Blazing Saddles Bike Rentals & Tours

They are really rude to customers. The 24 hours drop off is fake word. When you return the bike after sunset, nobody will answer you call. You have to take the bike to your hotel. When you return the bike tomorrow, they will yell to you and rude to you. They will say all is you fault. Actually they only tell me I need make phone call when I return the bike but nobody will answer your phone call when you call them. Trust me! They are so rude.

This is the worst experience in my entire life. They know that their business doesn’t come from repeat customers since they mostly have tourists who only get to experience this once in their life. I feel so bad that tourists have such a bad experience and probably judge Americans with this customer service. We had rented 5 bikes and one of the wheels came off and my husband fixed it. When we returned the bikes we mentioned this and the man said «Get out of here you piece of shits». I have never experienced such rude service. Never use them. This company should be shut down or this employee (see picture) should be sacked. Wish I could give them a negative star rating. EVERYONE BE AWARE.

The absolute WORST customer service experience in my entire life. I wish I could give this place less than a star for the horrible things that were said to me and my family by an employee of this establishment. We had a bike in our group that had a tire fall off on our ride back from Sausalito. Luckily, we were able to re-​attach the wheel and continue on our journey.
Upon returning the bikes at the location, we were simply informing an employee about what had happened to us for their information, so that no one else has an accident going forward. We didn’t even anticipate or discuss a discount for our inconvenience. As we were explaining our situation, the employee called over her supervisor. The supervisor, or so we think he was, asked us if we called the number on our bikes. We said no because we were able to quickly take care of the problem ourselves. We would have if further problems persisted. He then told us «to get outta here you piece of shits». Completely taken aback, we literally were like what?! I’m not sure if the supervisor expected us to leave, but we didn’t. We stood our ground and wanted to call over a manager. The supervisor tried to get us away from the customers, but we refused to move. We could not believe the lack of decency expressed by an employee of this business. The supervisor later lied in front of his manager and said he never called us «pieces of shit».
I can not express enough how pathetic and disgusting of an establishment this is and would like to discourage anyone, tourist or local, from ever giving this location their business ever again.

Rude– don’t think you will get the nice and shiny high end bikes up front. We wanted to rent a the nice blue tandem, but were given a beat up low end bike. When we asked about the nice bike we got two different answers. 1) that it costs more to rent. I was willing to pay a little bit more for a better bike. 2) then the story changed that the high bikes are only for display. Whatever, that’s lame. We’re off to find a place that will appreciate our business.

