Will my bike get destroyed by the playa?

[samhandwich22]

I have to decide between bringing my primary use bike or obtaining a crappy used one for the event. The question is, will the playa dust destroy my bike or lead to costly repairs? The advantage to bringing my current bike is that it works well, I am comfortable with it, and I am good to go as is.

I will also consider purchasing a crappy used (<$100) bike if need be, one that I dont mind getting wrecked by the dust and can resell after the event. Just how badly will the playa dust damage my bike? Obviously, I would rather not take my primary $600 mtn bike if it might incur costly repairs or major damage.

[TomServo]

The playa will destroy your bearings...and possibly chain. If you want to keep your bike running, have them replaced after..or... read up and replace them yourself. With the right tools, it's not that difficult.

[some seeing eye]

It won't destroy your bike.

It will take hours to clean the bike on your return, and you won't be able to do it completely. High carbon steel parts will rust in one visit. But the alloy parts will be fine. Don't use toe clips - I've met several people who hit a dust pile, lost control and injured knees.

A fat tire beater with a flat foot kick stand, handlebar or back cage rack, decorations and illumination, plus a tough lock is a popular solution. There are advantages to exiting and entering with costumes in old style girl frames.

[misfit]

your bike may never be the same. something to think about when making your decission. check craigs list for a classic beater.......

[mudpuppy000]

It shouldn't destroy anything but it will be hard to get it completely clean. The drivetrain will take a beating and probably the cables. Bring some dry chain lube as your chain will get caked with playa dust.

There is also a possibility that your bike could get stolen. Make sure to lock it up, but even that isn't a 100% guarantee you'll keep it through the event.

[Dr. Pyro]

Find a $20 beater at a garage sale and be done with it.

[burner von braun]

OK, I'll be the one to repeat the oft stated rule of thumb..

'Never take anything out to the playa that you can't stand to lose'

So I too suggest getting an old bike or a cheap new one. Then you can decorate/modify it as much as you want without concern, light it, and most importantly, not be worried about it while you are there. Also, there is a good chance you'll want to return to Burning Man again, and you'll have your burner bike ready to go.

[samhandwich22]

Thanks for the input! Are there typically problems with dust causing the gear and derailer to malfunction? Should I instead focus my search on cruiser bikes that dont have a lot of speeds, or even just single gears?

[Savannah]

Beach cruisers are very popular. 1 speed; three speed. Big tires! White Lightning Clean Ride is a good dry lubricant for the chain, etc; start with a clean chain though.

Yeah, don't bring your beautiful $600 baby to the playa. It might get damaged, or one of the few bad apples will realize its worth and kidnap it.

[some seeing eye]

Dust causes no immediate failure or degradation in chain drive, gear/shifting systems, steering or brakes. Hub/ front-rear deraileurs will be unaffected by the dust, but will benefit from cleaning post.

[trilobyte]

As others have said, beach cruisers are popular. What you really want is something that's got fat, knobby tires. The surface of the playa ranges from hard-packed dirt to riding through dunes of fine powder about the same consistency of baking flour.

I've seen recommendations on both sides of the fence with regards to gears. Those who argue against gears have a valid point - no gears means reduced chance of failure, and easier to repair. On the flip side, having a few gears can make life on the playa much easier - pedaling into the wind or powering through soft spots is made much easier when you can downshift, and crossing the open playa is a lot less work when you can shift into higher gear.

For a first-year burner, I'd recommend leaving your awesome bike at home and get something pretty inexpensive for the trip. That way you'll have your transportation covered without the risk (or worry) that you're doing lasting damage to your costly mountain bike. After that first trip, if you fall in love with the event and plan on coming back again you can better decide what direction you'd like to go in future years. Many continually come out with a low-end playa bike, some decide to brave their good bike and step up their efforts to make sure it gets maintained and serviced, and still others (myself included) wind up spending even more on a bike that they primarily use for the playa (after years of doing the cheap bike route, my gf and I went the route of 3-speed trikes a couple years ago and love it).

