History Main / NoBikesInTheApocalypse

* ''VideoGame/ProjectZomboid'' is a particularly nasty case. One of the main aspects of the game is to make as little sound as feasible, while moving as fast as possible. Despite that, when vehicles were eventually added to the game, they consisted exclusively of cars, each with an explicit loudness rating. And another aspect of the game is the finite nature of all supplies in it, so fuel eventually will run out. Thankfully, [[https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2829166253 a working bicycle mod]] helps to fill in this gap, providing quiet, convenient traversal to nearby locations (and even between towns if you can put up with hours worth of in-game time to do it). Previous attempts at creating one only had them function as weight reduction equipment, not affecting movement at all.

* ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater''. Ironic, since Jim's character was a bicycle courier before the accident that got him into a coma in the first place. Particularly strange in that, as the title of the film says, the movie takes place only a month after. However, given the pace at which the infected run (and never seem to tire), this is at least partially justified.

* ''Manga/HighschoolOfTheDead'' has this in one of the arcs. It's explained that, aside from their advantage in speed, they can also be used for survey and see if a herd is ahead of the group. It actually helps them escape for a while. And then Alice falls from her bicycle...

* This is often a rule {{enforced|Trope}} in games of LARP/HumansVsZombies. Not only do bicycles give players a mobility advantage, they also run the risk of accidents and collisions during a particularly heated battle, which can end in very real serious injuries for players.

AfterTheEnd, when the [[NukeEm nukes]] have dropped or the [[ZombieApocalypse zombies have taken over]], survivors are often left with a limited means to travel to the local SafeZoneHopeSpot. For some reason, they almost always choose to WalkTheEarth on foot, rely on animal power or scavenge for automobiles. No one ever seems to ride a bicycle.

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* In ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnline'', the VRMMO world of GGO is a post-apocalyptic Earth of empty deserts and destroyed cities. One of the vehicle options available for use is bicycles, which Team T-S uses in Squad Jam 2 to speed along the top of the map's boundary wall, in contrast to the more conventional vehicles other teams use such as military trucks and Humvees.

* The Scavengers in ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' are the only one who avert it, whereas the other groups constantly scavenge for gas.

* ''VideoGame/ProjectZomboid'' is a particularly nasty case. One of the main aspects of the game is to make as little sound as feasible, while moving as fast as possible. Despite that, when vehicles were eventually added to the game, they consisted exclusively of cars, each with an explicit loudness rating. And another aspect of the game is the finite nature of all supplies in it, so fuel eventually will run out. Thankfully, a working bicycle mod helps to fill in this gap, providing quiet, convenient traversal to nearby locations (and even between towns if you can put up with hours worth of in-game time to do it). Previous attempts at creating one only had them function as weight reduction equipment, not affecting movement at all.

* ''VideoGame/ProjectZomboid'' is a particularly nasty case. One of the main aspects of the game is to make as little sound as feasible, while moving as fast as possible. Despite that, when vehicles were eventually added to the game, they consists exclusively from cars, each with an explicit loudness rating. And another aspect of the game is the finite nature of all supplies in it, so fuel eventually will run out. And when bikes were eventually added - on explicit and quite insistent community demand - they work as a ''weight reduction'' equipment, allowing to move around relatively big loads, but not affecting movement nor allowing to ride.

* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/TheBoyAndTheWorld'', where a bike is the main form of transportation for Cuca and the rainbow hat man.

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* Played with in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIVApocalypse''. Bikes are just another piece of VendorTrash to sell and can never be ridden. [[JustifiedTrope Cross referencing some flavor text reveals that it's only safe to ride them indoors, and that the demons outside attack anything moving too fast]].

* ''VideoGame/SevenDaysToDie'' averts this, starting on Alpha 17. The bicycle works similarly to the ''Unturned'' example below, moving in normal speed at a player's running speed with the option to run faster but draining the SprintMeter. It also has a modest "trunk" space with ten or so slots. Among all vehicles, it's the easiest to make, requiring just one skill point in the "Grease Monkey" tree and easily-collected items such as forged iron, household acid and mechanical parts; it also takes the least amount of repair kits to fix to full HP and, obviously, needs no gasoline to function.

* The ancestor of the bicycle, the dandy horse, was actually constructed and promoted by its [[https://bluesci.wordpress.com/2013/01/25/feature-the-journey-of-the-bicycle inventor]] as a means to cope with the effects of a global volcanic catastrophe which had led to famine and subsequently scarcity of horses.

