MacGyver Survivor Challenge #2 - Mountain Bike (with flat tires)

Let's say you're traveling on a bike when suddenly both tire blow, you run out if patches or whatever...bottom line is that you cannot repair the tires for whatever reason. Armed with only common BOB gear what could you salvage from the bike parts and use in a survival situation?

BTW - This idea is a continuation of MSC #1 : Umbrella

after watching mythbusters where they ran the car fine on the rims i'd just rip off the tyres and ride on the rims (assuming that its tarmac)

almost everything but the frame. tires could be used to hold water depending on how many holes. the wire inside the thick part of the tire is very useful. the peddles can be straped to your feet extra grip. gear and break wire. the horn makes noise, or bell so take it. the seat is fabric and has lots of little string to take apart. the spokes to build with or make weapons. there is alot more but u need a pic of the bike cause if it were me i wouldnt leave a piece togeather.

Id just ride the rims back to the parking lot. I'd rather destroy my rims, even Deemax's or XTR's than sit and camp waiting for somebody to get me.

Things you could do depends on whether or not your on a rigid, front or full suspension and using rim or disc mechanical or hydrolic brakes and tubes or tubeless tires.

The obvious stuff is tube+stick equals sling shot. Tubes for water collection. Spokes can be darts or spearheads or fishhooks. Cable can be fishhooks. Tires for footwear/gloves or other clothing or skin protection. Seat and seat tube as a tool for digging. Flatten the seattube if you can for a knife or prybar. Use the reflectors for signaling. You can prop the whole frame up as a shelter.

Im sure theres more but Im leaving my desk right now.

ETA: Spokes, tubes and sticks for a snap trap or snare.

I'd first try stuffing the tires with the largest diameter (yet still flexible) branch or twigs I could find and follow that up with grass/hay stuffing.

If that didn't work, and I was near the ocean (and HAD TO abandon the bike), I would take the rims and cables off to use them for catching crab/lobster or any other ground fish.

I'd try riding on the rims if I had to.

Otherwise:

Brake cable wires can be used for snares.

Brake cable housings (the tube part) can be used as syphon tubes or straws to reach water in hard to get places.

Inner tubes can be used as makeshift water carriers.

Tires can be thrown on a fire to create black smoke for rescue signal.

Seat material could be used to make make-shift glove to protect hand if climbing is necessary OR cut slits in it and wear as improvised sunglasses.

Brake levers could be used as tools, possibly for digging.

Frame could possibly be used in shelter construction.

Spokes can be used for frog gigs and fish spears.

Ball bearings could be used as ammo for a sling shot (think inner tubes).

That's all I got off the top of my head...

why not fill the tires with socks, cloth , tea shirts and under wear, leafs will work as well take longer to fill but it does work, so will sand and dirt, you might not be able to ride it, but it does help carrying gear. and why have tubs in the first place go tubeless with solid core

I'll need a toilet paper roll, a corkscrew and some tin foil!

No corkscrew...

All right. Then get me an avocado, an ice pick, and a snorkel!

Man, that's a tough one.
I mean, without a, Air Chuck or a mini-pump, we're pretty much screwed.
I'm sure we can find a tree with the stickiest amber - find the strongest leaves for a temporary patch - but without that air pump, might as well put a birthday candle on your head and await and welcome the rabid hyenas to pick up your scent!

You can remove the inner tube and pack that sucker tight with leaves.
It's tough for me tho think of these scenarios considering I'm not currently in it.
That's part of the survival mindset that I can only tap into when... well, in survival mode.

Good to think about in advance though right?
Cheers for the kick start!

Take out the tubes and stuff the tires with grass or weeds, whatever is handy.

Take the inner tube out. Cut out the section with the hole. Tie knots on the ends of the inner tube. Put it back on the rim and inflate. You'll have a bump in that one section of the tire, but it should ride OK.


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Sorry, I went back and re-read the original post and it says you can't repair the tire. In that case you just take the bike to wherever you were going in the first place and go from there. Save everything, you never know what you will need.

Even though the idea was that the bike was to be unusable in the traditional sense and come up with creative ways you could use the bike parts for bug-out type survival, I liked the idea(s) of using other materials to stuff the tires. For some reason that never occurred to me - kind of proves that two (or more) heads are better than one.