Terrible bike riding experience with Blazing Saddles. Even though conveniently located between Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf, I highly advise you to research somewhere else before renting bikes from them. They will give you old bikes that easily break (for the same price of a brand new/​well maintained ones from other companies), and if you run into any issues (very likely to happen), you will experience one of the worst customer services of your life that will make your dream day at San Fran, a nightmare.
First, apologize for the long review but I want to explain exactly what/​how it happened. It’s worth reading so that you don’t find yourself in this situation. My father in law is visiting from abroad for the first time for just 2 days and we planned the perfect day with him: we would bike over the Golden Gate bridge, have lunch at Sausalito, head to Old Mills Park, get the ferry back, check out Pier 39. All timed so that we could do it all.
Well, right when we were all the way up in the hill, right at the entrance of Golden Gate Bridge, my husband’s bike gear simply stopped working and there was no way to keep going. We called Blazing Saddles and they told us to go back to the Warming Hut to get an emergency bike that was parked there. So far so good. We went all the way back, located the replacement bike, placed the broken one at exactly the same spot as where the replacement was, locked it up and went back all the way up in the hill again (we didn’t ride his bike up because I was walking with my husband since my bike had stayed with my father in law up in the hill).
When arrived back, we climbed in the bikes and headed to the entrance of the bridge again, and only then realized the tire of the «emergency bike» was flat, VERY flat, like, to the ground flat. Without believing in it, I called them again and they wanted me to go to the Battery Park to get another replacement! Are you kidding me? Your «emergency» replacement of a broken bike is broken and on the top of it all, you want me to walk miles away to get another one? This made me extremely irritated. I said I wasn’t going to go any further other than parking lot near the bridge and demanded them to bring another bike right there. For me, it was enough sacrifice just to be able to ride a bike. After arguing with them, they agreed with it. Almost 1 hour later, nobody showed up. I called again and they told me the person with the new bike headed to the Warming Hut. What? That’s NOT what we had agreed and they NEVER called to advise. If I hadn’t called, I would’ve waited forever. Plus, I could NOT believe I had to go a the way back down and up again. I was so pissed off at this stage but they told me they weren’t «allowed» to go to the parking lot to unload a bike. Seriously, I’m a business person and let’s say, I know a «little» about customer service, at this point, they should park their car anywhere and come riding the bike if that’s what it takes to fix this absurd situation!!! That’s what any respectful company would do. But there was no point at arguing. So, I went back down, got the bike and up again.
So finally at the bridge after the third attempt, the sun was unusually hot, no winds and, I was SO tired and physically exhausted, I barely enjoyed crossing it. Of course, we didn’t make it to the Old Mill Park, there was no time left. We lost more than 3 hours in this ridiculous situation. But it didn’t end there unfortunately. Because we were so late, the line to the ferry was huge and after waiting in line for more than 1 hour, we realized we had to find another way to get back because our parking lot was closing at 8. So we paid 80 dollars for a taxi to take us and the bikes back.
And there’s more. When we returned the bikes, we didn’t think it was fair to pay full price given everything we had gone through, but the manager didn’t take one second to understand or show ANY care or concern for what we had been through AT ALL. Believe it or not, he was more concerned about the location of first broken bike than anything else. It seemed like he doubted that we had put it where we said it put it. He actually said we «made a mess»! WE made a mess? What person in the right state of mind would say that? Mess is what we had to put up with with the insult that was this service and this day. They made us lose our time, which is extremely precious and LOT of money because THEY are a mess. Everything about this is unacceptable. I couldn’t be more outraged and perplexed than I am right now. He didn’t charge anything at the time because he said he was going to verify it (probably if the bike was really there) and call us tomorrow. He better get this right or we will have serious problems. That I can promise. I’m waiting on the call and will update this review after I get it.

We had a great time biking over the bridge. They do give you two ferry tickets and if you don’t use them you can return them. There are a few good hills you have to get over before getting to the bridge so it can be a good workout.
We decided to bike back over the bridge because we didn’t want to wait 2 – 3 hours for the ferry that was another workout in itself. We decided also to keep the bikes for the 24 hours to really get our money’s worth.
You have to return to the location you got it from or you get charged a fee.
Also, there was a groupon that we saw after we paid unfortunately. So check for those first. Overall it was a great day but an all day adventure riding. Definitely not something to do if you only want to spend a few hours.

Very unfriendly folks. Its rare that I am angry after asking nicely for information. Bad manners, don’t go there…

The business is named «Bike Rentals, Return By Ferry». After enduring the horrendous 4.5 hours from hell, I think the business should change their name to «Bike Rentals, Return By Ferry?»
In a nutshell, we biked for only 1 hour and 15 minutes. The other 3+ hours involved waiting in the bike ferry line to get back to San Francisco. Despite immediately getting in line at 3:30pm, we barely made it on the last ferry back to San Fran at 6:45pm. I feel really bad for the rest of the Blazing Saddles customers stranded on the other side of the bridge, forced to pay for a whole day’s worth of «biking».
Like what other customers reported on Unilocal,the support staff is very rude and unprofessional. The bikes are from the 1990s. And by not setting expectations correctly during the sales process — I classify this business as a borderline scam.

The man in charge of the bikes here was rude and had little respect for the tourists who could not properly speak English. He did not demonstrate professionalism nor patience with the people who provide for his check. Next time I’m in town I will not be renting bikes at this location. Although my group was not disrespected as much, he did do it to two other groups as we were getting ready to head out.