* Averted in ''TabletopGame/Twilight2000''. Bicycles are considered much better than walking on foot. They by default multiply daily travel range by four, their maintenance is close to non-existent[[note]]They are accounted in ''weekly'' time of a single hour, while anything motor-driven has '''''hours''' per day'' ratio[[/note]], and they don't require fuel other than eating roughly 200 calories more per day of travel. They are however obviously unsuitable for combat and - depending on the edition - don't increase transport capacity or affect it only by a marginal value. With proper engineering and enough parts, it's possible to assemble a bike-powered cart, but again, it's only good for travelling and light transportation.

* Averted in ''TabletopGame/Twilight2000''. Bicycles are considered much better than walking on foot. They by default multiply daily travel range by four, their maintenance is close to non-existent[[note]]They are accounted in ''weekly'' time of a single hour, while anything motor-driven has '''''hours''' per day'' ratio[[note]], and they don't require fuel other than eating roughly 200 calories more per day of travel. They are however obviously unsuitable for combat and - depending on the edition - don't increase transport capacity or affect it only by a marginal value. With proper engineering and enough parts, it's possible to assemble a bike-powered cart, but again, it's only good for travelling and light transportation.

* Lampshaded in ''Film/{{Zombieland}}'', when the main character remarks on the useful attributes of a bike during a zombie apocalypse. Notably, the main cast ''still'' doesn't bother using any of them. Justified in that abandoned cars with at least partially full gas tanks are everywhere.
* ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater''. Ironic, since Jim's character was a bicycle courier before the accident that got him into a coma in the first place. Particularly strange in that, as the title of the film says, the movie takes place only a month after. However, given the pace at which the infected run (and never seem to tire), this is at least partially justified.

* ''Film/TheRoad'': No one rides bikes. The main character at least has the partial excuse of having a cart filled with all of his supplies to push around. To make it even weirder, there is group of cannibals using a semi-trailer truck with a home-made gasifier attached to it - they had materials and skills to build one, but something as basic as bikes is missing.

* ''Film/IntoTheForest'': The family's only two options for getting to town are driving or walking for three days. When asked if they have bicycles, the sisters say their father gave theirs away to some needy kids shortly before the BigBlackout. One wonders why a father who stocks many other emergency supplies would give away all the family's bikes when he lives a three-day walk from town.

* Justifed in ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor'': it's mentioned that the ruins of Tokyo aren't suited to anything but walking.

* Played with in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIVApocalypse''. Bikes are just another piece of VendorTrash to sell and can never be ridden. [[JustifiedTrope Cross referencing some flavor text reveals that it's only safe to ride them indoors, and that the demons outside attack anything moving too fast]].
* ''VideoGame/DeathRoadToCanada'' plays it straight – either you have a car, or you're ''looking'' for an abandoned car to steal, walking on foot without making any progress towards reaching Canada, and suffering a plethora of bad events that drain supplies and morale like crazy[[note]]unless one of the team members has the Pathfinder perk, that filters out negative events for at least a day[[/note]]. More glaring because, unlike other post-apocalyptic ''The Oregon Trail'' expies like ''VideoGame/OrganTrail'', the characters can and do lug around all their gear on foot if they're car-less.
* In the ''VideoGame/Ashes2063'' total conversion for ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', one no-name NPC envious of the PlayerCharacter's CoolBike mentions that he tried to leave the settlement he's in on a bicycle, and the townsfolk just laughed at him. The game never explains why he was not successful.

* Inverted in ''Webcomic/BicycleBoy''. The protagonist travels on a bicycle; however, all the other characters walk.
* The inversion in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' is subverted in the derivative ''WebComic/{{Concerned}}'' WebComic: Gordon Frohman's vehicle of choice is one such rusty bike that doesn't even have tires.

* Massively averted in the horror/romantic comedy ''Film/TurboKid'', where bikes are the ''only'' mode of transportation used throughout the post-apocalyptic wasteland. This leads to humorous juxtapositions of ferocious wasteland warriors mounted on 1980s-style BMX bikes.

* The heroes at one point in the alien-bug movie ''Film/{{Infestation}}'' ride bikes to get around, if only because the bugs hunt by sound.

* ''Film/MadMaxBeyondThunderdome'' shows various velocipedes being used by people to transport things around alongside animal-drawn carts.
* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/TheBoyAndTheWorld'', where a bike is the main form of transportation for Cuca and the rainbow hat man.
* After the power has mostly been shut down to the whole world at the end of ''Film/{{Transcendence}}'', people are shown bicycling in the streets of Boston.

