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The Coyote's Bicycle: The Untold Story of 7,000 Bicycles and the Rise of a Borderland Empire
For readers of Jon Krakauer and Susan Orlean, The Coyote’s Bicycle brings to life a never-before-told phenomenon at our southern border, and the human drama of those that would cross.
It wasn’t surprising when the first abandoned bicycles were found along the dirt roads and farmland just across the border from Tijuana, but before long they were arriving in droves. The bikes went from curiosity, to nuisance, to phenomenon. But until they caught the eye of journalist Kimball Taylor, only a small cadre of human smugglers―coyotes―and migrants could say how or why they’d gotten there. And only through Taylor’s obsession did another curious migratory pattern emerge: the bicycles’ movement through the black market, Hollywood, the prison system, and the military-industrial complex. This is the story of 7,000 bikes that made an incredible journey and one young man from Oaxaca who arrived at the border with nothing, built a small empire, and then vanished. Taylor follows the trail of the border bikes through some of society’s most powerful institutions, and, with the help of an unlikely source, he reconstructs the rise of one of Tijuana’s most innovative coyotes. Touching on immigration and globalization, as well as the history of the US/Mexico border,The Coyote’s Bicycle is at once an immersive investigation of an outrageous occurrence and a true-crime, rags-to-riches story.
It wasn’t surprising when the first abandoned bicycles were found along the dirt roads and farmland just across the border from Tijuana, but before long they were arriving in droves. The bikes went from curiosity, to nuisance, to phenomenon. But until they caught the eye of journalist Kimball Taylor, only a small cadre of human smugglers―coyotes―and migrants could say how or why they’d gotten there. And only through Taylor’s obsession did another curious migratory pattern emerge: the bicycles’ movement through the black market, Hollywood, the prison system, and the military-industrial complex. This is the story of 7,000 bikes that made an incredible journey and one young man from Oaxaca who arrived at the border with nothing, built a small empire, and then vanished. Taylor follows the trail of the border bikes through some of society’s most powerful institutions, and, with the help of an unlikely source, he reconstructs the rise of one of Tijuana’s most innovative coyotes. Touching on immigration and globalization, as well as the history of the US/Mexico border,The Coyote’s Bicycle is at once an immersive investigation of an outrageous occurrence and a true-crime, rags-to-riches story.
380 pages, Hardcover
First published February 22, 2016
51 people are currently reading
710 people want to read
About the author
Kimball Taylor
3 books6 followersKimball Taylor is a long-time contributor to Surfer Magazine and the author of two books about the sport: Return by Water: Surf Stories and Adventures and Drive Fast and Take Chances. Taylor holds a BA in journalism and an MFA in creative writing and is an alumnus of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
January 23, 2016
If you really want to gain some perspective on illegal immigration and border crossings, you could do no better than this stunning nonfiction tale, which reads more like a novel. Funny enough, it all begins with bicycles. Author Kimball Taylor, who went to report on flooding along with US-Mexican border, and the discovery of a slew of bicycles. Just what were they all doing there?
That childhood draw (bicycles), accompanied by a rampant curiosity and an ability to draw a beautiful visual picture with his words has resulted in an immigration story that I am not sure any of Taylor's readers could have imagined. I am not sure if it's his long-standing reporting on surfing -- how many ways can you describe a wave? -- or his reportorial drive that contributes most to the success of this book, but it's one of a kind and will draw you in.
If you doubt me about the surfing analogy, just read William Finnegan's latest book, "Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life." These water babies know how to write! As for Taylor and this book, it's as much about landscape and the people who inhabit the land as it is about the bicycles. But it's tracking those bikes that leads to an infinite number of interesting detours (literally and figuratively).
The book centers around one coyote (a man responsible for taking illegals over the Mexican border to seek work in the US) and the idea he has (using bikes to cross the border quickly and safely) that takes him from his Mexican backwater village to a wildly successful entrepreneur. Still the book is about so much more than that. However, using this single man as the focus around which to tell his tale makes Author Kimball Taylor's work that much more compelling.
There's so much more that the book covers, but I will let you discover that joy for yourself. One thing that Taylor has done so well is illuminate just how fascinating real life (ie, nonfiction) can be.
That childhood draw (bicycles), accompanied by a rampant curiosity and an ability to draw a beautiful visual picture with his words has resulted in an immigration story that I am not sure any of Taylor's readers could have imagined. I am not sure if it's his long-standing reporting on surfing -- how many ways can you describe a wave? -- or his reportorial drive that contributes most to the success of this book, but it's one of a kind and will draw you in.
If you doubt me about the surfing analogy, just read William Finnegan's latest book, "Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life." These water babies know how to write! As for Taylor and this book, it's as much about landscape and the people who inhabit the land as it is about the bicycles. But it's tracking those bikes that leads to an infinite number of interesting detours (literally and figuratively).
