Bike Suggestions Please

Bikes, trikes, personal mobility and getting to/from the event - this is the place to discuss general transportation issues.
Post Reply
Dancingcrone
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2012 12:06 pm
Burning Since: 2013

Bike Suggestions Please

Post by Dancingcrone » Thu Jul 18, 2013 2:27 pm

Hi,
I'm a first time burner coming from the UK. I reserved (and paid for) two bikes with Rat's Bikes, and now I learn that he is not responding to queries. I sent an e-mail a week ago just asking to confirm that the reservation was still OK, and haven't heard anything. What do I do? Cancel and try to find another bike hire? Buy two cheap bikes and find someone to accept them when we go?

Suggestions please.

Thanks,
Linda

User avatar
mulch
Posts: 117
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 1:58 pm
Burning Since: 2013

Re: Bike Suggestions Please

Post by mulch » Thu Jul 18, 2013 2:55 pm

I rented from these guys for this year

http://www.playabikerepair.com/

Listed on the resources page burningman.con

Don't know much about it except for what is on their website and a couple of posts here.
choose damned if you do

User avatar
Canoe
Posts: 5046
Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2011 8:01 pm

Re: Bike Suggestions Please

Post by Canoe » Thu Jul 18, 2013 4:08 pm

4.669
.
That's one word I regret googling during breakfast.
.
Video games are giving kids unrealistic expectations on how many swords they can carry.
.
, but don't harm the red dragon that frequents the area from time to time. He and I have an agreement.

Dancingcrone
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2012 12:06 pm
Burning Since: 2013

Re: Bike Suggestions Please

Post by Dancingcrone » Fri Jul 19, 2013 4:58 am

I did see the thread on Rat's Bikes, but figured I'd start a new one as there was nothing conclusive.

Thanks for the suggestion mulch, I've booked! It seems it would be cheaper to buy - but I can't be doing with the aggravation. And they deliver to BRC, great.

Thanks from a very happy bunny :D

User avatar
fairyrowen
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Jul 28, 2013 4:57 am
Burning Since: 2013
Location: England

Re: Bike Suggestions Please

Post by fairyrowen » Sun Jul 28, 2013 5:01 am

Hi, i have a bike hired from Kiwanis bikes in Reno but i dont need it now. Let me know if you're interested?

User avatar
Sundial
Posts: 480
Joined: Wed Aug 18, 2010 2:51 pm
Burning Since: 2010
Camp Name: Synapse Conduit
Location: Kanuckistan

Re: Bike Suggestions Please

Post by Sundial » Sun Jul 28, 2013 7:28 am

mulch wrote:I rented from these guys for this year

http://www.playabikerepair.com/

Listed on the resources page burningman.con

Don't know much about it except for what is on their website and a couple of posts here.
Am I the only one that finds this company (not to mention the entire resources page) a bit unsettling?
"I will not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. I will face my fear. I will let it pass through me. Where the fear has gone, there shall be nothing. Only I will remain."

User avatar
Elorrum
Posts: 6202
Joined: Sat Mar 15, 2008 9:09 pm
Burning Since: 2007

Re: Bike Suggestions Please

Post by Elorrum » Sun Jul 28, 2013 9:48 am

Schtev wrote:
mulch wrote:I rented from these guys for this year

http://www.playabikerepair.com/

Listed on the resources page burningman.con

Don't know much about it except for what is on their website and a couple of posts here.
Am I the only one that finds this company (not to mention the entire resources page) a bit unsettling?
Yes I do, but it usually calls down a shit storm of newspeak when you point out the lack of clothes on this emperor. People make a living off Burning Man. I think it was this group that was asking for "camp mates" to work, er I mean volunteer, on playa, and then live at a hotel in Reno for two weeks after (being paid) fixing the bikes for next year's commerce.
”On second thought, Let’s not go to Camelot. It’s a silly place.”
Roll on through, Tumbleweed.