[geospyder]

I have a 21 speed Schwinn mountain bike that was gifted to me five years ago in almost new condition. After each burn I use a power washer to clean it off, give it a decent lube job and it's ready for the next year. If you look real close you would know it's been on the Playa but the average person wouldn't notice. But as others have said don't bring your good bike.

[Elderberry]

I bring a pretty pricey bike to the playa, and it costs about $150.00 or so to get it deplayafied. However, no matter how well they clean it and tune it, it never seems to get back to it's original glory; which isn't that important to me, as I originally bought the bike to use in the default world, but as it turned out, the only time it gets used is on the playa. So better to use it up out there then to let it go unused here.

[Canoe]

Fat Bikes work for the soft and the hard pack.
No magic for when it rains.

Cruiser version of a Fat Bike:
$200 fat bike = Walmart Mongoose Beast (Walmart U.S. only)
In green, red or blue.
Hard to find a Walmart with them in stock. Order online, shipped to a Walmart store, or your home, or a UPS store. (Walmart U.S. only)
4" tires (they're heavy pigs, even for 4" tires, but the playa has a 5 mph speed limit) on 100mm rims.
It's a POSB, so you'll need to grease the hubs, bottom bracket and steering.
Single speed with a coaster brake (no front brakes), but again, the 5 mph speed limit
If you're tall, you will NEED a drop-back seat post - it's a short cockpit.
A number of sites discuss upgrades, seats, handle bars, even hubs & front brakes added on.

mongoosebeastmeasurment sm.jpg

One with different handlebars, and front brakes added (and beer cans in the spokes, just because)
Despite what this pro did, this is a $200 cruiser quality bike, not a $1,200+ trail quality bike!!!

Beastly.jpg

[Canoe]

P.S.
Virgins, the green Walgoose Beast is the most popular colour, but green is a poor choice given the colour of the BRC Yellow Bikes community bike program.
Gives someone an excuse to say they thought it was a community bike. ALTHOUGH - Always Lock Your Bike!!!

[Savannah]

P.S.
Virgins, the green Walgoose Beast is the most popular colour, but green is a poor choice given the colour of the BRC Yellow Bikes community bike program.
Gives someone an excuse to say they thought it was a community bike. ALTHOUGH - Always Lock Your Bike!!!

Hahaha! I never thought of that.

Yeah, I would not willingly bring a plain neon green bike to the playa. Even if you locked it, someone would think you didn't have a right to and call a ranger.

[TomServo]

If you're tall, you will NEED a drop-back seat post - it's a short cockpit.

I'm 6'1", and mine fits just fine. It is a very large bike. Pictures don't do it justice! Yes, replace the handlebars AND the seat!

[TomServo]

also..ape hangers seem to be popular with this bike

[Martiansky]

P.S.
Virgins, the green Walgoose Beast is the most popular colour, but green is a poor choice given the colour of the BRC Yellow Bikes community bike program.
Gives someone an excuse to say they thought it was a community bike. ALTHOUGH - Always Lock Your Bike!!!

Hahaha! I never thought of that.

Yeah, I would not willingly bring a plain neon green bike to the playa. Even if you locked it, someone would think you didn't have a right to and call a ranger.

If you look closely at the picture of the yellow bike fleet you can see that they are of the same make/model/men's/women's.
So, unless you have the exact same bike you shouldn't have to worry about having a green bike IMO.
Sorry for the rant......

Oh, and I got a blue Beast(because my sister likes blue ) but haven't gotten out to ride it yet!

[CornMan]

I bought a Roadmaster mountain bike for about $25 off of craigslist. It has been to the playa 3 times. One or two of those years I hosed it off after the burn, and one year I just left it dusty if my memory is correct. I've done no maintenance to it whatsoever other than pumping air in the tires every so often. It turned out to be my primary bike, and I still use it. Those fat tire Wallmart bikes look super cool.

