Bicycle Infantry

[Wolf sword]

Now forgive me if this was covered before, I did not find a thread on it.
Bicycle Infantry, why don't we see more of it in T2000 One would think that this would be an no brainer, your mechanized infantry regiment is all out of mechanized items, change them over to bikes. Yes they don't move as fast as they did, when they had the fuel but they will move faster then on foot.
It was used in Europe between WW1 and into early ww2 so why don't we see it Is their something that I'm missing

[kato13]

This thread

http://forum.juhlin.com/showthread.phpt=2649

Starts out about Cavalry but moves onto bikes as well with probably about 40 posts regarding them. Probably our most in depth discussion of them.

[Wolf sword]

Thanks, I missed that one.

[kato13]

It is easy to miss stuff. Glad to help.

[Silent Hunter UK]

I'd argue that one reason they don't get to be used is that they don't feel "right" for the setting. People's post-apocalypse media does not tend to involve heroes riding pedal bikes, it doesn't look gritty enough.

Seriously, can you imagine Tom Hardy riding a BMX to a battle

[Raellus]

Now forgive me if this was covered before, I did not find a thread on it.
Bicycle Infantry, why don't we see more of it in T2000 One would think that this would be an no brainer, your mechanized infantry regiment is all out of mechanized items, change them over to bikes. Yes they don't move as fast as they did, when they had the fuel but they will move faster then on foot.
It was used in Europe between WW1 and into early ww2 so why don't we see it Is their something that I'm missing

I don't think that the original writers thought of it. It's easy to overlook, if one's not heavily read on WWII military history. Another possibility is that thought that bicycle-mounted infantry would be too vulnerable on the modern battlefield, and ruled it out as not believable to the layman (basically, what Silent Hunter said) I don't really know.

Regarding the military use of bicycles in WWII, bicycle infantry was used right up to the end of the war. The Volksturm had tank hunter-killer units- consisting mostly of children- equipped with bicycles and Panzerfausten. As the Germans ran out of trucks and petrol, several formerly motorized units were issued bicycles. The British even had a folding bicycle for some of their Parachute reconnaissance units.

I'd have to take a look, but I don't think Free City of Krakow featured any bicycle-mounted infantry. As described in the module, Krakow would definitely be able to manufacture basic bicycles. In my Pirates of the Vistula PbP campaign, I had Krakow doing so and, although they never featured in the story, my version of the Krakow ORMO OOB included a battalion mounted on bicycles.

In the latest edition of my Rook's Gambit Module (available on DrivethruRPG for $2.99), one of the Polish 19th Cavalry Division's infantry companies is bicycle-mounted (see page 25).

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/217765/T2000-v2--Rooks-Gambit

[Olefin]

The Japanese also had bike infantry as well - from what I remember they used them in Malaya and other areas and they were used extensively in China.

[unkated]

The Japanese also had bike infantry as well - from what I remember they used them in Malaya and other areas and they were used extensively in China.

Bicycle infantry was mostly a between the wars concept, a mechanically mounted infantry before motorized infantry - and skips the stabling and finding fodder on the move parts of mounted. By WW2, the only military that used bicycle infantry in action (that i know of) were the Japanese in Malaya, where they had little ability to land vehciles (and had few vehicles available).

There was a case of the Australian 2/30 battalion pulling off a nasty ambush on a Japanese bicycle regiment at the Gemencheh River (14-Jan-42).

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C175811
https://www.230battalion.org.au/hist...wm67_3_111.htm

Uncle Ted

[Adm.Lee]

From various wargames, I know the Belgians had a bicycle brigade in 1940, and as late as the 1944 Normandy campaign, the Germans had separate brigades and battalions on bikes. ISTR some German infantry divisions about the same time mounted their reserve battalions, or at least some elements of them.

[Olefin]

Actually the Japanese bicycle infantry were a prime reason they won in Malaysia -and they managed to find all the bikes they needed once they got ashore - a prime example of living off the land.

