GlowKit · the Stokd bike lighting guide

The build, in full

Two ways to do it on the same strips and batteries. Pick one in the first section and read only that column.

Pick a path Shopping lists Just the wheels

Easy build, one bike: $423.90
Advanced build, one bike: $483.88
Whip add-on: $163.92

Amazon US prices read 2026-08-22. They move. Links are plain product links, not affiliate links.

Start here

Pick a path

Same strips, same batteries, same tape, same wheels. The only thing that changes between the two builds is the brain on each light and how you talk to it.

Path 0

Buy a wheel kit

Kits like VeloGlow ship a strip, a small pack and a remote per wheel. They are analog strips: one solid color at a time across the whole ring, and the remote changes the color, not the pattern. The kit pack runs 2.5 hours on white and about 7 on blue, and both the kit and its replacement battery were sold out when we looked in August 2026.

If you want a ring that is on and is a color, this is the least work. Everything below is for people who want more than that.

Path 1

Easy build

$423.90

one bike: frame + two wheels, both faces

One remote per bike. Zone keys along the bottom: 1 frame, 2 front, 3 rear, ALL.
146 built-in patterns plus music mode, on each controller.
Phone over Bluetooth to one controller at a time. No WiFi anywhere.
Setup is minutes: bind each controller to a zone key, set the strip length in the app.
Build time, our estimate: a full day per bike for both wheels and the frame once the parts are on the table. The first wheel is the slow one.

Path 2

Advanced build

$483.88

one bike: frame + two wheels, both faces

WLED on every light: around 180 effects, 70+ palettes, segments, playlists, scenes you design yourself.
One app sees the whole bike. A pocket router in the frame bag makes the bike its own WiFi; your phone joins it and every controller appears.
A radio remote per bike flips all three lights into scene 1 to 4 from the saddle.
Setup is an evening with a laptop. Then it is the system you keep growing.
Build time, our estimate: the same full day per bike as the easy build, plus that evening. Eight days out, the parts have to arrive by day three.

	Easy build	Advanced build
Brains	BanlanX SP630E on every light	GLEDOPTO WLED boards on every light
Designs	146 dynamic modes, 18 music, 18 custom. Pick from a list.	Around 180 effects × palettes × segments. Compose your own and save them.
Remote	RB3 zone remote: pick a light or ALL, then color, mode, speed, brightness	Radio remote: ON, OFF, four scenes, night, brightness, for every light on the bike at once
Phone	BanlanX app over Bluetooth, one controller at a time	WLED app over the bike WiFi, all controllers on the bike at once
Needs internet?	Never	Once, at home, to update firmware and build scenes. Never on the playa.
Sync between lights	Same mode on each zone, set separately	WLED sync groups: change one, the others follow
Whip	Its own Nilight remote	Its own Nilight remote, or experiment: drive it from the frame board
Cost, one bike	$423.90	$483.88
Grows into	More zones on the same remote	LedFx from a laptop, sound-reactive shows, custom presets, more bikes on the same app

Physics first

Three rules that shape every choice

Every part below is here because of one of these.

Every wheel is an island

A wheel turns. A wire from the frame to the rim winds around the axle on the first pedal stroke. So each wheel carries its own battery, its own controller and its own strips, all spinning together, and nothing crosses the axle. Slip rings exist and none of them survive playa dust on a bicycle hub.

One plug, one voltage

Everything runs at 12 V and every battery ends in a DC5521 barrel (5.5 mm outer, 2.1 mm inner, center positive). Same plug on the whip, the frame packs, the wheel packs and every charger. Any charger fits any pack; any pack runs any light. Never wire two packs together to feed one load.

Weight at the hub, light at the rim

Mass near the axle is barely felt; mass at the rim is a flywheel. So the battery and controller ride the hub, and only the strip goes on the rim, stuck flat on the sidewall with tape. Velcro peels under the spring-back of a bent strip; a foam tape bond plus a clear band over the top does not.

Glossary

Words you will meet

The words the parts lists use, each in one line.

Word	Meaning
DC5521	The round 12 V barrel plug on every battery and charger here: 5.5 mm outside, 2.1 mm inside, center positive.
12 V pack / 3S	Three lithium cells in series, 12.6 V full and about 9 V empty. Every light here runs straight off one.
BMS	The board inside a pack that stops it over-charging, over-draining or shorting. Every pack on this page has one.
Addressable / WS2811	A strip with a tiny chip every few centimeters. Three wires: 12 V, DATA, GND. The controller tells each chip what color to be, which is what makes patterns possible.
Analog RGB	Four wires: 12 V and a red, green and blue return. The whole strip is one color at a time. VeloGlow-style kits are this.
FCOB	Flexible chip-on-board: hundreds of tiny LEDs per meter under a phosphor bar, so the light is a continuous glow with no visible dots.
IP30 / IP66 / IP67	How sealed a thing is. IP30 is bare, IP66 keeps dust and hose water out, IP67 survives a dunk. Bare on the rim under clear tape; sealed on the frame.
WLED	Free firmware for ESP32 boards. Around 180 effects, a web page on the board, a phone app, a radio remote, and it needs no internet to run.
Zone	On the RB3 remote, a number a controller answers to. Press 2, and only the light bound to 2 changes.
Scene / preset	A saved look: effect, colors, speed, brightness. In WLED, scenes 1 to 4 map to the remote keys S1 to S4.
VHB	3M acrylic foam tape. Permanent, made for metal, and it absorbs vibration instead of cracking.
ESP32	The small WiFi and Bluetooth chip inside every WLED controller here. It runs the effects; the phone only changes them.
ESP-NOW	A radio mode built into that chip that lets the remote talk to the boards with no network at all. It only works on WiFi channel 1.
GPIO16, GPIO4	Two output pins on the frame board. Left strip on one, right strip on the other.
LedFx	Free software for a laptop that drives every WLED board on the network with sound-reactive shows. The growth path, not a day-one need.