Buyers beware! They advertise bikes for $ 8 an hour, convince you to rent the $ 9 and although it says that you will be charged for a full day after 4 hours, they really charge for a full day after 3. They explain after you sign that anything past 3.5 hours is rounded to 4 hours. What they don’t tell you until you return the bike is that they start the clock when they take your deposit. Which for my family, was 30 mins before we got on our bikes. Contract, deposit, watch a video, rep reviews directions, they adjust the seats and then you leave. All of the time in the store is considered ‘riding’ time. Was so annoyed. We were back in 3 hours and charged for the day. Shady practice.

Great service with lots of different bike options at a reasonable price. They also offer a drop off service if you return your bike after they are closed. The staff was great and did a wonderful job giving directions to The Golden Gate bridge. I would absolutely use their service again!

Biking the Golden Gate Bridge is a great experience. Blazing Saddles has many locations to rent bicycles for the family. We happened to walk up to the stand outside of Fisherman’s Wharf and thought this would be a great thing to try.
The bicycles can be rented by the hour or for the day and they have a large selection of bicycles to choose from (prices range from $ 8 – 88 depending on the type of bicycle and amount of time). They do require a credit card for a deposit. Once the bicycles are chosen, adjusted to your height, and you put on your helmet for safety you are pretty much good to go. They explained the path to the bridge and how to come back on the ferry from Sausalito once you cross the bridge. After that we were on our way!
This particular day it was a little windy and did pose a little challenge. It was also foggy so that was also fun to navigate through. All in all it was something that we enjoyed and I would highly recommend. Just remember that the bicycle path is a two way path and if you are slower then remember to move to the right of the path so you do not cause traffic for those more experienced riders. Enjoy!

Blazing Saddles has pretty decent prices and lots of locations, making it convenient! I only wish the Fisherman’s Wharf location opened a little later and was in a less crowded spot.
The bikes aren’t top condition, but you get what you pay for. My boyfriend and I had never ridden a tandem before and he said the gears weren’t as he expected, but we got around without a hitch.
The bike ride to Sausalito was amazing, and I recommend for tourists and locals alike! It takes about 2 – 3 hours to bike to Sausalito or Tiburon and then be ready to wait in line for a ferry back (make sure you ride the Blue and Gold back to the Pier ³⁹⁄₄₁ location) if you go on a lovely Saturday afternoon like we did. Blazing Saddles could have given more directions, but luckily we rode with people who had done the trip before.

I’ll apologize in advance for this: Let the good times roll!
Anything you do on a bike is fun (easy there, get your mind out of the gutter…) but this «tour» and the group facilitating it made it great. The staff is friendly and helpful, and the locations all over town paid off in unexpected ways.
My 13 year old daughter and I decided to go with Blazing Saddles based on their ads and convenience. They were great at Pier 41 and fisherman’s wharf. They expertly and quickly gave us the rundown, set us up with gear, and cut us loose.
Just down the road I decided a larger frame would be nice — so I pulled into the convenient next shop and swapped my ride out. It took a minute, literally.
The bikes worked great, the instruction was spot-​on, and a good time was had by all. You do need to expect SFO weather, and accept that a lot of other people want to see the sights; but it’s a great outing if you can ride a bike and shift its gears. Fun!

My cousin desperately wanted to bike over the Golden Gate Bridge as part of her bucket list, along with her best friend the three of us set out on an adventure. Since she was so excited about it, I assumed she had done some research, she had not. On the road we saw a sign, bike over the bridge, take a ferry back, great. So we parked and came over to inquire. They said it was an easy 90 minute bike ride. We are all in our late 20s and in good shape, we figured we would be able to get back within 2 ½ hours.
Bottom line: this little journey took us 4 over hours total including biking, stops for water, a quick snack in Sausalito (to go baguette and cheese so we would not have to wait another 2 hours for the next ferry), and the ferry ride back along with the ride to return our bikes. Not the easy 90 minutes as advertised. I started to get a pit in my stomach when we passed a dozen bike place on the way to the bridge, Blazing Saddles is one of the furthest away. The bikes were not in great shape. The ride was not quick and easy. I understand that they were trying to make a sale, but ultimately I felt deceived and grumpy. They even laughed when we returned «now you know why we are named Blazing Saddles» ha. They did not seem concerned about under exaggerating the time and difficulty of biking over the bridge. Not happy. Plus I paid a good chunk of cash for the privilege.
Also just as a side note something else that was not clarified up front, in order to get to the ferry you have to bike on the road with cars, a little scary. For sure not a trip I would take with children.
Ultimately I will take some responsibility for not checking reviews first, but based on other reviews misleading customers is business as usual for them since their business is not based on repeat customers they really only need to be charming up front.