[theCryptofishist]

I don't know, Martiansky. I don't think you've been on the playa in a yellow bike year, and I haven't seen you on the board much either. The yellow bikes are routinely locked up or hidden or other wise taken out of circulation by some, and there's some pretty bad feelings created.


And I'm delighted your back, just to be clear.

[Martiansky]

No yellow bikes in '05. You are right Fishy. Glad to be back too, thanks!
I understand that people take advantage of the fleet and thats too bad.


I brought a multi-speed bike in 05 and I didn't clean it when I got home and it seemed just fine...that is until last summer when we had tons of rain and the creek behind the house over ran its banks and the basement flooded and the mud scum from the creek got into everything....that's when the bike got rusty!

This time around Im bringing a trike and I will make sure its locked up and when I get home I will clean it off and repack the bearings.

[Canoe]

I'm 6'1", and mine fits just fine. It is a very large bike. Pictures don't do it justice! Yes, replace the handlebars AND the seat!

wow
I'm 5'9" and the short cockpit is driving me nuts. So to speak.

But then, I've got mine setup to sit up.

Walgoose Beast, 47mm trails front with 3.7 inch Surly Endomorph.jpg

[Canoe]

...unless you have the exact same bike you shouldn't have to worry about having a green bike IMO...

Yes. You shouldn't. But you do.
Once they see green, they go "Yellow Bike!", "You've stopped riding. Mine Now, Mine Now, Mine Now".

Others see you looking for a Yellow Bike, remember, and will swing by where you were in case you hadn't found one yet.
On the South side of the Center Camp Cafe I had two "delivered" to me at the same time after looking for over a half hour.

...Oh, and I got a blue Beast(because my sister likes blue ) but haven't gotten out to ride it yet!

I hope you opened the box up and made sure the welds are good, tubes aren't dinged, etc..
Front fork welds are a known issue.
If you got it already assembled from a store, check it over to make sure you'll have brakes, good welds, grease, etc.

[Canoe]

The playa will destroy your bearings...and possibly chain...

"White Lightning: Clean Ride" is playa-tested, and comes highly recommended to me by folks I trust. (One must start with a clean chain, of course.)

Love this stuff. Seems the wax in it makes it self cleaning. The right way is with a new or cleaned chain, but I've used it on crap bikes without fully cleaning the chain and got very good results off-playa, only you end up reapplying and reapplying.

Somewhere on ePlaya there was a good protective wax for the frame recommended too.

[TomServo]

This is how I have mine set up. Other than the narrow handlebars, fits fine.

[Canoe]

This is how I have mine set up. Other than the narrow handlebars, fits fine.

Don't understand. Look how high I have to have my seat post just to get enough extension so my knees aren't jammed up.
With the drop back, I'm hoping I can get some pull off the handlebars like with the crank-forward types.

I'm cheating though. I threw a rear wheel on off another fat bike on the front. That's a 47mm Trials rim with an Endo. Rolls and steers much much nicer. Drilling out the 100mm and putting a skinny Larry on it to give that a try.
Disc just along for the ride, but I'm looking into making a bracket for the caliper.

[TomServo]

My guess is it's all in how you ride it, or are used to riding.

[nixiebunny]

I've worked on playa bikes in one of the bike repair joints for the last 3 years. The bikes that give trouble are the ones that aren't maintained - dry-rotted tires and dry bearings are the most common failures. If you grease your bearings after the event, you'll be fine. But I've noticed that the playa dust doesn't ever fully wash off the tires, so learn to enjoy your free white sidewalls.

I've been bringing a pair of Schwinn 6 speed cruisers there (with matching leopard fur) for 5 years. They seem to handle the playa dust OK. The chains are the worst hit. That White Lightning chain lube is very nice to bring along, since your chain gets very creaky around Thursday.

[burner von braun]

I really like these Beasts! First saw a picture of it somewhere else around here, maybe the 'One Item a Day..' thread.. thanks Tom

I might have to look into getting one too at some point!