Burning Man bike lights and a lock

In the city, the bicycle is transit. You will ride at night, in dust, slightly tired, among other people doing the same. A front light that throws onto the ground and a rear light that flashes are the minimum. Charge them before you arrive. A dead light is a story people tell from the medical tent side of a collision.

Lumens go up every product cycle. The failures that repeat are softer: a rubber mount that slides, a light left on the bike while you go into a party, a battery you meant to charge at camp where there is no outlet. Take the lights with you when you lock up. Nice lights migrate.

Which light, on the bike

A front light throws onto the ground so you can see the dust, the art, and the person who stopped. A red rear light flashes so the rider behind you can see you. A headlamp is for walking once you are off the bike. EL wire and a glow stick are not a beam. The Survival Guide says to light the bike and yourself, and that glow sticks do not count and become moop. Camp strings and a lantern stay at camp. They are the other page.

Be tall enough to see

Handlebar height is where everyone else is also invisible. A flag on a pole — a pool noodle is the cliché because it works — lets other riders see you above the crowd. El wire is optional sparkle. The flag and the lights are the job.

Lock it

Including right outside camp. A thin cable has let a bike leave when someone just started pedaling. A U-lock through the frame, and a cable only for a wheel, changes that. Write your name on the frame anyway. Dust the keyway before exodus, when you are tired and the lock is full of the week.

A flat is a walk

Gift repair camps run out of the common tube. A pump, a spare tube that matches your valve, and a pair of levers belong on the bike. Practice once at home. Dry lube on the chain. Wet oil and this dust make a paste. A drawstring cover is the pad on a cruiser seat. The one we opened is black velour. If a fur color on that menu sheds, leave it home.

When you still have to find camp

Lights make you visible. They do not tell you which way your friends went. Before you split up, name a place and a time, the way you would if every battery died. A Totem Compass can point toward the people who are wearing one. It takes a satellite fix, then shares that fix over a mesh, so a dead phone still leaves you a heading. You need one compass per person. Bond them at camp, in the open, before anyone rides off. Their manual says to keep the puck out of heavy dust, so bag it in a whiteout. If the light starts breathing, you are following the last place it heard them.

If you flew in

Paid rental inside the city has not been allowed since 2023. You pick the bike up in Reno, Sparks, Nixon, or Gerlach and ride it through the gate. A rental is a frame. The lights, the flag, the lock, and the spare tube are still your job. The rental page on this desk lists the shops and what they published for 2026.

If the suitcase is the constraint, flying in is the packing version of this page. Mounts, a flat you have already practiced, and the lock habit are in bike lights, and a bike that finishes the week. Lights still do not tell you which way your friends went. That plan is finding your people after dark. A lantern, a string on the shade, and the lights that are not allowed to be the beam are camp lights.