You’ve got your ticket to Burning Man and you’re preparing to go to Black Rock City, one of the best cities in the world for bike commuting. The vehicle speed limit is 5 mph and there is no speed limit for human powered bicycles. Bikes rule the roads. Make sure you follow these tips on bringing your bike to Burning Man!
1. Why do you need a bike?
Burning Man covers a large area, about 7 square miles. Although you can easily walk from one side to the other, it would take a significant portion of your day, and if you ever want to ride with your friends to make it to an event on time, you should really have a bicycle.
There are some shared bikes called “Yellow Bikes” (which aren’t yellow, they’re more green), but there aren’t too many, so if you find one to use you’re lucky! Make sure you leave them in a public spot if you use one. They are meant to be shared and used by everyone, not hidden until your next biking adventure.
E-bikes: Do you need one? Do you want one?
E-bikes have become a contentious subject at Burning Man. People who have them probably love them, people who don’t seem to hate them. Sounds about right. Personally I prefer the exercise of push bike, and I think having to charge an e-bike would be one more thing I don’t want to think about, but if you are camping with accessible power and a bike with a large enough range, it would definitely take the bite off of riding. Sand trap? No problem. Ice run? No one’s sweating this time. Extra passenger? Pile ’em on.
Playa eBikes has a spot in Nixon on the way to the playa to rent (or buy) eBikes on the way to the playa. Use my coupon code playadh25 for $100 off at Playa eBikes.
In 2024, class 3 e-bikes were fully banned. That means if your bike has a top speed of 28mph, it’s not allowed at the event. Class 1 & Class 2 e-bikes with a top speed of 20mph are fine. I find this rule reasonable and hope it will result in a better experience for everyone.
It should be noted that any electric bicycles or other not fully human powered modes of transportation are subject to the 5 mph speed limit like mutant vehicles (but unlikely to be enforced if you ride with the flow). This is a remnant of a day when all bikes were push bikes and were limited by the power of their human operator. Maybe someday the org will get with the times and add a new speed limit that makes sense instead of telling everyone with an e-bike to go 5mph.
In 2024 I brought a converted eBike using the Swytch kit (I don’t recommend that conversion kit). It was nice to have that extra power sometimes, but only if I was alone. I would often leave the battery at camp or disconnected so I could ride slow with friends. Occasionally I would ride with other eBikes and we would all go faster together, but having these 2 tiers of speed definitely reduces some of the community vibe.
2. Where should you get your bike?
First off, let’s dispel a common myth. Burning Man will NOT destroy your bike so it’s never the same again. This won’t happen. The playa dust doesn’t come from hell to destroy everything it touches. While the dust can certainly cause more wear & tear than usual, when you get home, just give your bike a good wash and it will be fine. I know many people that have taken the same bike to the playa for years AND ridden it back at home, myself included.
People say that Burning Man will destroy your bike, but it’s more likely that they’re buying crappy bikes for $100 which can barely handle the default world, let alone the playa dust for a week. A good bicycle won’t break down on the playa when you need it most.
Thousands of cars seem to make it out of Burning Man every year and live on. Your bike can do the same. With the rise of e-bike popularity, you think people are letting those bikes break down? Hell no, they’re cleaning them, using them at home, and taking them to the burn year after year.
Now that that’s out of the way, a world of possibilities opens up. If you already have a bike with tires that aren’t super skinny, you can just bring that bike! Does it have gears? Even better! You can go slower when you’re feeling lazy. Can’t do that on a single speed. Your gears will survive the dust.
Whatever you do, treat your Burning Man bike purchase like buying any other bicycle. You don’t want to buy the absolute cheapest, but one or two price points above will get you a huge jump in quality that you need on the playa.
Guess what happens when you follow this advice? You are NOT the person that leaves a broken bike on the playa after Burning Man. Thousands of bikes are abandoned on the playa after Burning Man. Don’t be that person. Leave No Trace means Leave No Bike.
If you don’t already have bike with bigger tires (I’d say anything 32mm or bigger), you have a few options:
- Buy a Public C7 or M7: These Public brand bikes are simply great all around commuter bikes that are also great for Burning Man and worthy of a callout. The best part is that they’ll work well back in the default world for those short trips where you know you shouldn’t drive anyway. I’ve recommended this bike to my friends for riding around town, and few have brought it to the burn and and continued to use it as a commuter bike. This is the best option! Let the Burn be your gateway drug to riding a bicycle more. Try to find them used and you might get a good deal.
- Rent a bike! There are lots of bike shops or theme camps that rent bikes (or sell them for cheaper than renting!) near the playa (you can’t rent a bike to pick up on-playa). Check out the official list with some local shops and Reno Bike Project, or some others that the org hasn’t listed like BM Bike Rentals, Playa Bike Repair, and maybe Hammer & Cyclery.
