More bike tips for the playa?

[phil]

I know we all know to cut a tennis ball and slip it over the kickstand to keep the stand from sinking into the playa and tipping the bike.

Here's a suggestion from Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools:
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/001289.php
Cut a wine cork and use it to jam your brakes on so your bike doesn't roll when you lean it against something.

What else, guys?

[polykarmatic]

I carry a can of that "fix flat" stuff that comes in a aerosol can with me on my bike ... its handy for re-inflating low tires and just an easy way to stop slow leaks.

I've also added some kids back packs as saddle bags and a milk crate basket so I can carry all kinds of stuff..including three bags of ice..handy!

I love my Playa bike..Her name is Madonna.. (no not that one, the other one)
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[PrfDodecahedron]

Last year we *found* those 1' x 1' x 1' milk crates at a gas station and we zip tied em to the handlebars of our bikes. They make an excellent way of carring stuff around, such as ice from center camp.

[phil]

Last year we *found* those 1' x 1' x 1' milk crates at a gas station and we zip tied em to the handlebars of our bikes. They make an excellent way of carring stuff around, such as ice from center camp.

cool tools has a couple of other suggestions on panniers:
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/000674.php

They list a shopping bag pannier that you can buy, but it looks like it wouldn't be that difficult to attach a fabric shopping bag to your existing bike rack (I've lost track of how many of those bags I've gotten at seminars and MacWorlds that I could recycle).

That link also has a photo of a couple of square 4-gal foodstuff containers on a bike as pannier.

I offer a word of warning: we used metal panniers on the playa one year, and we occasionally scraped our ankles trying to mount the bike and not quite clearing the metal. A hint for the other geezers among us. :-> Take a look at the photo of the bike with plastic buckets and imagine pushing your bike off on the playa then swinging your leg over all that crap. Your mileage will vary inversely with your age.

We use rear panniers as opposed to handlebar baskets because we found our bikes incredibly unstable when we tried to park them on the kickstands with the front wheel pivoting with all that weight (yeah, we cary a load of crap on our bikes). We're going with fabric panniers on existing back racks this year to keep weight down and off the front wheel.

[robotland]

And to avoid "hot seat", a scrap of Reflectix with a loop of elastic- For while parked in the sun.
An improvised "trailer" can be made from a golfbag carrier, milk crate and some hardware or simply a bungee to connect behind your bike. And it folds up!

[AntiM]

We used panniers in Japan, they made folding ones which clipped flat when not in use. We could carry a full load of groceries between the two bikes, with panniers, front and back baskets, the one on the back had a quick release and you could carry it around like a shopping basket. Don't know if these things are available in the US, but I thought I'd mention them as they were great ideas.

Larry once brought home an entire threee piece tansu someone had thrown out strapped to his bike. But then, he's nuts. And we caused a fender-bender because soemone swiveled to watch us haul a christmas tree home on the motorcycle stuffed upright in one of the saddlebags.

I never had trouble with my dismount, I rode a girl's bike. Might be a good idea for the leg-swinging impaired.

Another good idea: Bike flags on fiberglass poles that mount to the rear hub. Decorate 'em up and make your bike stand not only out but visually up!

[Jordan 10-E]

At the risk of sounding boring, uncreative, and cynical, I want to repeat my number one suggestion concerning bicycles. Trust my wisdom. I make these suggestions to help you have the best time possible, not to diminish your notions of the transformational power of the Burning Man experience.

Bring a lock. Use it. Protect your valuable mode of transportation, not to mention, all the hard work you will have put in to making your bicycle a work of art. It does not damage your "burnerness" to use a lock and it takes very little time to use, much less time than walking. Also, why waste your precious playa time wondering if your out-of-sight bike is ok when you can have piece of mind by simply using a lock? Going from the pace of a hare to that of a turtle can be a harsh transition if it comes upon you unexpected. Especially if all your friends still have theirs.

On a related note, walking can be a great method of travel, at times, however, if you have no source of reliable transportation other than your own two feet to get around BRC, bring a bike for yourself. You will want it. You will need it. I think it almost should be a requirement to enter the gate. If everyone had the foresight to bring their own bike in the first place there would be very little reason to steal another's. There is a ripple effect to bike theft at Burning Man, which could be significantly slowed, or even theortically eliminated, if people would stop allowing their bikes to be targets for those that failed to be "radically self-reliant" and bring their own.

Ok, now back to those other cool suggestions you all have been providing.

Peace

[Dork]

We used panniers in Japan, they made folding ones which clipped flat when not in use
...
I never had trouble with my dismount, I rode a girl's bike. Might be a good idea for the leg-swinging impaired.

I picked up some panniers just like that at REI a few months ago. Very handy and not too expensive.

Girls bikes are also handy when wearing a long skirt, which many of us guys never have to be concerned with the other 51 weeks of the year. I'm currently looking for a junk girls bike or two to bring so I don't have to worry about my nice bike being stolen. And I'm not going to lock it. I just don't want to get into that mindset. I'll carefully hide my wallet and keys as always but everything else I consider expendable as soon as I load it into my car for the trip.