About American Riviera Bike Tours and Rentals
American Riviera Bike Tours and Rentals operates out of a shopfront on Gray Avenue in Santa Barbara's Funk Zone, two blocks from the waterfront bike path. The business is owner-run by Mike, who left a corporate career to build a small tour outfit around the routes he rides himself, and every guided trip goes out as a private booking for one group at a time.
The rental fleet covers cruiser and low-step e-bikes, a cargo e-bike that carries children, electric scooters, and non-electric cruisers, three-speed city bikes and hybrids. Helmets and locks come with every rental, with hourly, daily and discounted multi-day rates. The flagship guided trip is a two and a half hour private city tour covering twelve landmarks including the Old Mission, Butterfly Beach, Stearns Wharf and the giant Moreton Bay fig. A shorter guided taco tour visits three local taquerias, and a free twelve-mile self-guided route is available to download for riders who want to go it alone.
Keeping tours private is the point of difference. Groups set their own pace, stop where they want and get a guide who lives in the neighborhood rather than a scripted script read to twenty strangers. The Funk Zone location also puts riders straight onto the Cabrillo Boulevard bike path, so there is no traffic to negotiate before the ride actually starts.
