Any thoughts on if it would be worth my time to plan on having a motorcycle at my BOL? (apart from recreation)

Sure till fuel ran out but depending on what type it would have its downfalls as well, like NOISE but you could use it to get around and if need be you could use it for a small generator if you had some batteries or a belt driven generator head you could hook up to the back RIM W/OUT tire. Or any other creative ideas.

Set up right they can be fairly quiet. I kind of think an ATV might be the better route in some ways. Can haul more for one thing. Plus you can use it to drag stuff.

As a side note:

The mini sprints used in dirt track racing run motorcycle engines fueled by alcohol.

With a little modifications, motorcycles or ATVs can be made to run on home produced ethanol (aka moonshine). As soon as I get my mini still operational, i intend on making a couple of my bikes to run on shine.

Acutally Johnny, noise isn't what most people think. I have a 2007 Arctic Cat 650 H1, bone stock. You can hear it easily from about 150yds away. The newest addition to the collection compliments of my Father In Law is a 1986 Honda XR200R, when it's idling all you hear are the valves clicking and at about 3500RPM its as loud as the quad at idle. I'm working on street legalizing the XR with the intent of using it for a get around vehicle now since it gets 90MPG, once TSHTF I'm intending to use it as a scout vehicle since it's relatively quick and very maneuverable. The Kitty is 7' long, 4' wide, weighs 680lbs dry and needs 20' to turn around in unless you use the throttle then it's cut down to about 10'. If I have to bail into the forest for a period of time I'll use the Kitty to tote my gear as far back as I can, hide it and pack everything in from there. In that situation a dirt bike would be worthless. Whereas if I can bug in and I want to know what's happening out there I can take the bike and get in/out quickly thereby minimizing the chances of being caught.

I don't know about as an extra BOV but how about just something easy on fuel like a motorixed bicycle?

ATVs are OK but they are not very fuel efficient. If you need to go very far, you're not very fast. The utility aspect of an ATV far outweighs its mobility. Here is something that is a cross. I purchased one of these brand new in 2006 and put the racks on it. I drive it to work daily. I AVERAGE 92mpg. The only problem is the small gas tank. Only gives you a last-drop range of about 160 miles.




Mine has 19,400 miles on it. The tires lasted about 10,000 miles and cheap chinese chain will last 5,000 but good O-Ring chain will last 10,000. I re-geared it (went to a 45 read from a 52 and from a 14 front to a 15). Gained about 10mpg doing tha but made it a bit less offroadable. However, it still good for tails, just not really rough stuff.

I've ridden in a downpour. It slices through standing water like its not even there. When gas was expensive I just did whatever I could to save it. I rode in all kinds of weather. 35 degrees was my lower limit. ...50 degrees if it was raining. I've got two 55 gal drums of gasoline stashed. If I had to, that would last me a very long time if I had to commute after SHTF, however, I figure if it does, I'm not going to be worrying about it. Might be good to get groceries, though. I've done a good bit of hauling. A bag of chicken feed, a bag of dog food, case a beer, all at the same time. You would be surprised how well it hauls stuff. It hauls my fat ass around like its nothing so another 230 lbs or so isn't gonna matter.

Very similar MPG & range as my XR200R, it's more dirt bikeish tho. I've had it up to 70MPH but it's rather hair raising on knobbies. Now that I have it and it's not rotting in the Father In Laws garage I'm going to put some rubber on it that's more 50/50 street & dirt DOT approved and plate it. Once I'm done with the smoker project I'll start on a rear rack for it that will hold a milk crate, don't want to do anything on the front because it's got the soft motocross suspension so it probably wouldn't carry much. I just have to watch what I do because I don't want to lose the dirt bike personality of it, all I'll use it for street wise is running the 11 miles to the quickie mart & liquor store for a gallon of milk or case of beer other than that all my "street use" will be on our unimproved county dirt roads where suspension & dirt bike handling are a massive +.
So my questions are, it's a 2006, the seat says Yamaha but I don't recognize the tank emblem and how many cc's? What's the top end, can it handle the highway (I have to really push the XR for anything over 50MPH)?
As to the ATV's, my Kitty tops out at about 50MPH and averages about 19MPG with a 5gal tank, rated for 600lbs combined on the racks, I've towed up to 3,000lbs and it pushes snow easily at about 25MPH up to about 1' deep. If your running light and trying to get the hell out of Dodge a bike is definitely the answer but in my case I'd be bugging out to the forest I could take alot of stuff with me on the ATV and the 2500lb winch would allow me to get just about anywhere.

I just didn't recognize the tank emblem. Back when I still had my YZ500 it said Yamaha on the tank, no emblems at all. I was just wondering if it was some other brand with a Yamaha seat. For example my XR has no emblems at all and the back/sides of the seat saw "Ceet", the brand of the replacement seat cover. Seeing as I haven't kept up with motorcycles for the last 15 years I have never seen his particular design of bike and was hoping he would fill me in on the basic specs of it.