About Us
We are the incidental exercise experts.
We aim to support riders by maintaining their bikes and equipping them with the skills and knowledge to ensure safety, comfort, efficiency and reliability when cycling for transport.
Why prioritise active transport?
The benefits of regular cycling include:
- increased fitness, strength and flexibility
- decreased stress levels
- improved posture and coordination
- helps with prevention or management of disease
- reduces anxiety and depression
- saves money
- reduces congestion
- minimises public transport crowding
- it's good for the environment
- cycling friendly towns lead the world in road safety and transport efficiency
- exercising while travelling is the most productive way to save time
We teach:
· Bike maintenance essentials
The ABCs of inspecting your bike, identifying and fixing potential issues before they take hold and empowering you with the knowledge to keep it running smoothly.
· Urban cycling courses
For those who already know how to ride bikes but require the confidence to do so in order to get from a to b in a safe and effective manner.
· Rusty rider fundamentals
Are you looking to reacquaint yourself with the joys of recreational cycling? This course is for you.
· Clinics for complete beginners
Never been on a bike before? We are here to help.
· Mountain biking basics
An easy and potentially progressive basic skills focussed tour of your local trail network(s).
· Wheel truing
How to keep your wheels evenly tensioned and wobble free.
· Tyre/tube repairing & replacing
How to minimise the possibility of flat tyres and not get stranded.
· Tubeless conversions
How to install, maintain and repair the best active transport innovation since sliced bread.
· Hydraulic brake bleeding
Does your bike have fancy brakes that make undesirable noises? We'll happily show you how to maintain them.
· Drivetrain replacements
There are ways to make a new drive train almost last a lifetime. We'd prefer teaching you how to do this before your current cogs, chain and cassette wear out.
· Personalised commute coaching
Step by step route selection, groceries on the way home, bike security and accessibility strategies.
We also offer an evening pickup and drop off service that provides.
In-depth servicing that's generally required at least once a year in order to keep your bike feeling great.
This includes:
1. A face to face bike inspection and permission negotiating consult.
2. Pre-service test ride and assessment.
3. Drivetrain clean and closer inspection.
4. Bolts, hubs, brakes, cables, bottom bracket, wheel tension, alignment and headset checks.
5. Courtesy text sent if issues are found that may incur extra costs.
6. Focus shifts to general maintenance, accommodating customer requests and fixing problems.
7. Bike gets tuned.
8. Another safety tweak, test ride and assessment.
We repeat steps 6, 7 and 8 until satisfied.
· We also provide customer request-based maintenance.
Such as additional tasks that need to be carried out on cargo, electric and mountain bikes.
Need help finding the right bike?
Have you ever had an unpleasant experience at a bike shop? We know the best local bike shops, which to avoid and which are best for a certain style of rider. We are fluent in speaking bike nerd! We stay up to date with what's in stock and suitable for our clients and work closely with the best retailers. We'll happily help point you in the right direction and write down exactly what you need to ask for when buying your next bike. We aren't here to make a profit from selling you anything and hope you find that refreshing. If you're feeling overwhelmed and would like some help we can happily tag along to the bike shop(s) with you.
What areas do we service?
We are mobile and on call anywhere from Adelaide's CBD to the southwest foothills and our beautiful west Adelaide Coastline.
We still provide courses for people that live outside our area.
Expansion is on our list of goals.
About the founder
Michael Dodd likes riding bikes and driving cars in normal clothes. He loves it when people use the legs they were born with to go places and that is why he is here to help.
Mike first discovered the joy of active transport in the 80's when his macho man grandfather used to pick him up from school in prospect then double him home on the rear rack of a step through frame bicycle formerly known as a girls bike. He loved it!
Eventually Mike began independently riding to school with his older brother, they used to take shortcuts through the prickle laden horse paddocks in North Adelaide, that's how he mastered fixing flat tyres and never looked back.
Michael became a bicycle messenger in 1998, he fell in love with that occupation and travelled the world working as a courier. Not long after the illuminati figured out how email airline tickets and legal documents; he started a small independent cargo bike courier company in Sydney and grew it from just himself to 7 people. He capitalized on the early rise of smartphones which allowed him to minimize costs thus maximising take-home pay for the companies’ frontline workers.
Mike also spent time working as a cycle instructor at a co-op called BikeWise Sydney. BikeWise specialises in balance bike clinics for toddlers, cycling and road safety basics for school kids while also teaching adults how to maintain and ride their bikes from a to b in Sydney traffic. BikeWise has now trained approximately 60'000 satisfied students.
Eventually the couriers collectively chipped in and purchased the transport company from Mike which allowed him to return home to Adelaide in order spend more time with family and focus on his latest venture...
Urban Cycling Co.