Robvolz 

I see that as a US citizen, we are legally allowed to visit Cuba for artistic, cultural or ATHLETIC reasons. There are several tour groups that organize trips to CUBA.

Has anybody done this? Thinking of going and leaving a bike there with a well deserving person.

Yan 

Never bike toured there but went as a regular tourist. Cool place, highly recommended. I wouldn't bother with a guided group, it's an easy country to travel in.

Robvolz 

I've been three times. Never as a cyclist. I don't see shops on google maps. Wondering what challenges special to there might apply.

SoCaled 

Gave up on Eroica Cuba?

Robvolz 

No, I'm going to exactly that.

Instead of a "hey, look at me" fancy bike, I'm building a Senator bike with good 'ol Shimano bits to leave there.

They don't have or need campy.

HappyAussies

Hi. Biked large parts of Cuba in 2019 with a small group. The roads are generally bad, and spare parts/repairs are very hard to get, so you have to carry the necessities. The good thing is traffic is pretty sparse, lots of tractors and horse/carts, which is pretty weird. I'm an Aussie citizen, so no probs with a visa. We flew in from Houston, and got our visas at the airport there. I don't know how difficult it is to go there fully independantly. I had a good look at it but from here seemed very hard to put together, so we joined a small group out of the UK. It's a fabulous country and well worth visiting. Oh, and yes, google maps OK but inaccurate, and getting food very tough. This is where a small group works. We spent quite a bit of time at the end staying in Cohimar, and sometimes getting dinner was "this is what we have, do you want it?" They do it very tough in Cuba, no doubt about it.

bebikecentric

I've been to Cuba four times and brought my bike each time. I stay at a resort and use it as a home base for day rides. Varadero is the best spot so far to ride from. There are groups of local cyclists that show you the best routes. If you have a bike that can handle gravel there are more options.
Bring as many tubes, patch kits, old jerseys... they need everything. If you plan on leaving a bike, an easy to fix bike is the best. Friction shifting, side pull brakes, bearings that can be maintained, basically no fancy sealed bearings that get tossed once they wear out.
People are very friendly and I never feel threatened or unsafe.
Also bring treats or gifts (crayons) for kids you see on the road. They are so surprised to get something.

Calsun

There is an advantage to going with a group if they can provide the bicycle. Otherwise I would worry about U.S. officials confiscating your bike on the return trip. An option would be to donate your bike at the end of the trip and not pay the surcharges with the airline to bring it back.

Good gifts for the kids are crayons and ballpoint pens and for adults t-shirts are appreciated and the ones with a logo or other clearly American business on the shirt is preferred to a plain one.

In the U.S our foreign policy is still dictated by the mafia and they badly want to get back into Cuba and restart their gambling and money laundering enterprises. This is why it is OK to travel to communist China or Communist Vietnam but not to Cuba without lots of bureaucracy.