from rapidly rotting in wet climates.

A glimpse into the past; a glimpse into the future?