The best all around option to bring a bike to Burning Man (if you’re not driving to the playa with your personal bike) is to rent a single speed beach cruiser.

Many burners will explore buying a cheap bike from a “big box store” like Walmart or Target etc. for one time use. Here’s a few reasons why that might not be the best option for the planet:

• Carbon footprint: it’s estimated that manufacturing an average new bike results in the emissions of around 530 pounds of greenhouse gasses.
• Additional CO2 emissions are generated by transporting the bikes from China in container ships and moving them to their destination in the US via semi trucks.
• Each new bike brings with it a lot of cardboard and other packing materials. While some of it can be recycled a lot of it becomes trash.
• The cheaply made department store bikes are often sloppily assembled and end up being abandoned and discarded to the landfill after the burn.
• Lastly, it’s well known that the giant box stores squash local business, pay their workers poverty wages and hire part-time workers to avoid providing health care benefits.

So renting a quality bike from a small business, a bike that returns to the playa year after year, avoids the environmental pitfalls and is hands down the best sustainable option.