The book centers around one coyote (a man responsible for taking illegals over the Mexican border to seek work in the US) and the idea he has (using bikes to cross the border quickly and safely) that takes him from his Mexican backwater village to a wildly successful entrepreneur. Still the book is about so much more than that. However, using this single man as the focus around which to tell his tale makes Author Kimball Taylor's work that much more compelling.
There's so much more that the book covers, but I will let you discover that joy for yourself. One thing that Taylor has done so well is illuminate just how fascinating real life (ie, nonfiction) can be.
February 5, 2017
This is the type of book I wish there was a special bookshelf for in bookstores. It would magically be filled with unique one of a kind books that I would love to read and would find really interesting. It might be titled "books you will love be sure to. Buy more than one!"
Sadly this type of magic doesn't exist, not yet anyway.
The Coyotes Bicycle, let's face it, the title alone was enough to make me pick it up, is unlike any other book I have ever read. It is about:
1. Life along the U.S. Mexico border
2. A human smuggling operation
3. A Coyote ( human smuggler) with a 7th grade education, who was honest, trustworthy, kind, and one of the largest smugglers of people, in the busiest border area!
4. A cast of characters on both sides of the border, crazies, and misfits, and drunks, and men and woman trying to get by, trying to get ahead, trying for a better life.
5. A human smuggling operation, that used bicycles to get the people across/into the United States.
6. Bicycles that after they had been used by the coyote wound up on military bases around the world.
7. The attempt to track the bicycles.
This is an amazing, outstanding, fantastic book.
Sadly this type of magic doesn't exist, not yet anyway.
The Coyotes Bicycle, let's face it, the title alone was enough to make me pick it up, is unlike any other book I have ever read. It is about:
1. Life along the U.S. Mexico border
2. A human smuggling operation
3. A Coyote ( human smuggler) with a 7th grade education, who was honest, trustworthy, kind, and one of the largest smugglers of people, in the busiest border area!
4. A cast of characters on both sides of the border, crazies, and misfits, and drunks, and men and woman trying to get by, trying to get ahead, trying for a better life.
5. A human smuggling operation, that used bicycles to get the people across/into the United States.
6. Bicycles that after they had been used by the coyote wound up on military bases around the world.
7. The attempt to track the bicycles.
This is an amazing, outstanding, fantastic book.
February 2, 2016
There are distances in The Coyote’s Bicycle traveled by decidedly differing means. There is the distance between reporting and storytelling, narrative strands traveling from opposite ends that take pause; evolve. There’s the distance between expectation and fact, and then there is that place where distances cease to hold meaning; a necessary place to go when we’re called upon to suspend our disbelief in that unique way we always must when it comes time to believe something true.
And then there is the literal distance of a bicycle pedaled from one country to the next.
The range can be somewhat dizzying, if you don’t take the time to steady yourself. First, there is a pile of abandoned bicycles; then, there is a man who begins as Pablito, and then becomes El Indio, the mythologized border coyote who discovers an incredible way of smuggling massive numbers of people across the border on bicycles. Then, there is a male reporter following a thread of story the originates in Mexico, and ends in the United States. It is hard, at times, not to be put off by the tremendous distance between subject and beholder - one man is chasing budding curiosity turned story, while the other is chasing a mode of survival. But this distance implicates the American reader, too - especially if you’ve failed to apprehend the human consequences of US immigration policies.
Mathangi Arulpragasam (better known as M.I.A.)
said in her interview with David Greene of NPR on the Syrian refugee crisis “If the West is so deliberate in promoting its brands and is using its art and culture to inspire people’s dreams, how can the West turn people away?” A question this book will not, perhaps, answer, but will serve to boldly underline.
Note: Tin House sent me a galley of this book; I read it, thought about it for a few weeks, and then wrote this. Thanks, Tin House!
And then there is the literal distance of a bicycle pedaled from one country to the next.
The range can be somewhat dizzying, if you don’t take the time to steady yourself. First, there is a pile of abandoned bicycles; then, there is a man who begins as Pablito, and then becomes El Indio, the mythologized border coyote who discovers an incredible way of smuggling massive numbers of people across the border on bicycles. Then, there is a male reporter following a thread of story the originates in Mexico, and ends in the United States. It is hard, at times, not to be put off by the tremendous distance between subject and beholder - one man is chasing budding curiosity turned story, while the other is chasing a mode of survival. But this distance implicates the American reader, too - especially if you’ve failed to apprehend the human consequences of US immigration policies.
Mathangi Arulpragasam (better known as M.I.A.)
said in her interview with David Greene of NPR on the Syrian refugee crisis “If the West is so deliberate in promoting its brands and is using its art and culture to inspire people’s dreams, how can the West turn people away?” A question this book will not, perhaps, answer, but will serve to boldly underline.
Note: Tin House sent me a galley of this book; I read it, thought about it for a few weeks, and then wrote this. Thanks, Tin House!
July 20, 2021
I guess I'll start by saying that no human is illegal.
I say this because it took me a long time to feel like the author was at least bearable.
