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6 Reasons Why a Motorcycle is the Best Bug Out Vehicle
While most of us would ideally like to stay and defend our homes against disaster, sometimes this just isn’t possible. Whether it’s due to large-scale disasters like wildfires or full-scale civil unrest, when the problem gets too big for you to defend against or deal with, the next best option is to bug out.
While you might have your bug out bag ready and waiting and a plan of where you’re going to bug out to, the big question is how are you going to get there? Sure, you could take the car you already have, or maybe you have an off-road truck you’re saving for just such an emergency. While both will get you moving, nothing quite compares to a motorcycle for bugging out. Now we’re not talking about a Harley cruiser or a crotch rocket here, but instead a street and trail bike or a dedicated off-road dirtbike that’s ready to go and has room for a second person as well as 
your gear.
As long as the bike is on the small side and can drive off-road, it’s a prime candidate for a bug out vehicle. Still not won over to the idea of using such an exposed vehicle to escape? We’ve compiled six reasons why a motorcycle is the best bug out vehicle around so you can start prepping your own now and get out of Dodge the best way possible.
1. Fuel Economy
A 4×4 truck will get around 18 MPG on the highway, and a car will get you around 25-35 MPG when you set the cruise control and let it drive. A motorcycle however should get you at least 50 MPG under various driving conditions. This means you’ll use less fuel and go farther on the fuel you’ve got.
Sure, the motorcycle can’t carry as much fuel as a car or truck can, but when you’re down to siphoning gas out of wrecked and stranded cars you need to get the most out of every gallon you can find. This is also great if the price of gas goes up to inconceivable amounts, as you’ll get more out of each buck you spend.
2. Roadblocks No More
One major problem with most disasters is that the highways become clogged very quickly. People trying to flee the area jam the roads and create enormous blockades that end up stranding hundreds of vehicles where you need to drive.
If you have a truck or car you can try to go around these, but chances are others already tried that and either got stuck or broken down, creating an even larger blockade. With a motorcycle you can easily navigate through such traffic jams and when you can’t go through them, it’s far easier to go around, even taking a small woods trail if 
necessary.
A motorcycle will help you keep your mode of transportation long after a car or truck would need to be abandoned.
3. Easy Storage
OpSec is a very important part of prepping, so keeping your gear nice and hidden is a must. If you have a specific truck for bugging out it can be hard to shield it from prying eyes, but with a motorcycle you can park it in the same garage as your car. Sure, people will see you pull it in and out, and see you riding it, but as the old saying goes, out of sight, out of mind.
If you need to take your bug out plan a step farther and actually hide your bike in a cache somewhere away from your house, it’s far easier to camouflage a motorcycle to hide it than a truck or car. A small, squat hide is all that’s necessary and it’s completely out of view from everyone.
4. Easy to Fix
Repairing a basic motorcycle or dirtbike is far simpler than their four-wheeled counterparts. Trucks and cars have become significantly more complicated as years have progressed, and while you can get a very complex bike, you can get very simple ones, too.
Above and beyond skill level required for repair, the sheer weight of items like the engine and transmission in a car or truck make them require lifting machinery to remove them, while a small motorcycle can be taken apart by one person if necessary.
There’s less moving parts due to smaller engine size, and overall an ease of repair that’s far better than any larger vehicle.
5. Off-Road Capability
To take a truck off road you need quite a large trail and enough clearance to not bottom out. A motorcycle however can drive on extremely narrow trails, sometimes even forging their own trails in the process. With proper tires mud, dirt, snow, and even sand are not a problem for the motorcycle.
Just about every basic bike has some inherent off-road capability, making them far more versatile than any car or truck. When your path is unknown, you want to be ready to drive anywhere.
6. Quick Escape
If you’re still not won over to the idea of motorcycles as bug out vehicles yet, this last one might do the trick. When something bad happens and you need to get out fast, it’s far quicker to jump on a bike and drive off. Sure, this might only be a few seconds, but that could mean the difference between looters taking everything you have and you getting away to fight another day.
