Bicycle Infantry

[Homer]

The July-August issue of Armor had the below article on the use of mountain bikes in USMC LAR platoons.

https://www.moore.army.mil/armor/EAr...ust1998web.pdf (page 15)

It seems they were primarily used as stealthier or faster platforms than the current LAR TOE provided. It’s a similar hybrid concept to the initial plans to issue dirt bikes to Bradley scout platoons, with the advantage of it being quieter and safer but the disadvantage being the relatively slower rate of movement of bikes vs military motorcycles.

In T2K, I’m not sure you’d get the pedigreed level of bike with bespoke mods the marines were using, but the concept seems solid. Adding a couple of bikes to a group would let them halt well short of a village or other potential danger area to conduct a stealthier initial recon. Potentially, if the risk is worth the reward, you could even use the bikes to insert scouts directly into the area of interest for close observation.

If bicycles are common vehicles in the area, it will likely lower the signature of your observers, especially with appropriate clothing. If you’re really sneaky, elements of a field expedient antenna can be hidden in or on the bike. Combine with a small morse transmitter and receiver and you’re in business to send data back, or just exfil your observers in the normal flow of traffic.