Very early on he used the term "illegals", and he continues to use it in different ways all throughout. This then turned to certain moments in which he described migration in very criminalizing terms, and though I don't expect every white American to be an abolitionist, I would at least hope that someone that spent so much time researching, writing, and more importantly sharing space with migrantes, would drop the law enforcement language and mentality.
Right off the bat I knew the writer was white, I mean despite his name and his early bio, I just had the feeling that I was reading a white man describe his experiences in the borderlands I was born and raised in.
I decided not to look it up until after finishing the book, and of course it was exactly that.
For that reason mainly this book felt almost like two different books to me.
One about the context of these lands and it's rich and painful history. Of this I learned A LOT and am grateful to have read.
The second book is one of a white American talking about his feelings, fears, and experiences as he navigated through his own "wild Wild West".
This makes me wonder what story could have been had it been written by a migrant, or at least by a person native to these lands.
Imagine if Kimball would have put in the time and finances into providing the resources so that the character of "El Negro" could write this story, and be the main voice!
Instead we yet again have White man telling story of migrants.
There are many parts in this book where that becomes an issue, and where I imagine for those of us that have spent our lives on both sides of the border living in these spaces, it becomes very obvious that Taylor's perspective is one that speaks from a distance, and at times almost form a above.
An American perspective, as always, disconnected from the root.
I say this because it took me a long time to feel like the author was at least bearable.
Very early on he used the term "illegals", and he continues to use it in different ways all throughout. This then turned to certain moments in which he described migration in very criminalizing terms, and though I don't expect every white American to be an abolitionist, I would at least hope that someone that spent so much time researching, writing, and more importantly sharing space with migrantes, would drop the law enforcement language and mentality.
Right off the bat I knew the writer was white, I mean despite his name and his early bio, I just had the feeling that I was reading a white man describe his experiences in the borderlands I was born and raised in.
I decided not to look it up until after finishing the book, and of course it was exactly that.
For that reason mainly this book felt almost like two different books to me.
One about the context of these lands and it's rich and painful history. Of this I learned A LOT and am grateful to have read.
The second book is one of a white American talking about his feelings, fears, and experiences as he navigated through his own "wild Wild West".
This makes me wonder what story could have been had it been written by a migrant, or at least by a person native to these lands.
Imagine if Kimball would have put in the time and finances into providing the resources so that the character of "El Negro" could write this story, and be the main voice!
Instead we yet again have White man telling story of migrants.
There are many parts in this book where that becomes an issue, and where I imagine for those of us that have spent our lives on both sides of the border living in these spaces, it becomes very obvious that Taylor's perspective is one that speaks from a distance, and at times almost form a above.
An American perspective, as always, disconnected from the root.
June 28, 2022
3 ⭐️ I’m finding that stories about the border are really intriguing for me. Also I love bikes so this was kinda a marriage of the two ideas. The books switches between the coyote building his business of illegal bike crossing and the author trying to track him down. Not Gunna lie I was more interested in the coyote’s chapters than the author’s story. ESPECIALLY ((this maybe a spoiler?)) when he got into the military training facilities.
I would recommend this book to people who ride bikes and are interested in border crossings.
I would recommend this book to people who ride bikes and are interested in border crossings.
June 18, 2018
An incredible story about the movements of people from Mexico into the US during a period when bicycles were used to avoid the border patrol. I learnt so much about this phenomena, including the history of the region, the politics involved, those who lived on the border, those who ferried the people over the border and the bicycles themselves. At times I had to remind myself this was non-fiction.
January 18, 2016
A fascinating, tautly-worded story of bicycles and bicycle theft that form an important part of the trans-border migration across the U.S. southern border. It's also a story of destitute migrants, or pollos -- chickens -- and the polleros who herd them. It's also the story of one pollo who rose to be a leading figure in the business: El Indio, whose rise and disappearance is the main thread in this story. It all reads like a novel, but the author seems to have done considerable research at first hand, and follows the story through some intriguing and unexpected turns, including into the U.S. military. He tells it with sympathy for the very human actors in an epic migration. Rather than spoil any of the many surprises in this book, I recommend that the reader follow this fascinating and well-told story.
February 29, 2016
Quite an unusual discovery to find a sea of 7,000 abandoned bikes in a valley at the southwestern corner of the United States. This topic piqued my interest and the true story did not disappoint. Through impressive research and good writing, this was a compelling story and perspective on illegal immigration.
After a guest worker program between the US and Mexico ended in 1964, the bicycle coyote industry grew from a small time hustle to a huge organization. This is an especially topical subject as we struggle with immigration issues. Confronted with fences, cameras and thousands of Border Patrol agents, it is hard to fathom the path taken by so many migrants.
After a guest worker program between the US and Mexico ended in 1964, the bicycle coyote industry grew from a small time hustle to a huge organization. This is an especially topical subject as we struggle with immigration issues. Confronted with fences, cameras and thousands of Border Patrol agents, it is hard to fathom the path taken by so many migrants.