And with fuel becoming short after 1998 I could see a lot of soldiers, on both sides, switching to bikes as an alternative to walking everywhere or having to wait for weeks to brew enough fuel to be able to fill the fuel tanks of their vehicles - and there would be huge numbers of bicycles available in Europe for sure.

[Legbreaker]

I see bikes as being useful in safer areas, but stupidly dangerous when contact with the enemy is likely.
A cyclist is moving too fast to keep proper awareness of their surrounds along a fairly restricted and obvious route. The risk of rolling into an ambush with devastating results is extreme as can be seen in the links unkated posted.

[Olefin]

I see bikes as being useful in safer areas, but stupidly dangerous when contact with the enemy is likely.
A cyclist is moving too fast to keep proper awareness of their surrounds along a fairly restricted and obvious route. The risk of rolling into an ambush with devastating results is extreme as can be seen in the links unkated posted.

I agree - bike infantry is a great way to give you better mobility but it has the same issues that motorcycle infantry had - but without the greater speed to get out of dodge if you get ambushed - on the other hand they are much quieter than powered vehicles so they do make for good scout vehicles

as for the routes - depends what types of bikes you have - i.e. a mountain bike is literally the "roads, where we are going we dont need roads" kind of vehicle - its not a jeep but its better than just walking

and considering the authors of the canon went out of their way to mention cities still making bicycles its pretty much implied they are being used a lot by 2001

[CDAT]

I agree - bike infantry is a great way to give you better mobility but it has the same issues that motorcycle infantry had - but without the greater speed to get out of dodge if you get ambushed - on the other hand they are much quieter than powered vehicles so they do make for good scout vehicles

as for the routes - depends what types of bikes you have - i.e. a mountain bike is literally the "roads, where we are going we dont need roads" kind of vehicle - its not a jeep but its better than just walking

and considering the authors of the canon went out of their way to mention cities still making bicycles its pretty much implied they are being used a lot by 2001

My question is how much weight can a decent mountain bike hold before having issues with welds, bending of tires or what not I have seen some large people on mountain bikes (not sure quality of bike) that the wheels are no longer round, and just using me as an example when I was in fighting shape I was between 230lbs and 250lbs and then add in the combat gear my vest in 2003 weighed in at about 75lbs, add ten more for rifle, pistol and helmet and we are looking at 315lbs to 335lbs (and I was not the largest by far in my unit, kind of on the smaller side of average). I know very little about bikes, but back to my question how well will the bikes hold up to that weight when going down trails and hitting bumps and such I can see them working much better in WWII time when one the average person was lighter and the combat load was much lighter, but I am also willing to say I may be missing a major factor that I know nothing about.

[Olefin]

One thing to keep in mind for loading on the bikes is that by 1999-2001 the food situation in Europe may be keeping people on the lean side no matter what - i.e. I dont see many people being well fed by then and that will reduce loading on the bikes

also bicycle born infantry may require that you be more lightly loaded - thus arent going to see someone with a full combat load on a bike unless they were small to begin with

Per the original rules - Bicycles: A bicycle has no load of its own; a character riding a bicycle can carry his personal load. He travels at half
speed if encumbered. If unable to ride (see Terrain below) a character may walk his bicycle at his off-road walking speed; its weight does not count against his load limit. it says that they cant go thru swamps or forest except along a dirt road - however I cant see what they are defining as a bike - i.e. a regular bike or a mountain bike

From the description in the game it sounds like a military version of a bicycle made for the military and not just a Schwinn -

i.e. Bicycle: A rugged, military model. Bicycles are among the few vehicles still being manufactured in any quantity.
Tr Mov: 60/20, Com Mov: 20/10, Wt: 15 kg, Price: $1000 (V/V)

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Aside from those bikes being manufactured for military purposes in the gameworld (which would necessarily be more rugged), I'm willing to argue that GDW's ideas about bikes were probably in some part, formed from Viet Cong/North Vietnamese use of bikes during the Vietnam War (given that a few of the contributing writers at the time were former US military and veterans of the Vietnam War).