Motorcycles can get up to speed faster than many passenger vehicles and are highly maneuverable, making them far better at evading than trucks or cars are. When the SHTF there will be quite a few people out there that want to do you harm and take what you have. By using a motorcycle for your means of transportation you can be better at evading them and escaping when necessary.
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Bug Out – 10 Reasons Why You Do Not Want to Bug Out
Well, other than ‘bugging out’ being a very futile effort to run to a place you don’t know, fleeing a place you do know, for the sake of avoiding the unknown fears that will come at you in the night (can we say ‘insane’?), a motorcycle is NOT the best vehicle to attempt such efforts on, and here’s why:
Most motorcycles get more like 40-mpg on gasoline, but of the bikes that would actually suffice to go ‘off-road’ into ‘back-country’, many of them are 2-cycle oil-gas mix burners, and get more like 25-35-mpg. Secondly, these bikes (of the 250-to-500 cc class) are not tolerable of too much weight. The primary rider and another 200-lbs is about all they are good for. Add a sister, wife, brother, mother, etc., and you aren’t going to be packing ANYTHING with you to survive in your ‘bugout’ with, not without overloading tires, suspension, etc. We won’t even get into training, cost, insurance, etc. during the time between now and collapse.
Now, let’s look at an often-unthought-of vehicle that few consider – the ATV-UTV vehicles. ATV’s are those 4-wheel, handlebar driven quads that many have seen on TV or in pictures on the internet. They normally come in two flavors – ‘dune blasting racers’ and ‘off-road utility vehicles’. Forget the racers right now, they have many of the same problems as a motorcycle. Let’s look at a few of the ‘working ATV’s’ like the Foreman, Grizzly, etc.
A large 650-cc ATV can carry a rider and an EASY 500-lbs of gear, or 2nd rider, etc., or combined. In fact, many have luggage racks on both back and front, for just this purpose. You, your spouse and two backpacks, with tent, can quite-easily fit onto these vehicles, and most get a comfortable 35-45 mpg. While they can be licensed in most states as ‘on-highway-use’ (tags, blinkers, etc. to drive like a car on the road), you don’t have to do this if your intent is ‘bugging out’ with them (when it all falls, no one is going to check your driver’s license). In fact, between now and then, you can also use them on the weekends to go and scout out actual property you could lease or buy to ‘bug out to’ later! What an idea, a new legitimate recreation venue that actually serves a purpose!
UTV’s are similar, but look more like little golf carts. Yes, they actually cross-compete in the ATV-working-class market, and many can carry up to 4-people with small 12-16-square foot truck beds as well. Great way to put items into your UTV, pack up the family, and ‘bug out’. Again, it’s usable as recreation between now and then, too. Downsides? Well, while not as absolutely versatile as a motorcycle, the ATV’s are really close. Why try to bug out on an interstate, when an ATV can easily navigate the divider median or the banked shoulders? Forget the pavement, hit the grass and go. The great part is, once you are out of the urban nightmare, you have a real vehicle than can work like a horse. It can pull cut-logs for you to build a cabin, it can tow a small trailer to carry water or firewood or rocks. It can even carry jerry cans of more fuel for itself. Three jerry cans and a full tank of fuel in most ATV’s will give you a 500-mile range!
Forget the crippled motorcycle, if you are going to buy a real ‘survival vehicle’, look at the ATV. It is really the ONLY way to go!
Agreed. He’s not going to survive very long when all he can carry is a sandwich. The average motorcycle tire lasts about 4000 miles and are not easy to change. Then two guys can just pick up his “bug out” vehicle and throw it into their pickup.
I don’t agree with this idea. Having been hit three times on my motorcycle, waking-up in the hospital once, a motorcycle is too vulnerable, especially when other people are in a panic in a SHTF area. I plan on staying at home, with my supplies anyhow. Portland Oregon won’t have natural disasters(except an earthquake), so we have no need to bug-out. Yes, motorcycles are quite flexible, but it’s too easy to die on one. I now drive a 240 Volvo; safest car ever built.
Motorcycle will be the best target if no one else has one. Plus they are noisy in the wilderness. NOPE! Limited value IMO.