December 3, 2016
This was such an interesting book - nonfiction yet read like fiction. This is a book about migrants crossing the border illegally via bicycles, yet it is much more than that. Especially in this "build a wall" political climate, it is fascinating to read about the history of illegal immigration and why building a wall may not be a deterrent. The author followed these bicycles to find out where they came from and where they ended up and highlighted the symbolism and irony of the cyclical order of things. The book also showed the human side of migration with bizarre characters that were too colorful to not be real. A great read!
December 11, 2015
Kimball Taylor does a good job of keeping the story interesting. At times, you forgot that this is a true story because it reads like an adventure and mystery story. the Borderland empire is a good reminder that some areas near the borders are not control by the officials. Seven thousand bikes a= is a number that is hard to imagine but Mr. Taylor does a good job of taking you thru the crazy madness which includes human smuggling as well as the good things from the bikes rolling thru.It is a reminder as well that the bikes changes to the purpose depending on its owner.
March 4, 2016
A must read!
This book was so interesting that it was difficult to put down. I guess it illustrates the old adage that “fact is stranger than fiction”. The author takes you on a bicycle journey through the Tijuana river valley (in the USA) and demonstrates how “invisible” something as common and prevalent as a bicycle can really be. I honestly can’t believe how creative the Mexican smugglers really were, and I was truly captivated with the El Indio’s chapters.
This book was so interesting that it was difficult to put down. I guess it illustrates the old adage that “fact is stranger than fiction”. The author takes you on a bicycle journey through the Tijuana river valley (in the USA) and demonstrates how “invisible” something as common and prevalent as a bicycle can really be. I honestly can’t believe how creative the Mexican smugglers really were, and I was truly captivated with the El Indio’s chapters.
February 23, 2016
This story is incredible. Really, all the stories in this book are incredible, and intertwined into an amazing narrative that is somehow both larger than all of us and intimately human all at once. The comparative metaphor of the bicycles and their far flung adventures juxtaposed with the journey of migrants seeking a new life is enlightening. This book could be a few separate books, but the real value is in the relationships and connections of the stories. I loved it.
July 21, 2025
There’s a lot to praise about this book. The writing is excellent. The story is fascinating. However, it could have been just a longish article and not lost too much in the process.
For three years, an enterprising Mexican crossed illegal migrants into the US at the Tijuana border using bicycles. It was an ingenious idea, and resulted in thousands of bikes being abandoned on the US side. That’s what piqued the author’s curiosity, and caused him to try to find out how the whole thing started, who ran it, what happened to all of the bikes once they reached the US, and why it all suddenly ended.
The book is about the author’s quest. But he was wading in dangerous and murky waters. Researching a highly illegal endeavor, how do you know who’s telling you the truth? Why would human traffickers tell their secrets to a gringo who just appears out of the blue?
The author pieces together a very credible answer, which starts with a dirt-poor teenager in Oaxaca, who has no options in life but a lot of gumption. He recreates himself in TJ, gets himself smuggled into California, and then returns to become a coyote himself. He’s very clever and brave, but keeps a low profile. He makes a fortune, with which he hopes to buy his mother a house in Los Angeles. Learning about him is very intriguing (even if some of it is admittedly conjecture).
Where the book goes sideways a bit (IMHO) is when the author learns that Hollywood, and then the US military, buy all of the scrap bikes for pennies on the dollar, and use them on movie sets pretending to be in the Third World, or in the military’s version of the same thing. It turns out that the military has training centers all over the place where they get Hollywood people to re-create Third World settings. Then the military train there before heading out to the Middle East (or wherever). Because poor people around the world ride bikes, they need a lot of them for the sets. Then when the movie or exercise is over, the bikes evaporate, mostly stolen by people on the sets. The author kind of goes down a gigantic rabbit hole telling us about how the bikes end up on movie or training sets. Although interesting, it really doesn’t have anything to do with the human smuggling aspect of the story.
The best part of the book was learning that some coyotes may not be bloodthirsty killers and rapists, but rather (relatively) well-meaning people trying to help others achieve a better life — and seeing the mechanics of how some crossings work.
For three years, an enterprising Mexican crossed illegal migrants into the US at the Tijuana border using bicycles. It was an ingenious idea, and resulted in thousands of bikes being abandoned on the US side. That’s what piqued the author’s curiosity, and caused him to try to find out how the whole thing started, who ran it, what happened to all of the bikes once they reached the US, and why it all suddenly ended.
The book is about the author’s quest. But he was wading in dangerous and murky waters. Researching a highly illegal endeavor, how do you know who’s telling you the truth? Why would human traffickers tell their secrets to a gringo who just appears out of the blue?
The author pieces together a very credible answer, which starts with a dirt-poor teenager in Oaxaca, who has no options in life but a lot of gumption. He recreates himself in TJ, gets himself smuggled into California, and then returns to become a coyote himself. He’s very clever and brave, but keeps a low profile. He makes a fortune, with which he hopes to buy his mother a house in Los Angeles. Learning about him is very intriguing (even if some of it is admittedly conjecture).