A tourist activity plain and simple. Your experience will vary on the unpredictable San Francisco weather/​wind and the person you work with. if you have time to shop around for a better deal online ahead of time, do it. Otherwise, this location is specifically for convenience. They have a 20 percent off coupon online, on Unilocal,as well as pre-​order. So treat that as the base price. They have extra fees like insurance, so be aware. Some employees will try to upsell you for ‘better’ bikes but we never noticed the difference. When we came here some time ago we didn’t have any of those discount. So our hard-​nosed lawyer friend negotiated a lower rate since we came in late in the day and the supply was still high. The normal path takes you across the Golden Gate and take a ferry ride back to Ferry Building.
Your biking experience will vary widely. For one set of friends, it was a nightmare since they didn’t follow the map and missed the last ferry out of Sausalito. For another gal, it was foggy and so windy that she had to walk at certain points. It only cleared up for her after she crossed the bridge. For us, the bike ride was very pleasant in SF since it was a sunny day. The Golden Gate Bridge is little windy so be careful. Getting to Sausalito is a little confusing once you cross the bridge but as long as you follow the crowd, it’s ok. The staff provides you with a nap and other stuff in the front pocket of the bike. The ferry ride back was the very last one and was packed with lots of other bikers. We spent a couple hours in Sausalito while waiting for the ferry since it was a really quaint town. Return of the bike was straightforward. All-​in-​all, an experience heavily influenced by the weather and the quality of the bikes in the affordable range.

When I was in San Francisco this year I really wanted to do this ride. But with several days of hill-​walking my mom and Kris both said, «NO!» This year, we were back sans mom but with two exchange students in tow and decided to give it a go on our first day in the city.
The price is outrageous. Out. Rage. Eous. $ 100/​bike? Seriously? That’s just absurd. But it has the best reviews and it’s the company that everyone recommends and they kind of have a corner on the market and they leave right from Fisherman’s Wharf (other bike rentals were near our hotel but there was no way I was cycling with the two teenagers entrusted to me from my hotel to Sausalito). So we splurged. I had a check-​in offer, after all, and that would alleviate some of the sting.
The people working at the rental tent are nice enough and did a good job setting us up. But the price? The price?! I know, I keep coming back to the price. My bike was fine and the directions on the handlebars were a nice touch (although it’s pretty simple to figure out where to go). The price, though… ouch.
We were told to take the Ferry back. It was a nightmare. Putting our bikes in wasn’t bad but when it was time to get them out there were a ton of pushy assholes who couldn’t seem to understand that there is logic and order to the universe. This includes logic and order to getting you and your bike off the ferry. I have several bruises thanks to a pushy tourist couple who rammed me several times with their bikes. And the people on the ferry don’t say or do anything about the traffic mess. The only reason I didn’t trip the chick of the couple was because I was worried that with all the bikes around she might end up with a more serious injury than I actually wanted to inflict. Had it appeared she would have just skinned a knee or two and maybe a palm, I totally would have tripped her. Also, the Ferry only drops off in one location — I didn’t mind cycling back because I love to cycle — but they don’t tell you this so it’s a little disorienting when you get off the ferry.
And so, at the end of the day I will say this: THE EXPERIENCE IS WORTH FIVE STARS but…
1. If you’re a local do the ride on your own bike
2. If you’re not a local do some shopping around and find a cheaper deal
Because the price… God, I never bitch about money but I am today. The price is insane. AND they didn’t honor my Unilocal check-​in offer. Which REALLY pissed me off.

