Speeder bikes are small repulsorlift vehicles that are popular throughtout the galaxy as personal transports and recreational vehicles. They are so effective that they Empire's scout troops often used them for military purposes.
    Speeder bikes make excellent ground reconnaissance craft. They can reach speeds up to five hundred kilometers per hour and are more manuerverable that both landspeeders and airspeeders, allowing the to travel through terrain that would stop those vehicles. Most speeder bikes have a low flying ceiling of about twenty-five meters above ground level.
    While they had access to several speeder bike models, the Empire's scout troopers preferred the 74-Z bikes for both speed and reliability. The 74-Z can run for thousands of kilometers without any significant maintenance, allowing biker scouts to operate unsupported for weeks at a time. These speeder bikes have armor plating and a single blaster cannon.
    74-Z's have two outriggers with four forward steering vanes. Maneuver controls are located in the hand grips, while altitude conrtols are built into the foot pedals. Speed normally is controlled through the foot pedals. Communications, sensors, and weaponry controls are set in a panel in front of the saddle, while a small cargo compartment is found beneath the seat. A biker scout may reset the control configuration through this panel: some biker scouts perfer to run the accelerator controls through the hand grips.
    The forward undercarriage of the speeder bike houses the maneuvering control units (linked to the directional vanes) and the blaster cannon. The rear of the speeder bike is taken up entirely bu the power cell and repulsorlift engine.
    Imperial biker scouts normally work in units called lances. Each lance had four standard speeder bike scouts and a sergeant commander; a lance generally split into two elements for field operations. Imperial biker scouts could explore and survey far more territory per man than could explore and survey far more territory per man than could those using any other type of vehicle, and these troops operated with unusual autonomy.