Part one

The whip

The tall light that makes you findable from across the playa. It comes as a complete system with its own remote; you add a mount, a battery and one pigtail.

Nilight 3 ft spiral RGB whip

$46.94

Whip

What it is: A 3 ft flexible polycarbonate rod wrapped in a spiral of LEDs, lit all the way round, on a quick-release base that drops into a 12 mm hole. IP67. In the box: the whip, a 3-pin lead, a 2-way splitter, a rocker switch and a small RF remote.
What it does here: The tall light that makes you visible across the playa. Twelve solid colors and dozens of chasing patterns from its own remote.
How it connects: Its 3-pin plug goes into the Nilight control box. The box leads go to the rocker switch, and the switch to a 12 V battery through a DC5521 pigtail. Red to red, black to black.
Why this one: The standard off-road whip: sealed, quick-release, and its remote can be locked to this whip only so a neighbor cannot change it.

KEMIMOTO ATV handlebar whip mount

$19.99

Whip

What it is: A machined clamp that grips a round tube between 22.2 and 28.6 mm and presents a 12 mm hole.
What it does here: Holds the whip base to the bike. The whip drops into the hole and locks.
How it connects: Clamp around the rack tube, two screws, blue threadlocker. Whip base into the hole.
Why this one: UTV whip mounts start at 38 mm tube and cannot fit a bicycle. This class does. Measure the tube first: 70 to 90 mm of string around it and it fits.

The whip runs off the same TalentCell battery and the same DC5521 pigtail as the frame. Both are in the frame parts below; buy one extra battery for the whip and the pigtail pack covers it.

The chain, plug to light

TalentCell socket → DC5521 pigtail → rocker switch → Nilight control box → whip. Red to red, black to black at the one bare-wire joint (pigtail to switch). Everything else in the box is keyed plugs. The battery lives in a frame bag or a small dry bag; the control box sits beside it; the switch goes where a gloved thumb can find it.

Build

1
Measure the tube. Wrap a string round the rear rack tube where the mount will clamp. 70 to 90 mm of string is a fit for the KEMIMOTO (22.2 to 28.6 mm tube). Outside that, look for a mount in the right class; UTV mounts start at 38 mm and will not close on a bicycle.
2
Clamp the mount with a drop of blue threadlocker on both screws. Whip base into the 12 mm hole until it clicks. Pull up on it: it should not.
3
Wire the chain as above. Cut the pigtail wires to length, strip 6 mm, and join them to the rocker switch leads with solder-seal connectors so the joint is sealed.
4
Strain-relieve every cable to the rack with zip ties, with a finger of slack at each plug. Cables that can swing will unplug themselves on washboard.
5
Lock the remote to this whip. The Nilight card in the box gives the key sequence for one-to-one pairing. Do it at home. Skip it and a neighbor with the same whip changes yours every time they change theirs.
6
Runtime: a 142 Wh pack is far more than a 3 ft whip draws in a night. Charge it every second day and forget about it.

Part two

The frame

One reel of sealed continuous-glow strip, cut in half, one length down each side of the frame, with the battery and the controller in a bag on the frame.

Parts

Shared parts first, then the controller for each build. Buy one controller family, not both.

TalentCell PB120B1, 12 V 142 Wh

$96.99

Both builds

What it is: A 12 V lithium pack in a hard case, about 6.3 x 3.2 x 1.9 in, with a DC5521 socket, a 5 V USB port and a charge gauge.
What it does here: Powers a whole frame for the night, or a whip. Its USB port also powers the pocket router on the advanced build.
How it connects: A DC5521 pigtail from its socket to the frame controller, or through the rocker switch to the whip.
Why this one: A 5 m frame strip can draw 40 W at full white; this pack gives that 3.5 hours and ordinary color use 10 hours or more.

SIM&NAT DC5521 male pigtails, 5-pack

$6.99

Both builds

What it is: A DC5521 plug on one end, bare red and black wires on the other, about 30 cm long. Five in the pack.
What it does here: Bridges a battery that ends in a socket to anything that takes bare wire: the frame controller on either build, and the whip rocker switch.
How it connects: Plug into the TalentCell. Red wire to V+, black to V-.
Why this one: One pack covers two frames and a whip with two spare. Each TalentCell also ships a plug-to-plug cable; cut one end off and you have the same thing.

