Bike hire and routes in Bay Area, San Francisco

Novomix30

Dear all, particularly USA users.

I am going to be in San Francisco during mid-June. I will be staying in the bay area- not quite sure yet- and will be there from Friday to Tuesday. I was looking at using either Saturday or Sunday as an opportunity to get out on a bike for a good few hours.

Do any of you have any good recommendations for bike hire in the Bay Area- I will be looking for a road bike, probably for full day hire.

In terms of routes I was thinking of heading over the bridge to Sausilito and then into Marin County, looking at something like 60-70 miles, getting back later in the day to return the bike.
I know the RaphaCC shop in San Fran run routes in this area, leaving from the shop at 0830hrs- I'm not sure however that i'd be able to get a bike and get moving for that time in the morning?

Secondarily, am I allowed to cycle on HWY 1 over the bridge, it seems its the only way to get anywhere on teh other side of the bridge- and if i'm allowed, is it safe to do so?

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

whoof

I hired a bike from Blazing Saddles down on thw quay
http://www.blazingsaddles.com/
This was 12 years ago but the website is still there. I hired a road bike for the day as I remeber seems reasonable value. You can (could 12 years ago) ride over the bridge on a path towards Sausalito its separated from the road and is safe. I then rode around the bay (can't remember where exactly) and got the ferry back to the bike hire place. If you get the last ferry of the day it goes all over the bay area and you get a nice boat trip. The bike hore place has some suggested rides and maps.
http://blazingsaddles.com/san-francisco ... tours.aspx

orraloon

Yes you can cycle the Golden Gate bridge. Did that in 2010, then the bikes / peds lanes were seaward (W) side out to Marin, Bay (E) side in to city. So not the cityscape vistas one might expect from the bridge on the way out.

Get the ferry back, great views, Alcatraz Island, the bridge, and the city. But be Brit about it and queue jump, there can be hundreds of bikes trying to get on and you dont want to get left behind.

pendulum

I used Blazing Saddles at 1095 Columbus Ave location 18 months ago, where they have the good quality road bikes. I can't recommend them highly enough, very helpful, excellent service and reasonably priced (I picked the bike up the day before for an early start but was only charged 1 day)
As for rides, I went with the MASHSF Tuesday group ride and went over GG Bridge and did Paradise Loop but check Box Dog Bikes and Mikes Bikes as along with Rapha they have group rides or will be able to put you in touch with a group.