This was my first time renting a bike in San Francisco and I had a great time. We biked the popular route to Sausalito on an absolutely gorgeous day. We had a coupon from the visit SF magazine so it was $ 5, but at $ 32 for the bike including helmet, $ 4 for the insurance, $ 10 for the ferry tickets and miscellaneous other charges, count on about $ 50 for the day.
Pluses– The bike ride itself was fantastic. I did it with an unnamed out of shape friend of mine and trust me, it is super fun and doable by most! We saw many kids on the ride, too. I highly recommend the trip on a beautiful day. You can ride back, but the hill to the bridge on the Marin side is no joke!
Minuses– The front derailer jammed a lot. It took me a while to realize that if I could not shift into a lower gear, to change the back gear and try again. I am sure these bikes get a lot of abuse, but they did not prepare us well for the gears. It was critical on a few of the hills.
Also the directions suck they gave us sucked. I am a native so we did not get lost but they gave us misinformation. Luckily, when we got to the bridge the ranger was super helpful. Basically the west side is closed until 4PM, which means the cyclists have to share the East side with tourists. There are way to many people on the East side to make the bike trip enjoyable. I suggest waiting till 4pm for the west side to open so that you are not so preoccupied with avoiding pedestrians, you don’t enjoy the ride.
Finally, we caught the last ferry back to San Francisco at 7:20pm. The ferry is great, and while it is very easy to get the bikes on the ferry, you have to carry them up a flight of stairs to get them off. Then you have to ride them to the Hyde street location, which is not a hard ride, but at 8pm in February, you are riding on city streets in the dark. They don’t give you a light so I was uncomfortable riding on the roads. If you plan on returning after dark, ask for a light. Since there were at least 20 people with their bikes on the ferry, I think they should meet you at the ferry building with a bike trailer to return them. I would have happily paid an extra $ 5 for the convenience.
All in all, I would still rent a bike from them if a friend came to town, but the company has typical SF arrogance that drives me crazy. They make their customers do what is convient for the company not what is convient for the customer.
Also if you drive to rent the bikes, count on paying $ 20 for parking around the pier during the week, $ 40 on the weekend.

Second time renting bikes with Blazing Saddles to bike across the Golden Gate Bridge in SF.
If you check-​in on Unilocal,you can get a discount! And if you decide to ride across the Bridge and take the ferry back, they will give you ferry tickets before your ride so you don’t have to worry about the hassle of buying tickets once on the other side.
The only thing to be wary of is that if you return your bike after a certain time (I think 7pm) you have to take it to their flagship store on Hyde, which is up a hill. We rented from Pier 39 and the ferry took us back to Pier 39, but we returned after 7pm, so we ended up riding a couple extra miles back to the Hyde store. All-​in-​all fine and was our choice.

We found Blazing Saddles while walking around Fisherman’s Wharf. We were looking for bikes to rent for a few hours because Matt P, Robert H, and I wanted to bike across the Golden Gate Bridge and back! Don’t worry; it’s not that hard of a challenge … my mother could do it.
We got there early in the morning on a Monday, and were easily able to rent three bikes. We had hopes of being able to rent their triple tandem bike, however they told us that they only had that bike in some not all of their locations.
It took us a few minutes to fill out paperwork, and after we were done the salesperson was really pushing us on getting tickets to take the ferry ride back after we bike across the bridge. We were hesitant to take the tickets in case we lose them but she gave them to us anyway… even when we were still standing there trying to make our minds.
The bikes were in decent shape, except the handles of my bike were kind of old so they were peeling. Other than that, I didn’t have any problem with the equipment. Their helmets were clean, and had no smell to them.
The prices were decent.. . you could either rent it for the day or rent it per hour. It’s a fun thing to do when you’re in San Francisco and are looking to kill some time.