Roller bags: do they actually roll on the playa?

Questions, answers, tips & tricks for newbies and veterans alike
Post Reply
User avatar
Leap
Posts: 238
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2016 8:17 am
Burning Since: 2016
Camp Name: Big Puffy Yellow

Roller bags: do they actually roll on the playa?

Post by Leap » Sun Jun 12, 2016 5:41 am

I'm taking BxB with one huge piece of luggage and one big cooler so I'll need to figure out a decent way to get them to camp. I'm planning on the worst scenario of being many blocks away from camp. The cooler has big enough wheels to actually help (I hope). The wheels on all the bags are so tiny, I wonder if I should even bother. Thinking at best it will still be work and that's fine. At worst, it may by like dragging a body along the playa. Maybe I should just use a duffle and carry it. Thoughts?

User avatar
AntiM
Moderator
Posts: 20301
Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2004 5:23 am
Burning Since: 2001
Camp Name: Anti M's Home for Wayward Art
Location: Wild, Wild West

Re: Roller bags: do they actually roll on the playa?

Post by AntiM » Sun Jun 12, 2016 5:49 am

You will provide a lot of amusement to onlookers. A folding luggage rack might help, and keep some dust out of your small rollers. A seabag (duffle) would be tough as hell though.

User avatar
Leap
Posts: 238
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2016 8:17 am
Burning Since: 2016
Camp Name: Big Puffy Yellow

Re: Roller bags: do they actually roll on the playa?

Post by Leap » Sun Jun 12, 2016 6:53 am

:P

User avatar
Ratty
Posts: 6299
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2011 6:43 pm
Burning Since: 2008
Camp Name: Tiger Man

Re: Roller bags: do they actually roll on the playa?

Post by Ratty » Sun Jun 12, 2016 7:02 am

When you get off the BXB you can get on the shuttle. It will take you and your luggage down G street. Get off where ever you like. Find a friendly camp leave your stuff there and go get help or the friendly camp will balance your stuff on a bike seat and walk you to your camp.
Those aren't buttermilk biscuits I'm lying on Savannah

Pictures or it didn't happen Greycoyote

Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.
Arthur Schopenhauer

User avatar
Captain Goddammit
Posts: 8589
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2003 9:34 am
Burning Since: 2000
Camp Name: First Camp
Location: Seattle, WA

Re: Roller bags: do they actually roll on the playa?

Post by Captain Goddammit » Sun Jun 12, 2016 8:39 am

If you're really lucky maybe a boat will come by. Or an octopus. Or a tea hut...
GreyCoyote: "At this rate it wont be long before he is Admiral Fukkit."

User avatar
Aurelia
Posts: 2432
Joined: Mon Aug 20, 2007 8:34 pm
Burning Since: 1986
Camp Name: the Love Camp
Location: San Fracisco, Bay Area

Re: Roller bags: do they actually roll on the playa?

Post by Aurelia » Sun Jun 12, 2016 9:00 am

Your Avatar is splendid indication of who you may be
Everything is tough
I attach with straps around me and lug onward
The only wheels always within ease are my own 2 feet

User avatar
Molotov
Posts: 601
Joined: Sat Mar 02, 2013 11:03 am
Burning Since: 2014
Camp Name: In abstentia, but present in spirit

Re: Roller bags: do they actually roll on the playa?

Post by Molotov » Sun Jun 12, 2016 10:14 am

Bring a roll-up toboggan with a tow rope.
ImageImage
Yes, this is water and sand, but you get the idea:
Image

User avatar
Captain Goddammit
Posts: 8589
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2003 9:34 am
Burning Since: 2000
Camp Name: First Camp
Location: Seattle, WA

Re: Roller bags: do they actually roll on the playa?

Post by Captain Goddammit » Sun Jun 12, 2016 10:19 am

That would work great if a boat came by!
GreyCoyote: "At this rate it wont be long before he is Admiral Fukkit."

User avatar
Popeye
Posts: 1006
Joined: Thu Aug 15, 2013 10:39 pm
Burning Since: 2011
Camp Name: Camp Beaverton
Location: Where the east wind blows

Re: Roller bags: do they actually roll on the playa?

Post by Popeye » Sun Jun 12, 2016 4:19 pm

[quote="Molotov"]Bring a roll-up toboggan with a tow rope.

That's a great idea. I've been using a golf club club travel bag I picked up from a thrift store. Wheels are big enough to not get jammed up on the playa. Airlines take it as oversized luggage with (so far) no additional charges and it holds lots.
Everyone is so politically fucked up that they're segregating themselves in the name of equal rights and liberation.

User avatar
BBadger
Posts: 6073
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2011 10:37 am
Burning Since: 2010
Location: (near) Portland, OR, USA

Re: Roller bags: do they actually roll on the playa?

Post by BBadger » Mon Jun 13, 2016 8:52 pm

After exiting the shuttle I just rent one of those luggage carts at the stations near the moving walkways.
"The essence of tyranny is not iron law. It is capricious law." -- Christopher Hitchens

Hate reading my replies? Click here to add me to your plonk (foe) list.

rmc50
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 11:11 am
Burning Since: 2013

Re: Roller bags: do they actually roll on the playa?

Post by rmc50 » Tue Jun 14, 2016 11:33 pm

There will be sections where the playa surface is hard packed and your luggage wheels will roll just as if they were on concrete.

There will be other areas where the surface has been pulverized into a very soft powder: think four inches of talcum powder. Luggage wheels won't roll through this.

A large percentage of the roadways will be veryhard and bumpy and your luggage will get a very rough ride across it.

LowePro
Posts: 655
Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2012 2:58 pm

Re: Roller bags: do they actually roll on the playa?

Post by LowePro » Wed Jun 15, 2016 5:32 pm

The roller bag will not work very well. The cooler with wheels should be fine.
Consider a big backpacking backpack. Keep your hands free for dragging the cooler and holding a beer.

Post Reply

Return to “Q & A Tips and Tricks”