Adam Greenfield

Hi all,

Does anyone know if it's possible to rent bikes in Mexico City suitable for long distance travel? We're hoping to do a 1-2 week 800km trip north from Mexico City, ending up in Guanajuato. We don't need anything fancy, certainly not specific for touring, but good enough to handle the roads and hills. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

headwind15

Contact some bike shops down there and find out.

axolotl

There might be, but I've never seen a bike shop there which rented touring bikes. Bike touring is not a popular activity among Mexicans, in my experience. Mexico City does have a shared bike program, however, which I actually saw a few people using the last time I was there. I've toured in Mexico on my own bike. I've also rented a bike for a few hours in 3 different towns in Mexico. 2 of the bikes were absolute crap. I rented a decent mountain bike from a nice little shop in Oaxaca, but that's nowhere near Mexico City or Guanajuato. If you manage to find a decent bike, I would expect that you'd have to transport it back to Mexico City yourself. I've found that it's easy to take a bike on buses in Mexico. The 1st class buses have large baggage compartments.

HobbesOnTour

Depending on your knowledge/skills/attitude an alternative would be to buy a second hand MTB in CDMX and ride that.
There is no shortage of second hand bikes that would make decent touring bikes available from small shops and the equivalent of pawn shops. I'm thinking especially of old school 26 inch MTBs.
It would take a bit of time to source the bikes but an interesting way to see the city. Most neighbourhoods have several bike repair shops if you wanted to have them checked over or serviced.
Just be aware that when I looked (May 2021) components like cassettes were rare. Findable, but rare.

You don't say about how you plan to carry your gear or if you have some. If a traditional panniers setup I'd suggest bringing your own racks and panniers to fix to the bikes. You may also want to consider bringing suitable tyres as a lot of what I saw available was relatively poor quality Chinese. Of course, that may limit your bike choice in terms of wheel size.
You may also want to consider bringing your own saddle.
Decathlon do have a couple of stores in CDMX that may be useful.

You say nothing about your trip home but buying cheap bikes leaves you relatively free on the other end. I'm sure a local charity would be delighted with two bikes.

If you're lucky you can get to do a shakedown ride on a Sunday in the city when a lot of roads are made car free and the city (and their dogs!) come out to play on bikes, rollerblades and their feet. It's a wonderful atmosphere!

I hate to be that guy but the security situation in México is always something to be aware of. I spent 18 months there and never had a problem but the pandemic has led to various criminal expansion into areas that previously were safe. Do a bit of research and talk to the locals.

djb

Another somewhat experienced bike traveler in Mexico here.
quick answer, pretty unlikely.
As a first time poster, with completely unknown riding, touring, traveling and or language experience, let's just say that you could be biting off way more than you can chew with this idea.

if you get back with more details, great.

just be aware that biking out of a 22 million population city
in Latin America
can and will be challenging, on many levels.

djb

guess Im a grumpy old bastard now but aint it a drag, folks who come on with a question, get informed advice from some here, and just never come back or answer.