Alt Bike Culture - Burning Man Bikes?

Anyone here working on bikes or human powered vehicles for Burning Man?

I've got a few talls that are going, but I'm also working on a 'practical' project. Many of my friends are flying, and there is only so much space on our communal trailer for bikes, so I'm working on a method to cut bike frames up, and turn them into folding bikes. Hinges, brackets, etc. Like a poor mans S&S coupler. ;)

Its coming along ok, I'll post some pics when I've got a workable system.

For anyone who hasn't been to Burning Man, its one of the most crazed art festivals in the world that takes place in the bare open desert of Nevada. Its 7 days of non-commercialized fun. 30,000 people come, set up camps full of yoga classes, homemade roller coasters, hooka domes, fire breathers, and just about anything else you can imagine. The bike culture is intense, its the only practical way to get around an impromptu city spanning several miles, and the number of hacked up bikes and large human powered vehicles is very high. If all cities were as bike concious as Black Rock, we'd be in great shape.

peace,
sam

http://k43.pbase.com/u47/cdnxpat/upload/33906275.DSCN0397.JPG

A guy on my mail route will be there. He has a quad runner, and has made a copper sheet "foot" to go over it.

I'm currently working on my Burning Man bike. I bought an abused and neglected old Schwinn mountain bike for $50, and I've been working on it for the past week. So far, the major modifications are a single speed conversion and a coat of orange spray paint. Even though it's supposed to be a beater bike, I can't help but make it run as smoothly as possible, so I have a couple parts on order, mainly a new rear hub axle to replace the bent one that came with the bike (it was only 13 bucks, so what the hell). Once I get that done, I will think about decorating it.

In the past couple years, I've seen a few interesting bikes there. One was a side-by-side tandem. Looked really interesting, but I never saw it ridden. Another was a kind of similar idea, except the second rider was a dummy burning man (really burning) riding the bike. Rather cool to see at night.

My own bike was a simple Raleigh Twenty with a single speed coaster brake. Simplicity and compactness wins out for me. I feel bad for those who bring fancy bikes. That playa dust coats everything and works it's way into everything. This year, wal mart is carrying a $60 cruiser perfect for Burners. The Reno walmart will sell out early for sure.

Yeah, the dust gets everywhere.. You have to be committed to either overhauling the bike when you are back home, or just resigning it to being a playa bike.

I'd never bring a 'nice' bike, but I've brought some more involved bikes as art bikes. Its worth the extra effort back home. For pure transportation though, the playa is the home of the pink spraypainted beater.

peace,
sam

Plus, coaster brakes are AWESOME out there. You know when you were a kid and you'd hit the coaster brake and skid on the road, and maybe leave a mark? The slippery playa is perfect for that, and you can amuse yourself to no end just riding around and skidding all over the place, leaving big tracks in the dust. I was either turning my wheels, or locking them up and skidding. :)

peace,
sam

I've always been curious about Burning Man, but it seemed like so many things out there... by the time I found out about it the scene itself was changing due to the media becoming so aware of it. That was a few years ago now and I haven't heard much about the last few years so maybe it's still true to the original intent. Doesn't it cost like $100 bucks to reserve a campsite or some such. Maybe I'll go do a search on that now.. I would need time to figure out the perfect Desert Cruiser to bring if I go... hmmm. Bike Culture Fun-ness!

edit: ... I guess it's up to $250.00, but still.. 6 days in the desert... hmmmmm.....

Burning Man is quite a phenomenon. Planning for it takes a while, and the ticket itself is expensive, as are the things you'll need for survival, if you don't already have them. But you won't spend any money while you are there, and you'll have a great time. In the end its about the same price or cheaper than a trip to anywhere that you aren't staying with friends or family. If you rideshare, scrounge for supplies, and don't get to extravagant, it can be done for quite cheap.

peace,
sam

In the end its about the same price or cheaper than a trip to anywhere that you aren't staying with friends or family.
And if you return in subsequent years, it costs even less because you already have most of the gear from previous trips.

And if you return in subsequent years, it costs even less because you already have most of the gear from previous trips.

Yup! At this point my tribe has nearly all of our stuff in a big storage unit in Reno, and we all fly to Reno, rent a big truck, and load it up. One guy drives his pickup with a trailer out to Reno with any new or updated things, and people pack their own new costumes and stuff. Then when we pack up at the end, anything we decide we don't want to use anymore goes into the pickup for return to St. Louis, and everything we know we will use for BM again goes back into the storage unit and everyone else flies home. Its actually quite economical, and makes planning really easy.

peace,
sam

yeah. going with a group of people is definitley the right way to do it..me and my girlfriend were plannng on going but realized that if it's just two of us going everything will be much more expensive and not very realistic for broke ass college students..so hey. if anyone knows any groups or people trying to group up and go to reduce costs..please PM me.

any pics of previous burning man events ?

a web search brings up hundreds,but if you wade through the photos of topless girls sucking popsicles (terrible!) you might find something like this...

by the way, i named the file because i've built a tallbike here in australia called "the greater curvature" which means the outside curve of the stomach (the inside one being the lesser curvature)
the attached pic is a BM bike from http://www.web-writer.com/burningman/bike.htm.

Amazing machine, how did it handle, and did you make those rims?


a web search brings up hundreds,but if you wade through the photos of topless girls sucking popsicles (terrible!) you might find something like this...

by the way, i named the file because i've built a tallbike here in australia called "the greater curvature" which means the outside curve of the stomach (the inside one being the lesser curvature)
the attached pic is a BM bike from http://www.web-writer.com/burningman/bike.htm.

omg... is that MacGyver? i'm having flashbacks.

there seems to be some confusion. this bike is not called the greater curvature... it's just an anonymous burning man festival bike, which may be traced via the web site mentioned above. i did not build this bike, i built a tallbike called the greater curvature. i named this bike picture the greater curvature - an apt name for the machine - but i did so only because i refuse to save photos to my computer with file names like image001097180.

that should clear things up! :) :) :)

Sorry about that. And yes that is Macgyver, he still is my hero.

omg... is that MacGyver? i'm having flashbacks.

there seems to be some confusion. this bike is not called the greater curvature... it's just an anonymous burning man festival bike, which may be traced via the web site mentioned above. i did not build this bike, i built a tallbike called the greater curvature. i named this bike picture the greater curvature - an apt name for the machine - but i did so only because i refuse to save photos to my computer with file names like image001097180.

that should clear things up! :) :) :)

"Bike conscious"... Yeah, until Monday comes hammering down and they end up with a few hundred abandoned bikes corralled in Center Camp, many of which no doubt were those same $60 Wally World specials.

I spent a half a day making these wings, which subsequently lasted about a half a day once the wind came back. Long enough to ride around and preen for a few photos, but Jesus, better engineering next time!

Phidauex, you should check out this guy's project page for a disassembleable bike that can even be checked as a carry on!

http://www.sonic.net/~maryking/Carry_on_bike.html

He just uses a lot of clamps, like a Ritchey Break-away, but in a lot more places. Even uses clamps to adjust the chainstay length, so it can run singlespeed but retain the no-slip advantage of vertical dropouts.

Saint Louis? Do you have any affiliation with the Banana Bike Brigade?