BTF-LIGHTING IP66 FCOB WS2811 strip, 576 LED/m, 16.4 ft, 12 V

$32.99

Both builds

What it is: Five meters of continuous-glow LED tape, 10 mm wide, in a silicone jacket that keeps dust out. A control chip every 62.5 mm makes it addressable. Runs on 12 V.
What it does here: The outline of the frame. One reel per bike, cut in half: one length down the left side, one down the right.
How it connects: Three wires from the controller to the start of each strip: 12 V, DATA, GND. Corners and hops over the e-bike battery use the clip connectors.
Why this one: Continuous light with no visible dots, sealed against dust, and it runs straight off the 12 V battery with no converter.

FCOB 3-pin 10 mm connector kit

$14.99

Both builds

What it is: Clip-on connectors for 10 mm three-pin strip: L-shaped corners, straight joins, jumper cables and strip-to-wire leads. Choose the 10 mm variant. Kit 3 is mostly corners; Kit 1 adds jumpers.
What it does here: Turns a straight roll into a frame outline. Corners go round tubes, jumpers hop over the e-bike battery, strip-to-wire leads reach the controller.
How it connects: Open the clip, slide the strip end in at a cut mark with the silicone trimmed back so the teeth bite copper, close it.
Why this one: No soldering. They are single use, so buy two kits for two bikes and you have spares for the clip that seats wrong.

GLEDOPTO GL-C-017WL-D 4-channel WLED controller

$26.99

Advanced build

What it is: An ESP32 controller running WLED, with four outputs, Wago lever ports, a level shifter for clean data, a built-in mic and a 15 A fuse. 108 x 45 x 18 mm.
What it does here: The frame brain on the advanced build. Two outputs drive the two sides; two stay spare.
How it connects: TalentCell through a DC5521 pigtail into the V+ / V- Wagos. Each side strip onto GPIO16 and GPIO4 with V+ and GND.
Why this one: This is the controller with the designs: around 180 effects, 70+ palettes, segments, playlists, sound reaction, a full web page on the board.

GL.iNet Mango GL-MT300N-V2 pocket router

$29.99

Advanced build

What it is: A 39 g pocket WiFi router, 2.4 GHz, powered from any USB port, running OpenWrt. It plugs into nothing but power: no cable, no SIM, no internet.
What it does here: Makes the bike its own WiFi network, so the WLED app on your phone sees every controller on that bike at once.
How it connects: USB cable from the TalentCell 5 V port, in the frame bag. Set to channel 1 once, at home.
Why this one: Without it the WLED app sees one controller at a time. With one on each bike, every bike is complete on its own wherever it rides.

SP630E controller + RB3 zone remote, kit

$23.99

Easy build

What it is: The SP630E: a 78 x 56 x 20 mm controller with a DC jack, screw terminals, Bluetooth, a built-in microphone and an on/off button. Plus the RB3 remote: on/off, color wheel, brightness slider, mode and speed keys, music, and zone keys 1 2 3 4 ALL along the bottom.
What it does here: On the easy build the kit controller runs the frame and the remote runs the whole bike: pick a zone, change it, or ALL.
How it connects: TalentCell to the DC jack with a DC5521 lead. VCC / DAT / GND to the frame strip. The remote needs nothing: radio straight to the controllers it is bound to.
Why this one: The only controller family with a handheld remote that can address one strip out of a group, and it runs the same WS2811 strips. 146 dynamic modes, 18 music, 18 custom.

Wiring

Joint	Advanced build (GLEDOPTO 4-ch)	Easy build (SP630E)
Battery in	DC5521 pigtail from the TalentCell: red into the V+ Wago, black into V-.	DC5521 lead from the TalentCell straight into the DC jack. The TalentCell ships one.
Left strip	Strip-to-wire lead from the connector kit: V+ to V+, DATA to GPIO16, GND to GND.	VCC / DAT / GND screw terminals to the strip lead.
Right strip	Same, DATA to GPIO4. Two independent outputs, so left and right can be different segments.	Join both strip leads in parallel into the same three terminals. One output, same pattern both sides.
Corners	L-connectors from the kit at each tube joint; a jumper cable hops the e-bike battery.	Same.
Strip direction	Each strip has an arrow. DATA goes in at the arrow tail. Feed the wrong end and nothing lights.	Same.

Build

1
Cut the reel in half on a cut mark. The marks are every 62.5 mm; a cut anywhere else kills that segment. You now have two 2.5 m strips.
2
Dry-fit the outline with masking tape: down tube, top tube, seat stays, whatever shape you want, one side at a time. Note each corner and each hop.
3
Trim the silicone back 10 mm at each cut end so the clip teeth bite copper, slide the end into a connector at a cut mark, close the clip. Check the three pads line up with the three pins; the middle pin is DATA.
4
Bench test on the battery before sticking anything. Power the controller, pick any effect, and watch both strips run end to end. A dead stretch means a connector seated wrong.
5
Clean the tubes with isopropyl, peel the 3M backing a hand at a time, press as you go. Add a wrap of clear tape at each corner and each end; the backing alone lets go in heat.
6
Bag the brain. Controller and TalentCell in the frame bag, pigtail plugged in, output leads out through the zip. On the advanced build the pocket router goes in the same bag on the TalentCell USB port.

Frame runtime on one 142 Wh TalentCell	Hours
Full white, both sides, 100% brightness (40 W)	3.5
One color, typical effect	10+
Blue or green only	15+

Part three

The wheels

The part that sells out every August and the part that looks best. A ring of continuous light on both faces of each rim, each wheel carrying its own battery and brain on the hub.