- For renting eBikes, Playa eBikes has a physical location in Nixon on the way to the playa where you can rent eBikes too. Reserve with my code playadh25 and get $100 off.
- Buy a used bike on craigslist. You can probably get a decent bike on Craigslist that isn’t a cheap Walmart bike. Watch out for cheaply made bikes being resold. Check the Bike Blue Book for info (and fair price) on the bike you’re buying.
- Buy a good starter commuter bike around $300-$500 at your local bike shop or REI. This is pricier than what people usually tell you when buying a Burning Man bike, but this will be useful for much more than Burning Man, making this money well spent compared to $100 on department store trash. Watch out for small bike shops that only sell high end bikes that are unnecessary for Burning Man. A large bike shop or sports store like REI or Sports Basement will have more options on the lower tier end. Don’t forget to get one with wider tires! Note: The C7 or M7 can be found at Mike’s Bikes if you have one nearby.
- Buy an E-bike that you can use at home too as a car replacement! There are lots of companies selling decently priced e-bikes that would be good for use on the playa and at home. Some are cargo bikes or can be outfitted with passenger seats to give rides to a bikeless friends out on the playa! Some ideas:
- Ride1Up has a compact selection of ebikes. 2 that look good:
- Portola: Good value step through bike with fat 3″ tires AND it folds
- Roadster V3 single speed (or geared) is a good option with 45mm tires (plenty big enough)
- Revv-1 moped style ebike with very fat tires.
- Rad Power Bikes has a bigger selection with tons of cargo bikes too
- A fat tire trike bike from Viribus
- Ride1Up has a compact selection of ebikes. 2 that look good:
- (not recommended) Buy a hybrid commuter bike on Amazon. A cheap (but maybe not the cheapest) commuter bike or cruiser bike can work out on and off the playa. A fat tire bike will smooth out any bumps, but it might be slower. You may have to assemble your bike if you buy it this way, and the cheap bike parts may need a bit of adjusting before settling in.
- If you’re traveling by plane, refer to above and rent a bike! You’ll have people to help fix it if something goes wrong and you’ll be leaving no trace. If you do buy a bike, make sure to pack it out and donate it. On the survival guide bicycles post, scroll down to see organizations that accept bike donations on and off the playa. For an ebike rental you can use my coupon code playadh25 for $100 off at Playa eBikes on the drive to the playa.
3. How to Prepare Your Bike For the Playa
Make Sure Your Bike is in Working Order
The most important preparation is making sure your bike is in working order. If something is about to break, the playa will probably push it over the edge into the broken category. Have a bike shop or your expert friend take a look, and maybe get a tune up. Some things I’ve noticed my burning man bike needs if it’s already been the playa and is preparing for another year: lube the shifter mechanism, check that the brakes work and aren’t rubbing after you engage them, lube the cables where they enter the housing (might need replacing), lube the bottom bracket. And of course the chain is a big one.
Lube Your Bike Chain Before and During the Burn
2025 Update! Smoove wax-based bike lube has a special applicator that makes it very easy to quick apply the lube, especially in playa conditions where you may be in a rush. This is my new favorite bike lube both on and off playa because of how easy it is to apply, and bonus points that it’s rated highly by Zero Friction Cycling who tests lots of lubes.
Before the playa, lube your chain with Smoove wax-based lube, this potentially more playa friendly wax chain lube, or a cheaper, more popular brand but not as EcoFriendly or as easy to apply). Using wax chain lube might be able to protect your chain the entire week if you’re lucky. Don’t use WD-40 or other sticky, wet lubes. Anything wet will attract the playa dust and your bike chain will squeak in just a few days. Even popular dry lubes will likely squeak by halfway through the week, and to be honest the wax lubes delay it just a little bit longer. I’ve never made it the entire week without needing to lube my chain again at least once.
You’ll probably have to reapply chain lube throughout the week so your bike doesn’t squeak. The Smoove lube applicator is the easiest way to do this. Just squeeze it over the chain while moving the pedals backwards. Another easy strategy is to use a spray on dry lube that you can apply quickly and easily, but may be a bit more damaging to the environment/playa. If you carry some lube around maybe you can help out your fellow burners. It’s rough on the ears to hear all the squeaking bike chains by the time Friday rolls around. One guide recommends a “magic juice” which is a tiny bit of mineral oil mixed with vinegar. I used this last year in a spray bottle and it helped for maybe a day before the chain started squeaking again, so good in a pinch but it doesn’t last. Better to just spray with dry bike lube.
Lights. It’s Fun to be Seen
Next thing you need are LIGHTS! Having a well lit bike is fun, helps you find your bike in a sea of bikes, and you don’t have to worry about other bikes or slow moving vehicles not seeing you in the darkness. Here are a list of some options that I’ve done myself or seen on other playa bikes:
- Disco Party Light: I really like using this as my front light, since it lights the path in front of you with a disco party of colorful dots. This is enough to see bumps or obstacles on the ground, but not too much to ruin your night vision. A normal front light you’d use in the city or a dark road is too bright for the playa. You’ll blind yourself and others. I’ve seen people attach this to other parts of their bike too with great results.