Where the book goes sideways a bit (IMHO) is when the author learns that Hollywood, and then the US military, buy all of the scrap bikes for pennies on the dollar, and use them on movie sets pretending to be in the Third World, or in the military’s version of the same thing. It turns out that the military has training centers all over the place where they get Hollywood people to re-create Third World settings. Then the military train there before heading out to the Middle East (or wherever). Because poor people around the world ride bikes, they need a lot of them for the sets. Then when the movie or exercise is over, the bikes evaporate, mostly stolen by people on the sets. The author kind of goes down a gigantic rabbit hole telling us about how the bikes end up on movie or training sets. Although interesting, it really doesn’t have anything to do with the human smuggling aspect of the story.
The best part of the book was learning that some coyotes may not be bloodthirsty killers and rapists, but rather (relatively) well-meaning people trying to help others achieve a better life — and seeing the mechanics of how some crossings work.
May 17, 2017
I had a really hard time getting through this book. It started off well, but then it just seemed to jump all around and made it very difficult for me to follow. I was looking forward to learning about the empire, but could not follow all the different pieces. It seemed like the author got sidetracked quite a bit rather. I also wish there had been some maps or pictures included in the book. I was trying to visualize the area but some detailed maps of the border area would have been very useful - I used google maps at times to try to gain an understanding of the area, but an included map of the mentioned areas would have been much more helpful. I ended up skimming quite a bit of the second half of the book b/c I had lost interest. Perhaps if the book had been better organized and cut down by about 100 pages, I would have enjoyed it more.
March 28, 2021
This is a story about a young boy who turned a personal abandonment into providing shelter, safety, and a better life to others. Relying on his reticent attitude, keen perceptions, and survival instincts, he sets up a migration business relying on the "roll" of the bicycle wheel. He hardens and softens along his life journey, as chronicled every other chapter by the author. Both tragic and triumphant, the reader learns how thousands of bicycles are routed back and forth over "la linea" between the US and Mexico, as well as pushed around the world. The author is on a quest to follow the journey of the bikes and he meets several interesting and informative individuals along the way. Eloquently written and very observant, The Coyote's Bicycle took me to the culture, people, and customs of the US-Mexico border through the lens of the inventive, entrepreneurial, survival mind. For me, the ingenuity of the migration method and the freedom of the bike gave a sort of unhindered expression of living, which although burdened and dangerous in real life, was quite liberating to read.
March 20, 2017
Quotable:
Bikes belong to that class of essentially elegant innovations of travel – as airship, an airplane’s wing, a sailboat’s hull, a keel, a kite, the fin of a surfboard, a bicycle in motion. Bicycles execute the willpowers of the people who buy, find, steal, trade and use them; they mark the memories of the people who love them.
[O]ur southern border is nearly two thousand dusky, desert miles long – two-thirds the length of the United States, half the span of the Great Wall of China, almost a third of the circumference of the moon.
Since the 1970s the old White Gate’s competitor, the official crossing at San Ysidro five miles to the east, has grown. At fifty million crossings per year, the sheer number of cars idling in line, waiting to enter the United States, made the customs complex one of the strongest emitters of greenhouse gases in Southern California.
Roberto believed that his power, in business as well as in the home, derived from his big-tent mentality. There was more to be gained by including others in one’s own successes and supporting them in their individual endeavors than in jealously guarding one’s little tract of plenty.
Bikes belong to that class of essentially elegant innovations of travel – as airship, an airplane’s wing, a sailboat’s hull, a keel, a kite, the fin of a surfboard, a bicycle in motion. Bicycles execute the willpowers of the people who buy, find, steal, trade and use them; they mark the memories of the people who love them.
[O]ur southern border is nearly two thousand dusky, desert miles long – two-thirds the length of the United States, half the span of the Great Wall of China, almost a third of the circumference of the moon.
Since the 1970s the old White Gate’s competitor, the official crossing at San Ysidro five miles to the east, has grown. At fifty million crossings per year, the sheer number of cars idling in line, waiting to enter the United States, made the customs complex one of the strongest emitters of greenhouse gases in Southern California.
Roberto believed that his power, in business as well as in the home, derived from his big-tent mentality. There was more to be gained by including others in one’s own successes and supporting them in their individual endeavors than in jealously guarding one’s little tract of plenty.
May 18, 2017
An interesting book about how 7,000 bicycles were used to get people across the border and how no amount of fences or walls will change that. In fact, by doubling the number of Border Patrol agents and dropping rigorous background checks, we will only see more crossings. Statistics show that there are typically 10% of officers who are corrupt. With the 20,000 BP agents under President Bush, coyotes could count on some 2,000 officers to assist them. With Trump doubling that to 40,000 that means there will be 4,000 corrupt officials to bribe to assist them. Sad.