Measure the rim before you buy anything

The strip is 10 mm wide and needs a flat band on the outer sidewall of the rim, between the tire bead and where the spokes start. Measure that band, not the wall thickness and not the internal width. A fat-bike rim has about half an inch here, which is 12.7 mm: enough, with a little margin.

Also measure round the rim where the strip will sit. A 26 × 4 fat-bike rim is about 2.1 to 2.3 m around. One 5 m reel cuts into two lengths for one wheel, both faces.

Parts per wheel

Multiply by the number of wheels. The wheel controller is the only part that changes between builds.

Qwenoer 12 V 10 Ah battery, bare leads + 2 A charger

$39.99

Both builds

What it is: Nine 18650 lithium cells in a heat-shrink sleeve, about 75 x 53 x 71 mm, 500 g, BMS inside, 120 Wh. Two leads: a DC5521 socket for charging and bare red and black wires for the load. In the box: a 12.6 V 2 A charger, a lever-clip wire joiner and a DC5521 extension.
What it does here: Powers one wheel, both faces, for a night of color: about 10 hours of blue or green, 3.5 of white.
How it connects: Red wire to the wheel controller positive input, black to negative. Charge through the socket lead with the included brick.
Why this one: Both faces of a wheel draw twice what one does; a 5.8 Ah pack gives about 6 hours of color. This one gives a full night and charges in 5 hours at 2 A. No hard case, so it gets rolled in inner tube before any zip tie.

BTF-LIGHTING FCOB WS2811 strip, 576 LED/m, DC12V IP30, 16.4 ft

$25.99

Both builds

What it is: The same continuous-glow addressable tape as the frame, without the silicone jacket: 10 mm wide, about 2 mm thick, more flexible. One reel cuts into two wheel lengths.
What it does here: The ring of light on each face of each rim. One reel per wheel.
How it connects: VCC, DATA and GND from the wheel controller soldered to the start of both strips, in parallel. Stuck to the rim on VHB, then sealed under clear tape.
Why this one: The sealed version is thicker and stiffer, and a strip bent flat around a rim fights stiffness. The clear tape over the top seals this one anyway.

GLEDOPTO ESP32 Mini WLED controller

$21.99

Advanced build

What it is: A 42 x 38 x 17 mm, 20 g WLED controller: one output, 6 A, DC 5 to 24 V, V+ / V- quick-connect input.
What it does here: One per wheel on the advanced build, riding the hub beside the battery. Runs both faces of that wheel from its one output.
How it connects: Battery red wire into V+, black into V-. V+ / DATA / GND out to both rim strips through solder-seal joints.
Why this one: Same firmware and app as the frame board, so every scene and sync setting carries across. The big 4-channel board would also run a wheel, but it is 108 mm long and does not fit on a 1 in front hub; this one is 42 mm and does.

3M VHB 4905 clear, 0.39 in x 16.5 ft

$9.99

Both builds

What it is: A 10 mm wide clear double-sided acrylic foam tape.
What it does here: The bond between rim and strip.
How it connects: Isopropyl on the rim, let it flash off, lay the VHB, then the strip onto it, pressing as you go round.
Why this one: Exactly the strip width, made for metal, and the foam soaks up vibration and spring-back. One roll per wheel.

Gorilla Crystal Clear tape, 1.88 in x 18 yd

$9.98

Both builds

What it is: A wide clear weatherproof tape, UV rated.
What it does here: The seatbelt over each rim strip: it traps the strip under a band stuck to bare rim on both sides, and seals the unjacketed strip against dust.
How it connects: Cut into 15 mm ribbons with a straightedge. One ribbon over each strip for the full circumference, overlapping the ends.
Why this one: An adhesive bond lets go on a hot afternoon; a band over the top is still holding when it does. One roll does two wheels.

TICONN solder-seal wire connectors, 150 pack

$9.99

Both builds

What it is: Heat-shrink butt connectors with a ring of solder inside. Slide the wires in, heat with a lighter, and they solder and seal in one step.
What it does here: Every joint on the wheels: controller to strip, and the three-way splits where one output feeds both faces of the rim.
How it connects: Strip 6 mm of insulation, push the wires in from each end, heat until the solder ring melts and the sleeve shrinks.
Why this one: No soldering iron on a spinning hub, and each joint comes out sealed against dust.

Fermerry 22 AWG silicone wire, 6 colors x 10 ft

$12.29

Both builds

What it is: Sixty feet of flexible stranded wire in six colors, with heat-shrink included.
What it does here: The short runs on each wheel: controller to each face of the rim, and the hop through the spokes from one face to the other. Red for V+, black for GND, white for data.
How it connects: Cut to length, strip, into a solder-seal connector at each end.
Why this one: Silicone insulation stays flexible in cold and does not crack under vibration. Three colors mean no guessing at a joint.

Silicone DC port dust caps, 50 pack

$9.99

Both builds

What it is: Soft silicone plugs that push into a DC power socket.
What it does here: Cap the charging socket on each wheel battery whenever a charger is not in it.
How it connects: Push in. Pull out to charge.
Why this one: The wheel socket is the only exposed port on the bike, on the dustiest part of it. Fifty caps for ten dollars.

