I know this was just to highlight a possible choice for a bike you might choose for such duty, but I couldn't help taking note of the very last words spoken in the add:
"....makes this our go-to machine for End of Days."
Now, obviously, the script-writer for the Cycle World infommercial doesn't understand what End of Days really is, but I'm not so sure they're understanding what "SHTF" in a WROL world really means either. Being a modern bike, chances are that there are electronics in it that would render the bike useless in an EMP attack. What's the range of the bike? 200 miles? Maybe 300? Is there lawlessness where you're leaving, but law and order just 300 miles away? Much, much shorter range if you're traversing rough terrain. If there were an EMP, the bike would be fried... what it does have going for it is the carbs but, there's enough electronics on it to make it useless. The Cycle World guys obviously aren't "preppers" and as such don't know what that SHTF/WROL world would really look like. I'd never bug-out on a motorcycle, there's no protection and very little storage for gear. My vision for it was very limited, like I said... patrolling a property, etc.
I can see a bike like this as being useful to have pre-staged at a bug-out location, but pretty well useless for a bug-out vehicle. Bingo! If you're really bugging out, you're going to need quite a bit more gear than one of these types of vehicles can carry, especially if you've got a family to move. To the extent that I still consider bugging out as a viable response to world (or national) events (which ain't much of an extent at all anymore), I think more about being as stealthy as I can be. Yep! In that regard, if I have to hit the back trails, I like telpinaro's horses (even the un-sound ones) better'n I like a motorcycle. I wish we had horses... Fuel (food) is everywhere in the woods/wilderness for horses. Fuel that hasn't been pre-staged at a bug-out location means a trip back into populated areas for a motorized vehicle of any description, and thus exposure to the enemies that you were buggin'-out to avoid contact with. Or you can steal it from other bugger-outers and/or residents of the rural locations you bug-out to, but somehow losing your eternal soul to survive temporarily in this world doesn't seem particularly smart to me.
Bottom line, if I had to pick the kind of vehicle to use if I were going to bug-out in motorized fashion, I would be more inclined to find surplus military vehicles, like Humvees or an old deuce-and-a-half. That six-wheel drive on those things would come in pretty handy if you're buggin' out, you can carry (literally) a ton of provisions, as well as a fair amount of extra fuel if you set it up right, and four or five people (family) can squeeze into the cab and be sheltered from the elements etc. if necessary.
If we had to, we'd head out in my Tacoma 4x4... I can squeeze about 750lbs of gear in the bed, line the doors with kevlar (yes, I'm serious) and have my trusted friend ride shotgun with us (wife & kids in back). It's not ideal, not even close but... if we had to, we have a plan for it. I don't like riding in small vehicles in places where people may want to shoot at me, especially being as that I'd be in an unarmored vehicle. Unless it's an MRAP, I'm nervous..... I've got the most back woods, country road-route picked and if we hit contact... remember what I said about "meeting engagements"? P.S. Keep the windows down, they're not armored and will only send glass into your face during incoming and blow your eardrums out if you have to engage while in the vehicle.
We've decided that should the time come, we're buggin'-in. Most ideal! We've been storing provisions for many years, we've hardened our home as much as we've been able to afford, we know our neighbors and yada yada yada, it just makes more sense for us to stay put. The only caveat to that is that we are always looking for a great deal on a home with a few acres out in the sticks, and the situation changed at the beginning of this year to make it possible to move anytime we're ready now. GW got a job telecommuting, and as long as there's a way to get internet access, we can live anywhere in the world now and still make a pretty good living. So the search for the "Republic of Blues" has begun in earnest, but even then, should the need arise, we would still be buggin'-in. I've got two directions I can go to bug-in... both offer the necessary land, resources and protection... ideally, we'd be there before the S hit the fan.
Now, for nothing but a fun-time machine, I'd say go for it now while you're still allowed to have fun with it! Believe me, buggin'-out on one of those things wouldn't be any fun at all.
Blues