October 17, 2017
The story is interesting: how prolific is the crossing of the U.S./Mexico border by migrants on bicycles going through the fence? And where do those bikes go? Do they end up in odd places that benefit the U.S. interests as well? For that, it's worth a read - but know that it reads like a piece in Vice magazine, you're never quite sure how valid the stories from sources are. It'd be great if there were some pictures, but that seems unlikely given his reluctant sources.
June 11, 2023
If you are a lover of bicycles and their resounding effect on humanity, read this book. If you have compassion for the less fortunate who feel the need to cross the border, read this book. If you have no compassion for these folks, read this book.
Your defintion for the term ‘coyote’ will be forever altered and you will realize, like I did years ago, that the world is mostly full of wonderful people.
Kudos for Kimball Taylor for a peek into a world most of us will never see.
Your defintion for the term ‘coyote’ will be forever altered and you will realize, like I did years ago, that the world is mostly full of wonderful people.
Kudos for Kimball Taylor for a peek into a world most of us will never see.
May 25, 2024
I struggled to really get into this book but I enjoyed the last third. In pursuing a story about bikes, Taylor quite literally stumbles into one of many stories about the border and illegal border crossings. I really appreciated the Mexican and El Coyote’s perspectives on the border. It is a very good story, I just struggled with enjoying Taylor’s writing!
April 22, 2025
I picked this up in Terlingua, Texas. As a cyclist, the story intrigued me. The author did a great job running off on tangents from the main story, following threads into the pornography business, war, corruption, and the human pact on the people attempting to enter the US through our porous border. I really enjoyed this read, and will try some of the other books by this author.
September 15, 2019
Just could not get into this book at all. After listening to the first few chapters on Audible and then attempting to read for a while, it didn't engage me. Others in our book club apparently had the same reaction.
June 12, 2017
Lots of interesting facts, but I was left dubious about the narrative threading things together. Does not rise above the sum of its parts, but many of the parts are fascinating.
July 24, 2017
Read our review at https://bookthreat.com/2017/07/22/the...
July 26, 2017
This was a fascinating read. It seems there is still so much up in the air, but very interesting to think about all the players and the reach of the bicycles. Well written too!
February 3, 2018
What a great story, and well written. Highly recommend to others.
January 26, 2016
SPOILERS! I felt close to the characters, especially Indio, Marta, Roberto, Negro, and Kimball. Solo, Juan, Javy, and the other polleros/coyotes were secondary characters but still compelling. The closer Kimball got to these people, literally, the more dangerous it became for him and especially about three-quarters of the way through the book I sensed how the stakes were increasing for him. I enjoyed the ambiguity in the end, when he isn’t sure how honest Negro was being. Then when Dan blows his cover and relays Kimball’s doubts to Negro, so much feels jeopardized. The desire to see the outcome kept me glued. I was fascinated by Kimball’s detective work, tracking the bikes even to the mock Abbottabad compound outside North Carolina. The vicarious experience of Kimball’s legwork was pleasurable.
The chapters that presented less of the characters and more of the socio-political and historical contexts were also interesting, though the pulse was obviously not throbbing quite like it did when the pollos and polleros were rolling past la migra on their bicycles. Or when the pregnant Marta was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor and the irony of her not knowing carried the story for quite a while. However, I don’t want to downplay the effects that the expositional chapters had on me. Not everything has to be fast-paced, of course. It was fascinating to learn about the wall itself, what Acts continued its construction, which segments were built under which presidents, etc.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants reading material on the border. I already recommended the book to a professor at Fairfield University who teaches Latino poetry and cultural studies. He was surprised to hear about the amount of bicycle crossings. His eyes grew wide when I said that one coyote ran an operation that earned him over thirty million dollars.
If I was teaching a college class on the nonfiction movement known as the new journalism I might use this book as an exemplary work. I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to especially teach how a master writer fills in the gaps in a narrative. One thing that characterizes the new journalism—or what some like Robert Boynton are now even calling the new new journalism—is a certain creative license, an actually somewhat controversial move to imagine, as I said, the gaps in a narrative. I, as a reader, cannot be sure where this occurs in this particular book, and that’s beside the point because I don’t need to know. I need to believe in the story and the writer needs to embellish in order to keep me invested. Often the sorts of embellishments that writers limit themselves to are innocuous, like sensory embellishments that flesh out a scene, details that might not have come out in a writer’s interview with his subject. Anyway, I’m probably telling you something you already know, but I think that if The Coyote’s Bicycle does this then it does it beautifully. Also, another defining element of the new journalism is the writer’s commitment to living like his subjects. Here, Kimball spends so much time on the other side of the border, staying there with Dan for such a long time. Those are just two big ways which this book excels in a particular genre and could easily fit into such a syllabus.