SP630E controller, bare

$16.99

Easy build

What it is: The same controller as in the RB3 kit, without a remote. 78 x 56 x 20 mm, DC jack in, VCC / DAT / GND out, built-in mic, Bluetooth.
What it does here: One per wheel on the easy build. Binds to that bike RB3 remote as zone 2 (front) or zone 3 (rear).
How it connects: Battery red wire to VCC, black to GND. VCC / DAT / GND to both rim strips.
Why this one: Same family as the frame controller, so one remote covers frame and wheels.

Why both faces, and what it costs

A bike is seen from the side. Light one face of the rim and half the people who look at you see a dark wheel. So each wheel gets two strips, one per face, wired in parallel from the one controller output so they show the same pattern. Two strips draw twice the power, which is why the wheel pack is a 10 Ah brick and not the 3.4 Ah cell in a kit.

Wheel runtime on one 120 Wh pack, both faces	Hours
Full white, 100% brightness (about 37 W)	3
One color, typical effect	9 to 10
Blue or green only	12+

Build, one wheel

1
Cut two strips to the rim circumference, each on a 62.5 mm cut mark, a few centimeters short so the ends do not meet over the valve.
2
Make the wiring harness on the bench. From the controller output, one red, one white, one black wire to a three-way solder-seal join each, then two legs per wire: one to each strip start. Leave the legs long enough to reach the rim from the hub along a spoke, plus a hand of slack.
3
Bench test with the wheel pack, not a bench supply. Both strips lit end to end, the color order right (set it in the app until red is red), and the brightness limit set so a full-white scene cannot brown-out the pack.
4
Clean the sidewall band with isopropyl all the way round and let it flash off. Dust on the rim is the difference between a bond and a peel.
5
Lay the VHB round the band, starting and ending at the valve, pressing it down with a thumb. Peel the top liner a hand at a time and lay the strip onto it, LEDs facing out, pressing as you go. The strip bends in its flat plane here, which it does not like; the foam takes up the fight.
6
Seatbelt it. Cut the clear Gorilla tape into 15 mm ribbons against a straightedge. Lay one ribbon over the strip for the full circumference, overlapping the ends by a hand, so it grips bare rim on both sides of the strip. This seals the bare strip and holds it if the VHB ever lets go.
7
Repeat on the other face. Pass the second strip leads through the spokes near the hub, not at the rim, so the wire crosses where it is shortest and stillest.
8
Dress the hub. Wrap the pack in a cut section of old inner tube (friction, and the pack has no hard case). On the rear hub (4 in wide) it sits on the hub body with two zip ties round the hub and two to the spokes. On the front hub (1 in wide) the pack stands against the hub with the spokes either side, zip-tied to the spokes at four points, controller on the opposite side for balance.
9
Mind the rotor. Everything on a disc-brake wheel lives on the side away from the rotor, or clears the caliper by a finger at every point of the rotation. Spin the wheel slowly by hand with the bike lifted and watch the whole revolution.
10
Strain-relieve the harness to a spoke every 10 cm, and cap the charging socket with a silicone cap. Spin test at walking pace, then a short ride, then re-check every zip tie.

Part four

How you control it, with no data

Phones at Burning Man have WiFi and Bluetooth radios and no internet. Both builds use exactly that. Nothing here needs a signal.

Easy build

The remote is the main control. The RB3 has zone keys 1 2 3 4 ALL along the bottom. Each controller on the bike is bound to one key: frame 1, front 2, rear 3. Press 2, then a color or a mode key, and only the front wheel changes. Press ALL and the whole bike changes together. Radio, 20 m or so, no pairing to a phone.

The phone is for detail. The BanlanX app connects over Bluetooth to one controller at a time: set the strip length, the color order, build custom modes, and name each controller so Bike 1 Front is not a mystery in the list.

Advanced build

The phone is the main control. The pocket router in the frame bag broadcasts a WiFi network, say Bike1Net, and all three controllers join it at home. On the playa your phone joins Bike1Net, opens the WLED app, and all three lights are there: pick an effect, a palette, a speed, per light or synced.

The remote is for riding. S1 to S4 on the radio remote put every light on the bike into scene 1 to 4 at once, gloves on. It talks straight to the boards over ESP-NOW, the radio built into every ESP32, with no network in between, so it works whether or not the router is on.

The laptop is for designing. Join Bike1Net at camp and open each board in a browser for the full editor. With LedFx installed, the laptop can also run sound-reactive shows across every light on the network.

Plain language	WiFi	Internet	Bluetooth
What it is	A radio that lets two devices near each other talk	The world, reached through someone else’s WiFi or a cell tower	A shorter-range radio for one device to one device
Needed on the playa?	Advanced build: yes, the bike’s own, made by the router	Never	Easy build: yes, phone to one controller at a time
Needs data or a plan?	No	Yes, which is why nothing here uses it	No

Before you leave

Set it up at home

Do all of this on the kitchen table with every light on its real battery. The playa is where you ride it, not where you configure it.