- “Neon” lights: They’re LED but they look like neon signs, and they come in all different designs and colors. The ENUOLI brand has been selling nice neon lights for a few years now. They’re bright and easily noticeable. I love these for attaching to the front of my bike (can again light the way like a front light but not too much) or on the back for everyone behind you to enjoy (and for your friends to find you!).
- El Wire: These are nice, but not that bright. To maximize El Wire brightness, keep your batteries charged or fresh, and only use one battery pack per light. I like to use rechargeable batteries and charge them before they even get close to dead.
- Fairy lights (for the wheel or frame): Fairy lights are brighter than El Wire and have a different look. Some of them come with a small battery pack that you can take or zip tie to your bike frame and wrap around. Others come with a special battery pack that you can zip tie to your hub to create cool lights around your spokes. I’ve also just taped the old school battery housing to my hub that works fine, but I can’t change the battery easily.
- Wheel lights with designs: There are wheel lights that flash in complex patterns to create cool designs when the wheels is moving (previously the Monkeylectric lights but I think now they’re just generic). These are nice but more for outside observers since you don’t see the designs much yourself, and they do little to help find your bike.
USB-powered lights enable you to use and swap batteries easily with rechargeable power banks. USB fairy lights and light strips let you use small power banks instead of disposable batteries (you can always get rechargeable AA batteries and a charger too!). If you’re planning to use a USB power bank, you don’t need the huge 10,000mAh bricks that are meant for charging your phone multiple times. A smaller, lighter block with 5,000mAh or less will do the trick just fine (but you will need to recharge throughout the week).
Basket to Carry Things
Next thing you need is some kind of basket to carry things. If you have a bike with a rack, get a rear pannier or basket, or even a milk crate. Otherwise, go for a front basket. I prefer to have a basket on my rear rack that I can put my backpack in, so when I park I can just take my backpack with everything in it.
If you want to easily haul ice, compost, or other larger things with your bike, consider investing in a bike trailer. Your campmates will probably love to borrow it, and you can easily find uses for this off-playa as well! This is where an e-bike would be nice to pull the bike trailer full of stuff.
Cup Holder
If your bike doesn’t have a cup holder already, this is a nice addition to make for a pleasant biking experience. There are a few different types. You have cup holders attaching to the handlebars, cup holders attaching to the frame (the standard bottle cage style you see on many bikes), as well as cup holder bags that can hold bottles and even your phone too (but I prefer a dedicated phone mount).
My “cup” is an insulated bottle with a sealing cap so I don’t have to finish my drink before I move on to wherever else I’m going. I’ll drop it in my bottle holder, put my backpack in my basket (which has a few liters of water in the hydration pack), and I’m off! I’ve also put soup in my bottle and it works alright, but the insulation doesn’t let it cool very quickly!
Bike Seat Cover to Protect your Bum from the Sun
When you park your bike in the sun, your bike seat will heat up super quickly and it will be too hot to touch when you return, especially on a bare bum! Covering your seat with some kind of soft, furry, or flannelly fabric will do the trick to keep you nice and comfy. You can glue some fur to the seat yourself, make a cover with flannel and a drawstring (some camps give these out but I forget which one), or buy some kind of furry bike seat cover. May your ass stay cool. 🥶
Repair Kit
A simple tube repair kit, a small multitool, and some extra tubes (for your wheel size, check the sidewall of your tire) will go a long way. Sometimes the hot desert sun can heat up your tires, expand the air, and pop the tire from sheer pressure. Make sure your tires aren’t pumped up too much to keep this from happening. Low tire pressure gives you a cushier ride on any bumps too. You should be able to squeeze your tire on the sides and feel it flex it a bit. It’s good to have at least 1 bike pump in your camp as well (that pumps both Shrader & Presta valves. Many new pumps do both without any fiddling). There are repair camps to help you fix your bike, but they get crowded and if you can do-it-yourself you may save yourself a lot of time and an inconvenient trip!
Kickstand support
If your bike has a normal kickstand with a small footprint (like a beach cruiser), consider using an old tennis ball (or a precut colorful one) to put on your kickstand so your bike doesn’t sink into the sand when you park it. A simple and effective trick! But make sure you can still ride it without knocking off the ball. I have definitely lost the ball before.