The chapters that presented less of the characters and more of the socio-political and historical contexts were also interesting, though the pulse was obviously not throbbing quite like it did when the pollos and polleros were rolling past la migra on their bicycles. Or when the pregnant Marta was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor and the irony of her not knowing carried the story for quite a while. However, I don’t want to downplay the effects that the expositional chapters had on me. Not everything has to be fast-paced, of course. It was fascinating to learn about the wall itself, what Acts continued its construction, which segments were built under which presidents, etc.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants reading material on the border. I already recommended the book to a professor at Fairfield University who teaches Latino poetry and cultural studies. He was surprised to hear about the amount of bicycle crossings. His eyes grew wide when I said that one coyote ran an operation that earned him over thirty million dollars.
If I was teaching a college class on the nonfiction movement known as the new journalism I might use this book as an exemplary work. I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to especially teach how a master writer fills in the gaps in a narrative. One thing that characterizes the new journalism—or what some like Robert Boynton are now even calling the new new journalism—is a certain creative license, an actually somewhat controversial move to imagine, as I said, the gaps in a narrative. I, as a reader, cannot be sure where this occurs in this particular book, and that’s beside the point because I don’t need to know. I need to believe in the story and the writer needs to embellish in order to keep me invested. Often the sorts of embellishments that writers limit themselves to are innocuous, like sensory embellishments that flesh out a scene, details that might not have come out in a writer’s interview with his subject. Anyway, I’m probably telling you something you already know, but I think that if The Coyote’s Bicycle does this then it does it beautifully. Also, another defining element of the new journalism is the writer’s commitment to living like his subjects. Here, Kimball spends so much time on the other side of the border, staying there with Dan for such a long time. Those are just two big ways which this book excels in a particular genre and could easily fit into such a syllabus.
March 13, 2016
The author is intrigued to find how discarded tires from the US make it to Mexico and then back to the US again, and then he discovers something that intrigues him even more – thousands of abandoned bicycles in the US, just across the border from Mexico.
This is an interesting book about the ingenuity and the industry of illegal immigration into the US. Living in a border state where the issue is contentious and divisive, I had to read this book.
The author follows the stories of coyotes, but also learns and explains the different jobs and specialties involved in the industry. And do not be fooled, it is definitely an industry. And, of course, information about the illegal drug industry has to enter the picture, but that is not the focus of this book.
There is a good deal of information about the “fence,” how it has been increased, how it has been thwarted. About deportation and multiple crossings.
And the journeys of the bicycles themselves was quite interesting, many of them ending up on US military war games, surprisingly enough.
“Border Patrol had recently dumped Ramon on the streets of Tijuana at two in the morning, and like most deportees, he didn't know where the hell he was. Southern Mexicans plucked from a dishwashing job in, say, Newark, New Jersey, and expelled upon the seediest part of a border town with neither connections nor a plan were sitting ducks and everybody knew it.”
I felt the author occasionally overwrote the story with flights of fancy:
“Plans; his clients carried them in their minds like the contents of a briefcase they'd pop open on the other side. And he recognized the look even as he hefted charcoal into the grill and tussled with an order of carnitas that he'd carried into the house like a fat child.”
The author tended to be a bit wordy, and went off on tangents, making this book longer than I felt it needed to be to tell the story well. And I do wish the author would learn that the phrase is “tract homes,” not “track homes.”
Because this book concentrates on some individuals, there are not too many of the heartbreaking stories of failed crossings, of people dying trying to cross by themselves or after being abandoned by coyotes.
Despite some flaws, this book is a fascinating look at illegal immigration using a method I didn't know about and from a unique perspective.
I received an advanced e-book copy of this book for review.
This is an interesting book about the ingenuity and the industry of illegal immigration into the US. Living in a border state where the issue is contentious and divisive, I had to read this book.
The author follows the stories of coyotes, but also learns and explains the different jobs and specialties involved in the industry. And do not be fooled, it is definitely an industry. And, of course, information about the illegal drug industry has to enter the picture, but that is not the focus of this book.
There is a good deal of information about the “fence,” how it has been increased, how it has been thwarted. About deportation and multiple crossings.
And the journeys of the bicycles themselves was quite interesting, many of them ending up on US military war games, surprisingly enough.
“Border Patrol had recently dumped Ramon on the streets of Tijuana at two in the morning, and like most deportees, he didn't know where the hell he was. Southern Mexicans plucked from a dishwashing job in, say, Newark, New Jersey, and expelled upon the seediest part of a border town with neither connections nor a plan were sitting ducks and everybody knew it.”
I felt the author occasionally overwrote the story with flights of fancy:
“Plans; his clients carried them in their minds like the contents of a briefcase they'd pop open on the other side. And he recognized the look even as he hefted charcoal into the grill and tussled with an order of carnitas that he'd carried into the house like a fat child.”
The author tended to be a bit wordy, and went off on tangents, making this book longer than I felt it needed to be to tell the story well. And I do wish the author would learn that the phrase is “tract homes,” not “track homes.”
Because this book concentrates on some individuals, there are not too many of the heartbreaking stories of failed crossings, of people dying trying to cross by themselves or after being abandoned by coyotes.
Despite some flaws, this book is a fascinating look at illegal immigration using a method I didn't know about and from a unique perspective.