Easy build, about an hour

1
Power each controller from its real pack and confirm its strip lights.
2
In the BanlanX app, connect over Bluetooth to each controller in turn. Set the chip type (WS2811), the color order until red is red, the LED count, and the name: Bike1 Frame, Bike1 Front, Bike1 Rear.
3
Bind zones. The card in the box has the exact keypress; the shape is: power the controller on, and within 20 seconds hold the zone key on the RB3 until the strip blinks. Frame to 1, front to 2, rear to 3. Repeat with the second remote for the second bike.
4
Turn Bluetooth off on your phone and run the whole bike from the remote: each zone, then ALL.
5
Pick three or four modes you like and write down their numbers on tape inside the frame bag.
6
Lock the Nilight whip remote to its whip. Charge everything.

Advanced build, an evening

1
Power each board from its real pack. Join its setup WiFi (WLED-AP, password wled1234), open 4.3.2.1, and read the firmware version under Info. Anything below 0.14 gets updated now (Config → Security & Updates → Manual OTA, with the GLEDOPTO ESP32 build). This is the one step that needs the internet.
2
Set up the router once: name the network Bike1Net, set a password, and pin it to WiFi channel 1. Channel 1 is not optional: the radio remote only talks on channel 1, and a board that joins a network on another channel stops hearing it.
3
On each board: Config → WiFi, join Bike1Net. Name the board (Bike1 Frame, Bike1 Front, Bike1 Rear) and give its own access point a password too, so the board is reachable even if the router is off.
4
Config → LED preferences. Frame: WS2811, two outputs (GPIO16, GPIO4), 40 LEDs each (a 2.5 m strip has a chip every 62.5 mm). Wheel: one output, about 36 LEDs per strip, both strips in parallel so it is still one output. Set the color order until red is red. Set the maximum current to what the pack can give, so a full-white scene dims instead of browning out.
5
Build scenes 1 to 4 on the frame board: effect, palette, speed, brightness, saved as presets 1 to 4. Config → Security & Updates → Backup presets, then Restore the same file onto the other boards, so every light on both bikes carries the same four scenes.
6
Pair the remote: Config → WiFi Setup → Wireless Remote, enable ESP-NOW, press any key on the remote, click the plus next to Last Seen, save. Once per board, three boards per bike, one remote per bike.
7
Optional: put the three boards of a bike in one sync group (Config → Sync Interfaces) so a change on one follows to the others, and turn it off on the boards you want independent.
8
Phone data off, laptop closed: join Bike1Net, open the WLED app, see all three boards, change each. Then press S1 to S4 on the remote and watch all three follow. Then do it again with the router off and confirm the remote still works. Charge everything.

Every day at camp

Charging

Everything charges from a wall cube with the same DC5521 plug. The wheel packs charge on the bike; nothing comes off.

Pack	Plug	Charger	From empty	Where
TalentCell 142 Wh (frame, whip)	DC5521 socket on the pack	The cube in its box	Most of a day	In the frame bag; run the cable in through the zip
Qwenoer 10 Ah (each wheel)	DC5521 socket on a short lead	The 12.6 V 2 A cube in its box	About 5 hours	On the wheel. Pull the silicone cap, plug in, cap it after
Radio remotes		Two AAA each		Carry the spare AAAs
Pocket router	Micro-USB	Runs off the TalentCell USB port		Charges with the TalentCell
Phone, laptop	USB	Your own		Same strip

12-outlet wide-spaced surge power strip, 3-sided

$12.99

Both builds

What it is: A three-sided strip with twelve outlets spaced for bulky plugs, 5 ft flat-plug cord, wall-mountable.
What it does here: The charging station at camp, one per bike. Every charger here is a wall cube, and cubes on a normal strip block the outlet next to them.
How it connects: Into camp power, beside where the bike parks.
Why this one: Wide spacing on three faces means a frame charger, two wheel chargers, a phone and a laptop all fit on one.

Amazon Basics AAA batteries, 8 pack

$6.79

Both builds

What it is: Eight alkaline AAA cells in a pack. Any brand works; these are cheap and ship with Prime.
What it does here: Two in each radio remote, the rest as spares.
How it connects: Slide the remote back off, two in, back on.
Why this one: The remotes ship without batteries, and a dead remote in the dark is a phone job you did not want.

The silicone caps for the wheel charging sockets are in the wheel parts above; every socket gets one.

The daily order of play

1
Bike parks beside its power strip. Frame bag open, TalentCell cable in.
2
Both wheel caps off, both wheel chargers in. Chargers hang from the spokes on their own cables; zip-tie a loop to the rack if they swing.
3
Phone and laptop on the same strip.
4
Before dusk: chargers out, caps in, bag zipped, a press of ALL or S1 to confirm every light wakes.

Orders

Shopping lists

Three lists: one bike on each build, and the whip. Two bikes is the bike list twice. Every line links to the exact product; prices are Amazon US on 2026-08-22 and will drift.

One bike, easy build

Frame and both wheels, both faces. SP630E on every light, one RB3 zone remote.