If you don’t have a kickstand and want to get one (it does make playa bike life more convenient), I’d recommend one that has a big foot that can spread the weight out. The soft nature of the playa makes most kickstands suck, and the winds can definitely knock down your bike no matter how well balanced it is. I like this Power Stance Kickstand as well as this Pletscher Optima Flex kickstand. Both have a large foot and are adjustable to your bike size. I tried out this double kickstand in 2024 and it was mediocre since it wasn’t wide enough to properly support the bike (because otherwise your pedals/feet would hit them, so most other double kickstands also have this problem). I tried to use some collapsable double kickstands, but all of these also have narrow support structures that don’t work super well on uneven playa (and get a little sticky with playa dust, requiring midweek upkeep).
Remember when testing kickstands off playa to try and put a bag or something in the basket so you can simulate the weird weight distribution. Kickstands are way harder to work with when there’s weight in the basket…and it’s often nice to be able to leave things in the basket out on the playa. Let me know if you have a really nice kickstand solution that you like!
Bike Rack to Carry Your Bike to the Burn
Getting your bike to Burning Man can be a hassle. A simple, cheap bike rack on the back of your vehicle is an easily solution. I have the Bones 2 rack that can fit on any car (no need for a hitch), but I’ve also used this cheaper one and it works perfectly fine. I’ve put these on all cars and shapes, and it works for many bikes..but if your bike has a step through frame and you’re putting it on a rack that requires a top tube, you need to buy a top tube adapter for your bike to put it on a rack like this!
If you have a hitch, you can get a sturdier bike rack and maybe have better trunk access. You can even buy a 7 bike racks for your hitch if you want to make a lot of your campmates happy.
If you’re part of a big camp sometimes people put bikes in the truck, but that can be rough on your bike and something could come out broken or bent. Pedals are often removed for better packing and those need to be kept track of (along with the pedal wrench).
If you’re taking the Burner Express, you can bring your bike on there for a fee. Whatever you do, make sure you think about how you’ll get the bike back too! Remember, Leave No Trace.
4. How to Lock Your Bike on the Playa
Fortunately, bike theft in Black Rock City is minimal. The most common bike theft is people stealing your bike to ride with their friends because they either didn’t bring a bike or their cheap bike broke halfway through the week and now they want yours.
All you really need to deter this kind of theft is a simple cable lock. Whenever you stop, just lock your frame to your front wheel, and it won’t be fun for anyone to go riding your bike. Some people I know enjoy the letter locking combination locks (colorful too!) because it’s easier to remember!
Just a note, this advice differs greatly from my usual security recommendations for biking around town, including a strong u-lock and wheel locks. These days there are newer angle-grinder resistant U-locks that make stealing your bike in a city significantly harder. Check them out back in the default world!
As a precaution, it’s a good idea to label your bike with your camp name and location so in case you do misplace your bicycle it can find it’s own way back to your camp.
5. What to do if your bike breaks down?
If you didn’t get a proper tune up before Burning Man, it may turn out you need to fix something while there. No problem! There are bike shops all over Black Rock City that will help you fix your bike, but be warned they can get busy. The maintenance crews may be happy that you’re bringing them a nicer bike that will be easier and more fun to fix than the cheap bikes.
I’d recommend downloading one of the playa apps (iBurn & Dust are my favorites) right before you leave for the burn and updating the data to be offline so you have the location of the bike shops as well as other camps and art. If you didn’t do that and don’t have a map, just ask around or go to Center Camp. Someone will know where to fix your bike or maybe help you themself! One time I found a DIY bike fix-it station in deep playa. Maybe it will be there again…
6. How to Clean Your Bike When You Get Back
I see too many bikes in basements that are still coated with playa dust being stored for next year. Most of them also have sticky hubs and degrading parts. This drives the myth that Burning Man destroys your bike, but only if you don’t clean it! It’s much more likely your bike is going to make it through the year if you do a little cleaning and maintenance immediately upon returning. Then the playa dust doesn’t have time to wreak havoc on the parts.
Grab a hose and spray it down with water. Get up close and personal to get as much dust out as you can. A used toothbrush can help with this. You can take your bike to a DIY car wash place as well to find a good sprayer if you don’t have a hose handy. Adding a little white vinegar to your scrubbing mix can help neutralize that pesky dust.
Once most of the dust is gone, lube up the chain with your fancy Smoove applicator, and use another lube (the spray lube works well for this) to try and get the edge of the cables where they go into the housing, and any drivetrain parts like the derailer, and even the shifters! This is getting more advanced, so maybe good to ask a bike friend or mechanic for help after lubing the chain. I have noticed that my shifters need to have lube sprayed into them to keep them shifting smoothly a few months out from the playa. If you can’t shift up mysteriously, this may be your issue.
If your wheels, handlebars, pedals or anything feel like they’re sticking, you may have to grease the bearings in these parts. This is a job best left for a bike shop or some more serious tools.
That’s it! Your bike is as good as new for your cruise around town in the default world again!
Enjoy Burning Man and happy biking! 🚲🚲
If you want more Burning Man content, check out my reflections on biking at the 2021 Renegade Burn.
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