* In ''Literature/TheStand'', one of the characters, after crashing a motorcycle and walking for a while thereafter because of his fear of a serious accident with no one around, suddenly realizes that he can just use a bicycle. He even chides himself as being foolish for not thinking of it sooner. Several other characters also use bicycles to get around.

* ''Literature/TheZombieSurvivalGuide'' specifically states bikes are the best option for escaping zombies because they're quick, versatile, easy to use and maintain, and almost noiseless.

* Very much [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in ''Literature/TheExpanse'': [[spoiler:After a number of asteroids coated with radar-absorbent paint hit Earth in book 5, Amos and "Peaches" use bikes to get back to Baltimore instead of walking or stealing a powered vehicle. The advantages of bikes in a partially post-apocalyptic setting are later expounded upon by Amos to Alex.]]

* Bikes were used quite heavily in the first season of ''Series/FallingSkies''.

* ''Series/TheBarrier'': While the apocalypse wasn't as bad as in most works mentioned here, it was still bad enough for most people to be unable to afford cars. That portion of the population is shown to be going around on bikes and several background characters are shown to be making a living selling bicycle parts.

* Averted in ''TabletopGame/Twilight2000''. Bicycles are considered much better than walking on foot. They by default multiply daily travel range by four, their maintaince is close to non-existent, and they don't require fuel other than eating roughtly 200 calories more per day of travel. They are also obviously unsuitable for combat and - depending on the edition - don't increase transport capacity or affect it only by a marginal value. With proper engineering and enough parts, it's possible to assemble a bike-powered cart, but again, it's only good for travelling and light transportation.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/{{Cataclysm}}'', although bicycles can be somewhat uncommon if the RNG is in a bad mood. It's also possible to build your own with the right parts, and bicycle-like designs are the simplest designs short of simply putting foot pedals on a shopping cart.

* ''VideoGame/SevenDaysToDie'' averts this, starting on Alpha 17. The bicycle works similarly to the ''Unturned'' example above, moving in normal speed at a player's running speed with the option to run faster but draining the SprintMeter. It also has a modest "trunk" space with ten or so slots. Among all vehicles, it's the easiest to make, requiring just one skill point in the "Grease Monkey" tree and easily-collected items such as forged iron, household acid and mechanical parts; it also takes the least amount of repair kits to fix to full HP and, obviously, needs no gasoline to function.
* ''VideoGame/DeadRising'' lets you use bicycles and skateboards to travel around the map faster. Since your vehicle options are limited, they will generally be the preferred mode of transport for savvy players.

** Japanese forces took over most of Southeast Asia (most notably Singapore) largely by riding on bicycles to get to places that tanks and artillery couldn't get to.

* ''Film/TheRoad'': No one rides bikes. The main character at least has the partial excuse of having a cart filled with all of his supplies to push around.

* The four main characters in ''Film/{{Carriers}}'' are perfectly willing to shoot innocent people for their gas, even though the world is almost entirely intact. The idea of getting gas from other cars or finding bikes never comes up. The only justified instance is with the father and his sick daughter because he needs to get her to medical attention ASAP.

* ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater''. Ironic, since Jim's character was a bicycle courier before the accident that got him into a coma in the first place. Particularly strange in that, as the title of the film says, the movie takes place only a month after.

* ''WebAnimation/{{Afterworld}}'' has one of the most egregious examples. Russell Shoemaker, the main character, has to make a trip from New York to Seattle. He does so on foot, as there is no other transportation anymore. Early on he decides to make a "shortcut" in form of seizing a bike. Russ rides for few miles, then [[EpicFail crashes on a straight asphalt road, totals his bicycle and gets seriously injured]]. He's then saved by a WanderingJew and the episode concludes with AnAesop that it's better to stick to known and tested solutions, while "shortcuts" are bad for your character. [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext Yeah]]. It's that kind of a show.

* ''VideoGame/SevenDaysToDie'' averts this, starting on Alpha 17. The bicycle works similarly to the ''Unturned'' example above, moving in normal speed at a player's running speed with the option to run faster but draining the SprintMeter. It also has a modest "trunk" space with ten or so slots. Among all vehicles, it's the easiest to make, being craftable at level 20 and only requiring easily-collected items such as forged iron, household acid and mechanical parts; it also takes the least amount of repair kits to fix to full HP.
%% I'm not sure if the 7D2D bike coasts (the old minibike did in A16 and before, at least). If anyone can confirm, it'd be much appreciated.

* ''Film/TheRoad'': No one rides bikes. The main character at least has the excuse of having a cart filled with all of his supplies to push around.