Qty	Part	Each	Line
1	TalentCell PB120B1, 12 V 142 WhPowers a whole frame for the night, or a whip. Its USB port also powers the pocket router on the advanced build.	$96.99	$96.99
1	SIM&NAT DC5521 male pigtails, 5-packBridges a battery that ends in a socket to anything that takes bare wire: the frame controller on either build, and the whip rocker switch.	$6.99	$6.99
1	BTF-LIGHTING IP66 FCOB WS2811 strip, 576 LED/m, 16.4 ft, 12 VThe outline of the frame. One reel per bike, cut in half: one length down the left side, one down the right.	$32.99	$32.99
1	FCOB 3-pin 10 mm connector kitTurns a straight roll into a frame outline. Corners go round tubes, jumpers hop over the e-bike battery, strip-to-wire leads reach the controller.	$14.99	$14.99
2	Qwenoer 12 V 10 Ah battery, bare leads + 2 A chargerPowers one wheel, both faces, for a night of color: about 10 hours of blue or green, 3.5 of white.	$39.99	$79.98
2	BTF-LIGHTING FCOB WS2811 strip, 576 LED/m, DC12V IP30, 16.4 ftThe ring of light on each face of each rim. One reel per wheel.	$25.99	$51.98
2	3M VHB 4905 clear, 0.39 in x 16.5 ftThe bond between rim and strip.	$9.99	$19.98
1	Gorilla Crystal Clear tape, 1.88 in x 18 ydThe seatbelt over each rim strip: it traps the strip under a band stuck to bare rim on both sides, and seals the unjacketed strip against dust.	$9.98	$9.98
1	TICONN solder-seal wire connectors, 150 packEvery joint on the wheels: controller to strip, and the three-way splits where one output feeds both faces of the rim.	$9.99	$9.99
1	Fermerry 22 AWG silicone wire, 6 colors x 10 ftThe short runs on each wheel: controller to each face of the rim, and the hop through the spokes from one face to the other. Red for V+, black for GND, white for data.	$12.29	$12.29
1	Silicone DC port dust caps, 50 packCap the charging socket on each wheel battery whenever a charger is not in it.	$9.99	$9.99
1	12-outlet wide-spaced surge power strip, 3-sidedThe charging station at camp, one per bike. Every charger here is a wall cube, and cubes on a normal strip block the outlet next to them.	$12.99	$12.99
1	Amazon Basics AAA batteries, 8 packTwo in each radio remote, the rest as spares.	$6.79	$6.79
1	SP630E controller + RB3 zone remote, kitOn the easy build the kit controller runs the frame and the remote runs the whole bike: pick a zone, change it, or ALL.	$23.99	$23.99
2	SP630E controller, bareOne per wheel on the easy build. Binds to that bike RB3 remote as zone 2 (front) or zone 3 (rear).	$16.99	$33.98
Total			$423.90

One bike, advanced build

Frame and both wheels, both faces. WLED on every light, one pocket router, one radio remote.

Qty	Part	Each	Line
1	TalentCell PB120B1, 12 V 142 WhPowers a whole frame for the night, or a whip. Its USB port also powers the pocket router on the advanced build.	$96.99	$96.99
1	SIM&NAT DC5521 male pigtails, 5-packBridges a battery that ends in a socket to anything that takes bare wire: the frame controller on either build, and the whip rocker switch.	$6.99	$6.99
1	BTF-LIGHTING IP66 FCOB WS2811 strip, 576 LED/m, 16.4 ft, 12 VThe outline of the frame. One reel per bike, cut in half: one length down the left side, one down the right.	$32.99	$32.99
1	FCOB 3-pin 10 mm connector kitTurns a straight roll into a frame outline. Corners go round tubes, jumpers hop over the e-bike battery, strip-to-wire leads reach the controller.	$14.99	$14.99
2	Qwenoer 12 V 10 Ah battery, bare leads + 2 A chargerPowers one wheel, both faces, for a night of color: about 10 hours of blue or green, 3.5 of white.	$39.99	$79.98
2	BTF-LIGHTING FCOB WS2811 strip, 576 LED/m, DC12V IP30, 16.4 ftThe ring of light on each face of each rim. One reel per wheel.	$25.99	$51.98
2	3M VHB 4905 clear, 0.39 in x 16.5 ftThe bond between rim and strip.	$9.99	$19.98
1	Gorilla Crystal Clear tape, 1.88 in x 18 ydThe seatbelt over each rim strip: it traps the strip under a band stuck to bare rim on both sides, and seals the unjacketed strip against dust.	$9.98	$9.98
1	TICONN solder-seal wire connectors, 150 packEvery joint on the wheels: controller to strip, and the three-way splits where one output feeds both faces of the rim.	$9.99	$9.99
1	Fermerry 22 AWG silicone wire, 6 colors x 10 ftThe short runs on each wheel: controller to each face of the rim, and the hop through the spokes from one face to the other. Red for V+, black for GND, white for data.	$12.29	$12.29
1	Silicone DC port dust caps, 50 packCap the charging socket on each wheel battery whenever a charger is not in it.	$9.99	$9.99
1	12-outlet wide-spaced surge power strip, 3-sidedThe charging station at camp, one per bike. Every charger here is a wall cube, and cubes on a normal strip block the outlet next to them.	$12.99	$12.99
1	Amazon Basics AAA batteries, 8 packTwo in each radio remote, the rest as spares.	$6.79	$6.79
1	GLEDOPTO GL-C-017WL-D 4-channel WLED controllerThe frame brain on the advanced build. Two outputs drive the two sides; two stay spare.	$26.99	$26.99
2	GLEDOPTO ESP32 Mini WLED controllerOne per wheel on the advanced build, riding the hub beside the battery. Runs both faces of that wheel from its one output.	$21.99	$43.98
1	GLEDOPTO WLED radio remote, GL-RC-001WLOne per bike. S1 to S4 put the whole bike into scene 1 to 4 from the saddle, gloves on, no phone.	$16.99	$16.99
1	GL.iNet Mango GL-MT300N-V2 pocket routerMakes the bike its own WiFi network, so the WLED app on your phone sees every controller on that bike at once.	$29.99	$29.99
Total			$483.88

Whip add-on, either build

The whip, its mount, and its own battery. The pigtail comes from the frame 5-pack.

