Revolve Alliance Restores Pedal Club Momentum

Sydney, NSW

Two relatively young Sydney organisations – one a subscription business specialising in children’s bikes and the other a recycling operation created to serve the bike industry – have joined forces to strengthen the sustainability objectives of both ventures.

Bike leasing company The Pedal Club last month announced it is partnering with Revolve Recycling and is transitioning to offering recycled bicycles restored by the Revolve team.

Revolve Recycling general manager Guido Verbist said The Pedal Club will be incorporated into the recycling organisation, providing an outlet for the many children’s bikes restored by his organisation, while boosting the sustainability credentials of a leasing business that helps get more kids on bikes and keeps bikes out of landfill.

The switch to redeployed bikes will also enable The Pedal Club to offer its services for lower subscription rates, making quality children’s bikes accessible to more families.

Guido said the new strategic partnership would also provide more resources to build The Pedal Club, which was established in Bondi in 2021 by Fergus Woollcombe to give parents a more flexible option to provide their children with bikes and extend the lives of those bicycles.

The subscription model sought to eliminate parents’ constant struggle of choosing between a kids’ bike that fits perfectly but quickly gets outgrown and one that’s slightly too big to delay replacement.

Fergus has since accepted a role as senior expansion manager with share service operator Lime.

Guido said that full-time role curtailed Fergus’s time and energy to further build the Pedal Club business, so Revolve Recycling management will now assume an active role in running the leasing operation.

“The two businesses have known each other for quite a long time,” he explained.

“We both started around the same time and we’ve always had an interest in The Pedal Club.”

In fact, Revolve Recycling founder Pete Shmigel has been a shareholder in The Pedal Club since from its inception.

“We knew the potential for that sort of service. If you look at the UK equivalent, it is potentially huge and that’s what we have in mind,” Guido added.

Similarly, Fergus said he has been following the Revolve Recycling journey from its beginning.

“I really admire what they are trying to achieve and believe there are some fantastic synergies between the two businesses,” he explained.

“At its core, this partnership allows The Pedal Club to achieve one of its main goals – creating a fully circular business model.

“Revolve will supply us with pre-loved kids bikes, refurbished to a high standard by their brilliant mechanics, which are then rented out to our customers on a flexible monthly basis, before returning back to the Revolve Hub when the customer is ready to upgrade.

“In addition, it allows us to offer services as part of our subscription packages.”

For example, the service’s premium package provides unlimited services during the subscription.

“For parents with older kids this can be very important. Older kids need bigger and inevitably more complicated bikes, with gears etcetera.

“These bikes are also likely to be used more vigorously and therefore may need regular tweaks and tune-ups.

“Overall it’s a collaboration that enhances the value of our offering to all those super busy parents. It allows us to offer more flexibility, it’s more convenient for the parents and it improves our offering from a sustainability standpoint.”

Under the new partnership, The Pedal Club products will range from balance bikes to 24-inch bicycles and will be available through three subscription packages starting at $15 per month for the basic package.