I have found a reliable way to cross the border using a bicycle which eliminates the theft possibility which is typically present once you leave your bike in Tijuana.

I leave my bicycle locked to a well lit fence post in World Parking lot.

I park my car, unlock my bike, ride towards the pedestrian gates, but when you reach the area where the sidewalk is next to the street (where the Duty Free guys collect the receipts), there is a new opening in the fence which allows you to ride your bike across the border. In the past I always had to walk my bike throught the no man's zone which added more time as well as the hassle of carrying the bike through two sets of gates.

Now I just cruise right through the mexican inspection area and I am past the yellow cab area within 30 seconds.

The real issue I have had was where to leave my bike as I have had two separate incidents where I found my lock cable had been partly cut.

It turns out that the Sentri parking lot where they rent the bicycles will also allow you to lock your bike up in front of the office (attendant is there 7/24) for $1 per day.

You get a timestamped parking ticket just like a car as a receipt.

The cool thing is that there is an endless supply of taxis coming by the Sentri dropoff point and it never takes any time to catch one to where you are headed.

On your way back north, you just unlock your bike, hand the attendant your receipt along with $1, and you are on your way across the border in either lane 3, 4, or 5.

This week, the inspectors have not even taken the time to talk to the bicyclists if you are american looking at all. They just wave you across.

You ride over to the right side and soon you are crossing the bridge to the World Parking lot and your car in less than 10 minutes total.

You cannot beat this for convenience and time savings. Walking takes at least 30 minutes more because you have to go wait in line, wait through the turnstiles, talk to the inspector, and then cross the freeway bridge to your car. At times, riding a bike has saved me up to three hours because of the pedestrian line length.

UHHH... You're just now discovering this?

The safe place to lock a bike up, yes.

I've always had to put my bike in the back of my friends car in the past because I did not want it stolen.

Riding the bike across, no.......been doing that for about 4 months now.

The safe place to lock a bike up, yes.

I've always had to put my bike in the back of my friends car in the past because I did not want it stolen.

Riding the bike across, no.......been doing that for about 4 months now.

My vent re: Bikes and the Border Inspectors

For some reason, the border inspectors have just implemented a policy of allowing only one cyclist for every three vehicles passed thru.

When the gang of newly rented bike crossers approach the inspection station, the line backs up as deep as 20-30 people deeper than the average of 5 or 6 normally in line 3.

And they are prohibiting any other lane for crossing as well. Seems like a policy aimed at discouraging the idea of bike crossing or perhaps at the rental business taking advantage of the situation.

Unfortunately it has impacted those of us who normally cross with our own bikes.

Why they have chosen to limit it to just one lane is questionable because they could be working us in with the vehicles and not even skip a beat if they allowed all lanes to accept bicycles.

I can just hear the response that it would be safety hazard to allow bicycles in all the lanes....but that is extremely safe compared to riding a bike on the streets of TJ.

Ok, enough said.

On a motorcycle, you can use all the lanes.
What I do is lane split to the front, waite till the car next to me goes, then cut in front of the next car in line. That way your next in line no matter what. If the border patrol or cars don't like it, F em! Haven't had a problem yet.....

This thread seems old, but I'll add new info anyways. Bikes returning to US can no longer ride thru the car lanes (it's been this way for over a year now). There is a special line for bikes just next to the pedestrian line.

Sometimes the bike lane works well, sometimes not. Partially depends on the US Alert level. I've gotten thru the line in as short as 1 minute, but not when the alert level is high (orange, I think). When the alert level went up, they would only allow 10 bikes every 15 minutes. A few times it took me 45 minutes to get thru.

I haven't done the bike thing since last August, so don't know current conditions. I would think it would be good, because the US lowered the alert level recently.

do they still have the bikes for rental?? i didnt see them at the border, i was in the line for nearly 2 HOURS sat afternoon. 3pm-5pm..

I used a rental bike last month on a Saturday. the bikes are in a lot just south of the coffee shop, La Volce? They were charging $7 on weekends.

Customs was limiting the flow because a lot of the customers were just dumping the bikes inside the building. You are supposed to take it across the street outside. It took me about 45 minutes.