Introduction:
When Carol takes a gas can, she immediately mounts her bike, which provides her much better movement possibilities.
I have a bike!! I'm immortal!!: No, is actually pretty easy to lose the bike. There are 4 ways to lose permanently the bike:
1- Dying 2- Restarting 3- Receiving 3 hits in the same screen. 4- Pouncing off of the bike and leaving the screen.
There is also an additional use for gas cans. If you already have the bike, you can refresh your bike HP taking them. This means, if you received 2 hits during the screen and you take the gas can, your bike HP is 3 hits again before being destroyed.
About how works bike's HP, there is an important clarification: if you have the bike, you dismount (pouncing off) and you receive 2-X hits, and you take the bike again, you'll be one hit away to lose the bike until you finish the screen or take another gas can, be care about that. Hits having shields doesn't count for bike's health.
There are some gas cans in the speedrunning main route, others are completely out of the route and others are good backup. I'll explain all in every level.
Dragon Valley
There are 3 gas cans in Dragon Valley, but only one of them is in the main route.
The first one is earlier than the second, but is definitely slower going for that bike, takes more time going for it than moving on foot until the second. The way for that bike is using the lower route at left. The second one is the main route bike, and supposedly the only bike you need in all Dragon Valley. The third one is completely out of the route and to be honest is really hard to lose the bike before that point in Dragon Valley, but is still being better going for it instead of missing the skip boss if for some reason you don't have bike at that point. The location is in Dragon Valley 2 second screen (the screen after beating the snake mid boss), is at the beginning, climbing the left wall and taking the jump pads, going right after that.
Relic Maze
Surprise. There is no bike in Relic Maze.
Fortune Night
There are a lot of gas cans through Fortune Night. The first one is the main route bike, the only one you need to complete the stage optimally. The second one is useful if for some reason you lost the bike during the intro, in that case is climbing the left wall after the laser part. The third bike is in second screen, completely out of the main route (is in the lower route) unless you directly don't have bike, don't bother going for it. The fourth gas can is on the way, after beating the mid boss is immediately after the screen unlocks. The fifth bike is really close to the main route, if you don't really need it is better to ignore it, the same about the sixth and the seventh.
Sky Battalion
The only bike in all Sky Battalion, take care of it. Is in Metal Ship, before the airborne section at left. And of course, 10 seconds after taking the only bike in all the stage you have a cool DNA cannons section, getting caught by one of them is immediately losing the bike. Good luck with that.
Jade Creek
In Jade Creek you already start the stage having bike, you can ignore all the gas cans. The first gas can is actually on the route. The second one is completely out of the route, but if for some reason you lost the bike, is in the upper route at left before entering into the water for second time in that screen. The third one is on the route, in second screen too but normally you don't need it anyways. From third screen you don't have more bikes in the level at least until the boss fight. I didn't post images about that, but during the chopper fight every time you beat a trooper he drops a gas can (and actually would be better if they don't lol).
Trap Hideout
You have only one bike in the first part in Trap Hideout, is in second screen going for the upper route after the first rolling barrel. About the others, all of them are after the mid boss. Bike 2 is after the mid boss in the alternative route, is good backup if you lost the bike before that point (and actually the only route you can go if that happened). Bikes 3 and 4 are on the way and normally you don't need them. Bike 5 is important as backup gas can if you received damage before. Trap Hideout 3rd screen is the same from the first climb until the end of the stage, which means every hit you receive since the very first moment you enter there counts for your bike's HP. That gas can is especially useful to refresh your bike's HP before the 99 ninjas fight. Bike 6 and 7 are in the fight arena, are backups as well. When you are fighting the ninjas, you can count every time you get hit and every 2 hits going for one of them, that way you can make sure about not losing the bike.
Thermal Base
You don't have bike in all the first part of Thermal Base. The first bike is after beating the mid boss, and is supposedly the only bike you need during the stage. The second bike counts as backup, you can ignore it if you don't need it. About the location, is in the first screen in Thermal Base 2nd part, after the keycard, easy to notice. The third one is in the Thermal Base 2 second screen, completely out of the route but good as last resource if you don't have bike. The way to take it is going for the upper route in the first part.
Battle Glacier
The first bike in BG is the new main route bike, but actually that is a recent change. Is not completely easy to take, probably is better going directly for the second bike when starting with the level. The location of the first bike is in the upper route, you need good speed to jump-slope and climb to reach it. The second bike is going for the lower route in the last part of the first screen. If you take the first bike, the route changes and the second is out of the way, but otherwise the lower route and this bike is better. About which bike route is faster, actually you can finish the screen at the same time with the second bike, but is harder, the first bike if you take it without problem is an easier and consistent route after that.
The third bike is out of the route, would be a backup if you lost the bike before that point. After the hangbars, take the left-lower route instead of the right and there it is.
The fourth bike is almost at the end of the level, take care about your bike because there are no backups until this point. In the second screen of the second part, before the spider miniboss in the left spot.
The fifth bike is in Dail's fight arena at the right. This fight is horrible without bike, if you don't have bike from the beginning go for this one, in case you already have a bike, use it as backup during the fight.
Final Dreadnought 1
About the locations, the first bike is in an alternative route. Is slower going for that one, but not really much slower. Is going for upper route to right after the part where you can see 4 bouncepads vertically alligned. The main route bike is the second one. The third one is exactly after the lock before the boss, I count it as a backup, but is kind of weird backup because the boss fight actually is much better without bike. Normally I dismount the bike after the pylons before the boss fight, there is also a strat counting the bike hits and destroying the bike intentionally with them, but if you lose the bike with the bombs or you already don't have bike entering this section, is better taking the bike and dropping it before the fight, all that way from the bike until the pylons is faster having bike.
Final Dreadnought 2
No bikes here.
Final Dreadnought 3
In FD3 there are a lot of bikes, normally the only one you need is the first one which is located right in the beginning of the stage in the middle part. The second one is really close to the first taking the upper route, normally you don't need it but is on the way. The third one is after the first door, counts as backup if you don't have bike there. The fourth bike is right after the third, is better to take as backup if the thing you want is to refresh your bike's health. The fifth bike is located after the second teleporter in that section at the left (the second teleporter counting from the 4th bike) and is the last bike you have on the screen. The other bikes are located all in the hallway at the beginning of the second screen, normally you don't need them but there they are just in case.
Final Dreadnought 4
No bikes here.