Qty	Part	Each	Line
1	Nilight 3 ft spiral RGB whipThe tall light that makes you visible across the playa. Twelve solid colors and dozens of chasing patterns from its own remote.	$46.94	$46.94
1	KEMIMOTO ATV handlebar whip mountHolds the whip base to the bike. The whip drops into the hole and locks.	$19.99	$19.99
1	TalentCell PB120B1, 12 V 142 WhPowers a whole frame for the night, or a whip. Its USB port also powers the pocket router on the advanced build.	$96.99	$96.99
Total			$163.92

From a hardware store or the garage

An old inner tube, cut open, to wrap the wheel packs
UV-rated zip ties, 8 in and 14 in, a bag of each
Isopropyl alcohol and a rag
Blue threadlocker for the whip mount
A lighter or small heat gun for the solder-seal joints
Scissors, a straightedge and a sharp blade for the tape ribbons
Masking tape for the dry fit
A small dry bag or frame bag per battery, if the bike does not have one
A label maker or tape and a marker: every cube, cable and controller gets a name

Learned the hard way

Things that bite

Each of these cost us a day or a part. Read them before the parts arrive.

Wheels are islands

Nothing crosses an axle, not a wire and not a slip ring. Battery, controller and strips spin together.

Never parallel two packs

Two packs feeding one load fight each other through their BMS boards. One pack per light.

Cut on the mark

Addressable strip cuts only at the printed marks, every 62.5 mm. Anywhere else kills that segment.

Data has a direction

Each strip has an arrow. Feed DATA in at the tail. A strip fed from the wrong end is a dead strip.

Channel 1

Advanced build: the radio remote only hears channel 1. A board joining camp WiFi on another channel goes deaf to it. Keep the boards on the bike router and the bike router on channel 1.

Never join camp WiFi

The boards stay on their own bike network, period. A board on camp WiFi is reachable by everyone on it and lost to the remote.

Tape, not velcro, on the rim

A strip bent flat around a rim is always trying to straighten. Velcro peels. VHB plus a clear band holds.

Heat is the enemy of adhesive

Clean with isopropyl, press hard, and band every end. A bond that looks fine at 7 pm lets go at 2 pm.

Use the cube that came with the pack

Packs accept 1 A or 2 A; a 2 A cube on a 1 A pack is how a BMS dies. Label the cubes.

Rotor clearance

Check the whole revolution with the bike lifted. The caliper does not move; the zip tie tail does.

One-to-one the whip remote

Pair it at home or the next whip over changes your color every time they change theirs.

Spare AAAs

The remotes ship empty. A dead remote at night turns a glove job into a phone job.

Honesty

What we have not verified

Things on this page that come from listings, manuals and arithmetic rather than from our hands. They will move to the build sections once the parts are on the bikes.

Which WLED version GLEDOPTO ships on the boards today. The remote needs 0.14 or newer; check Info before anything else.
Whether the Nilight whip LEDs speak WS2811. The whip-on-the-frame-board experiment depends on it.
The KEMIMOTO mount fits a 22.2 to 28.6 mm tube. Measure yours; rear racks vary.
Runtime figures are watts-per-meter from the strip listing divided into the pack rating. Real packs give 80 to 90 percent of the label.
The RB3 binding keypress, which we describe by shape. The card in the box is authoritative.
The exact LED count WLED wants for a 2.3 m wheel strip. Set it to the chip count and adjust until the last segment lights.

Built for two fat-tire e-bikes headed to Black Rock City, August 2026. The whip, frame and wheel parts named here are what we are riding. If you build one, the things you learn belong on this page: Stokd.

Do you need help getting your bike lit up?

Copy the shopping list, or print the whole build

How one controller reaches both faces of a wheel

Pick a path

Buy a wheel kit

Easy build

Advanced build

Three rules that shape every choice

Every wheel is an island

One plug, one voltage

Weight at the hub, light at the rim

Words you will meet

The whip

The chain, plug to light

Build

The frame

Parts

Wiring

Build

The wheels

Measure the rim before you buy anything

Parts per wheel

Why both faces, and what it costs

Build, one wheel

How you control it, with no data

Easy build

Advanced build

Set it up at home

Easy build, about an hour

Advanced build, an evening

Charging

The daily order of play

Shopping lists

One bike, easy build

One bike, advanced build

Whip add-on, either build

From a hardware store or the garage

Things that bite

Wheels are islands

Never parallel two packs

Cut on the mark

Data has a direction

Channel 1

Never join camp WiFi

Tape, not velcro, on the rim

Heat is the enemy of adhesive

Use the cube that came with the pack

Rotor clearance

One-to-one the whip remote

Spare AAAs

What we have not verified

Being seen from across the playa

Before you leave

Still need the gear