User avatar
Sundial
Posts: 480
Joined: Wed Aug 18, 2010 2:51 pm
Burning Since: 2010
Camp Name: Synapse Conduit
Location: Kanuckistan

Re: Bike Suggestions Please

Post by Sundial » Sun Jul 28, 2013 9:52 am

Elorrum wrote:
Schtev wrote:
mulch wrote:I rented from these guys for this year

http://www.playabikerepair.com/

Listed on the resources page burningman.con

Don't know much about it except for what is on their website and a couple of posts here.
Am I the only one that finds this company (not to mention the entire resources page) a bit unsettling?
Yes I do, but it usually calls down a shit storm of newspeak when you point out the lack of clothes on this emperor. People make a living off Burning Man. I think it was this group that was asking for "camp mates" to work, er I mean volunteer, on playa, and then live at a hotel in Reno for two weeks after (being paid) fixing the bikes for next year's commerce.

Okay. Well, it isn't my intention to open that can of worms. Just making an observation.

Lets get back to bikes now.
"I will not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. I will face my fear. I will let it pass through me. Where the fear has gone, there shall be nothing. Only I will remain."

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

Re: Bike Suggestions Please

Post by BBadger » Sun Jul 28, 2013 1:18 pm

Burning Man is an altar to commodification, even if the permit stipulates that you can't sell things on-playa. Everything outside the gates, BM-branding and BLM permits aside, is fair game.
"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.

maladroit
Posts: 2381
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2012 10:37 pm
Burning Since: 2012

Re: Bike Suggestions Please

Post by maladroit » Sun Jul 28, 2013 2:06 pm

BBadger wrote:Burning Man is an altar to commodification, even if the permit stipulates that you can't sell things on-playa. Everything outside the gates, BM-branding and BLM permits aside, is fair game.
That's our cargo cult, for sure.

User avatar
BoyScoutGirl
Posts: 1643
Joined: Thu Jan 05, 2012 2:04 pm
Camp Name: Lamplighters!
Location: SD, CA

Re: Bike Suggestions Please

Post by BoyScoutGirl » Sun Jul 28, 2013 3:20 pm

I got a bike from the Keystone grocery store (Save Mart) on Sunday last year. Picked out a bike outside, paid $50 at the register and traded the receipt for the bike. I believe this was organized by Kiwanis. They had maybe forty bikes around midday. My priorities: right height, working brakes (had to adjust them closer myself, as the pads were worn), working gears. All the tire widths were the same, so everything else was more or less decorative.

The tube on the front tire sprung a leak on day one, but I had brought a spare. Once I replaced it (with some help from an awesome bike repair camp), it was a trusty, rusty steed for the event, and I biked all over the place.

Make sure you have a plan for disposing of/donating the bike after the event.
When he lights his streetlamp, it is as if he brought one more star to life, or one flower.
When he puts out his lamp, he sends the flower, or the star, to sleep.
That is a beautiful occupation.

- Le Petit Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

User avatar
Canoe
Posts: 5046
Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2011 8:01 pm

Re: Bike Suggestions Please

Post by Canoe » Sun Jul 28, 2013 3:32 pm

BoyScoutGirl wrote:I got a bike from the Keystone grocery store (Save Mart) on Sunday last year. ... I believe this was organized by Kiwanis.
Yes the Kiwanis provide those bikes. But you can't count on getting one there. Bonus if there is.
Canoe wrote:
Sic Pup wrote:...there's no mention of t the coral of bikes at the Savemart on Keystone?...
Those are Kiwanis Bikes. During Burning Man, when they have a few extra ready to go, they may put some in the Keystone Coral and keep some at their base for purchase during their Burning Man pickup hours:
* We also have a limited number of bikes for sale on-site for anyone who didn't make a reservation.

The quantity available this way is so small, and intermittent, adding it to JRS would mislead people into thinking they could count on getting a bike this way.
4.669
.
That's one word I regret googling during breakfast.
.
Video games are giving kids unrealistic expectations on how many swords they can carry.
.
, but don't harm the red dragon that frequents the area from time to time. He and I have an agreement.

Post Reply

Return to “Bikes & Transportation”