Some of my ideas are:
- use the rims and branches to make a wheelbarrow type thing to pull supplies in
- the forks could be fastened to a sturdy stick, used as spear or pitch fork
- use the rear rim (still attached to the pedals/gear/chain) as a sharpening or cutting tool
- remove the rubber/plastic from the cables and use as a straw for hard to reach water

depending on the thickness of the tube steel of the frame you may be able to make an improvised shotgun if the cartridges fit nice and tight

Reflection from last MSC.
If you had an umbrella in your bob and if the nylon was adequate you could

Depending on the composition of the nylon it may melt down into a useful rubber cement when heated

. "
From Evolutionsend

Thus solving your puncture issue, but there's still the no air in the tire issue.

JUST stay there and die, you will be dead sooner or later anyways really
screw it, id roll up a fat spliff of tobacco and wait it out

reply to post by RedParrotHead


Bike tires can be fixed lots of different ways. I've seen duct tape used on car tires, and it lasted for over a week! I've filled wheelbarrow tires up with expanding foam, and they were runflats for almost 2 years. I tried the same with a 2-wheel dolly, but it got flatspots pretty quickly. I don't think I'd scrap the bike too quickly just because of flat tires. It is too valuable for transportation.

BUT, when it has to be scrapped, the cables, gears, chains, wheels, and reflectors will all be very valuable. My brother and I were just talking last week about taking an old bike frame, gears, and rear wheel and an alternator off a car, and rigging up something that could be pedaled to charge electronics or run small electrical devices. You could even create a large heavy disk instead of a rear wheel, so once the wheel was spinning, the heavy inertia could help keep it spinning. Use the lower gears to get the thing turning, and once you get to a high gear, engage the alternator, and let the heavy disk to a lot of the work for you.

As someone said you could use the gears and everything. What you could do is rig an alternator to the gears and turn the frame upside down and make it so the wheel can turn from wind or if next to a river rig it up to be like a water wheel if there is a strong enough current.

Maybe even rig it up some how to run a water pump if there is no wind to drive it normally or more flow is required.

Strip everything off it and use the frame for a roof of some sort on a small shelter.

Bikes too valuable to part out for tires and tubes lacking. One thing i have is the changing and repair kit, many spare patches, and 2 spare new tubes. As well as a on frame pump.

If your gonna use tubes then spare consumables are just a small package on the frame.

Originally posted by RedParrotHead
Let's say you're traveling on a bike when suddenly both tire blow, you run out if patches or whatever...bottom line is that you cannot repair the tires for whatever reason. Armed with only common BOB gear what could you salvage from the bike parts and use in a survival situation?

BTW - This idea is a continuation of MSC #1 : Umbrella

edit on 1/3/2012 by RedParrotHead because: btw

Well if you have solid-state tyres you won't get flats
They are a bit heavier though.

Another one is this canister that you spray inside the tyre that makes it puncture proof. It adds a bit of weight to the tyre, but not as much as solid-tyres.

Let's see, a mountain bike...

The axel and peddles could make for a good pulley should I need to lift anything heavy.
The chain could be wrapped around a worthy club to use as a mace.
The brake wires could make for strong bindings for a lean to or other forms of shelter.
The rims could also be used as pulleys, or wheels for a wheelbarrow, made with sticks and the brake cables.
Nuts and bolts could be used to create maces as well if you have a wrench to get at them.

That's all I've got

is the mountain bike frame made of magnesium,titanium,aluminum or steel? if magnesium im sure you could scrape parts of the frame off to use as a fire starting aid(just guessing) and i guess if you had a fire hot enough you could use titanium to get it super hot not really sure on this one though....aluminum at least it would be light to carry and a steel frame could be secured to an entrance almost like a gate if you managed to dig in to the earth or found a small cave to block out larger creatures or at least provide a warning

bike seat its self could help with fire starting or as other people have said thread or other usefull materials or provide some form of seat or part of a trap if sharpened

tires have been covered to death mostly although i guess you could make a rim into a shield of sorts if you tried hard enough or use one in conjunction with the pedals and gears to make some kind of crank or a weapon of sorts

if a city dweller you probaly have some form of bike lock and relitvely long chain or coiled cable so that would be of use i would imagine

the bars could be taken off and used to fashon a fishing pole that could be hammred into the ground to catch fish on its own so to speak or made into an axe spear thingy (jam pointy sticks in the handle bars and swing away)and could potentially have a light that could also be used thats all i can think of at the moment