I received an advanced e-book copy of this book for review.
January 24, 2016
"The Coyote's Bicycle" provides yet another reminder that for all the wonderful imaginations that authors bring to bear, sometimes the real world offers the most startling and original stories.
Kimball Taylor, a surfer and writer ("Return by Water," "Drive Fast and Take Changes," Surfer Magazine, etc.), literally stumbles across a story while researching a tale of environmental damage along the U.S.-Mexico Border near San Diego and Tijuana. He finds a literal graveyard of over 7,000 bicycles, bikes of all types, sizes, and purposes, and it leads him into the bizarre parallel universe that is the human trafficking along the U.S.-Mexico border. That such a bizarre, inhumane and yet all-too-human story can be found within a short drive of San Diego causes the mind to reel (and, if you are so lucky, for the reader to thank Fate for allowing him to be born in El Norte).
Taylor's story revolves around a remarkable young man who walked from his village to Tijuana and who made it to the United States. More than bummed (or horrified) by the prospect of washing dishes in a greasy spoon for the rest of his life, the young man returns to Mexico to become a coyote, a modern-day blockade runner who trades in the desperate and the dispossessed. Kimball follows the story as an empire is slowly built, run, and then abandoned seemingly without a second thought.
Taylor is a fine writer (there are some over-written passages for my taste - your mileage may vary) who usually lets his story tell itself. "The Coyote's Bicycle" is a perfect tonic if you feel caught in a rut or feel like you've been reading the same old story over and over again. Not only will Kimball's bizarre tale of humanity (and inhumanity) show a side of humanity most of us have never seen, it forces us to appreciate what we have - there but for the Grace of God go we.
Kimball Taylor, a surfer and writer ("Return by Water," "Drive Fast and Take Changes," Surfer Magazine, etc.), literally stumbles across a story while researching a tale of environmental damage along the U.S.-Mexico Border near San Diego and Tijuana. He finds a literal graveyard of over 7,000 bicycles, bikes of all types, sizes, and purposes, and it leads him into the bizarre parallel universe that is the human trafficking along the U.S.-Mexico border. That such a bizarre, inhumane and yet all-too-human story can be found within a short drive of San Diego causes the mind to reel (and, if you are so lucky, for the reader to thank Fate for allowing him to be born in El Norte).
Taylor's story revolves around a remarkable young man who walked from his village to Tijuana and who made it to the United States. More than bummed (or horrified) by the prospect of washing dishes in a greasy spoon for the rest of his life, the young man returns to Mexico to become a coyote, a modern-day blockade runner who trades in the desperate and the dispossessed. Kimball follows the story as an empire is slowly built, run, and then abandoned seemingly without a second thought.
Taylor is a fine writer (there are some over-written passages for my taste - your mileage may vary) who usually lets his story tell itself. "The Coyote's Bicycle" is a perfect tonic if you feel caught in a rut or feel like you've been reading the same old story over and over again. Not only will Kimball's bizarre tale of humanity (and inhumanity) show a side of humanity most of us have never seen, it forces us to appreciate what we have - there but for the Grace of God go we.
May 29, 2016
The Tijuana River valley provides the setting for this unusual story of cross border migration, politics and culture. It is a landscape close to my heart and history as well. My friends and I grew up surfing the great surf of Imperial Beach and owning a home there for some length of time.
My wife had a home right on the US side of the valley, where you could see the green expanse of grass toward Mexico and rent horses a few blocks away to wander in the country setting there amid the pollution from what was washed from Mexico. We witnessed first hand the danger of border crossings at the mouth of the Sloughs, when on a walk we found a human skeleton sticking out of the sand there.
Kimball Taylor's book is well researched and is rather unique in the way various subjects are artfully weaved together. The history of bicycles, border politics, smuggling, and a great love story are all there. His alternating views keep the reader entertained with the techniques of discerning truth in interviews on both sides of the border. Oh yeah, and the audacity of using bicycles (which don't trip border patrol seismic sensors in the valley) to quickly get close to "la linea". Great story of the building of an empire using this ubiquitous method of conveyance and how the bicycles took on a history of their own when left in the fields of the valley.
My wife had a home right on the US side of the valley, where you could see the green expanse of grass toward Mexico and rent horses a few blocks away to wander in the country setting there amid the pollution from what was washed from Mexico. We witnessed first hand the danger of border crossings at the mouth of the Sloughs, when on a walk we found a human skeleton sticking out of the sand there.
Kimball Taylor's book is well researched and is rather unique in the way various subjects are artfully weaved together. The history of bicycles, border politics, smuggling, and a great love story are all there. His alternating views keep the reader entertained with the techniques of discerning truth in interviews on both sides of the border. Oh yeah, and the audacity of using bicycles (which don't trip border patrol seismic sensors in the valley) to quickly get close to "la linea". Great story of the building of an empire using this ubiquitous method of conveyance and how the bicycles took on a history of their own when left in the fields of the valley.
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