bmxultra.com: What made you start Pedal Inn?
Pedal Inn: Pedal Inn is all about being your best and helping people. Pedal Inn exists because in general no retailer in any industry is really out there making people happy…I guess a lot of the reasons Pedal Inn came about is to prove that you can have a lot of fun, be nice, help people and be in retail at the same time. Pedal Inn whole focus is just making people happy and grow the wonderful sport of cycling. It all sounds a little wishy washy but I know that’s what people want….

bmxultra.com: Who is Pedal Inn?
Pedal Inn: That’s a good question. It’s like saying who are the US Marines…do you mean each individual or what Pedal Inn stands for and lives for? Pedal Inn’s core values and principles are our code of honour. In a lot of ways we are like the US Marines. We live by a strict core of values and principles that include things like honesty, helping people, persistence, loyalty, fun and being non-judgemental. These all translate into how we relate within our team and with the public. We don’t have titles, we all have roles that we do in a day to day sense but all of us attend to everything. That means that who you would call a director in a traditional company can be found cleaning toilets or on the shop floor and who you would call a sales person being involved in board meetings and contributing to the future direction of the company. . We focus on doing whatever we have to to make people love dealing in with us…everything is secondary to the customer experience….

bmxultra.com: Why the web?
Pedal Inn: The web is just a another distribution channel….it gives anyone an opportunity to communicate personally and cost effectively with customer. It is also dynamic and provides a great avenues for people to provide us with feedback so we can further tailor our offerings to them. It also allows us to provide useful information to people at a relatively low cost.

bmxultra.com: I believe you have been putting together a BMX team, who are the riders?
Pedal Inn: It has been a real hard task putting the team together, there are so many deserving riders out there. To make it harder we wanted riders whose personality and style also reflected Pedal Inn’s culture and core beliefs. It’s not just about sponsorship..Like I mentioned before..when you join Pedal Inn it’s like joining the marines….we will be there to help grow and nurture our riders, whether it be from a racing performance point of view or a personal view point. Our aim is to not only develop great riders…but develop great people..We are going to be so much more for the riders concerned. Yeah sure they will get free bike stuff, but when it’s over (racing that is) what do athletes have? Nothing…Pedal Inn want to make sure that our riders have the skills and ability to have a career after their race career…whether that be within the Pedal Inn group of companies or beyond.

At present we have signed Ben Price (AA pro). He really is a great guy. He has a great attitude and really cares about people. I think he will have a great future in the sport of BMX, Pedal Inn’s goal is to help him achieve that. He is also young..19 years old. top sprinters don’t mature until 25+ .

We have also signed Shane Jenkins (AApro & 25-29)…he has a good heart and really is an asset to have on board. What he doesn’t know about BMX isnt worth knowing.

In the younger classes we have secured two great riders in Brendan Mitchell and Luke Dowes…champions of the future!

bmxultra.com: When will we see them all suited up?
Pedal Inn: It will be another month as we negotiate various deals… a time consuming task but one we need to do none the less.

bmxultra.com: Who is supporting the Pedal Inn race team, eg team sponsors etc?
Pedal Inn: Presently we are getting huge support from Norco, GT, AutObarn and Bob Jane T-Marts…

bmxultra.com: How will people be able to deal with Pedal Inn?
Pedal Inn: As of the first week of July 1999 we will have our first retail outlet open at 218-220 Nepean Highway Edithvale Victoria. The second store is planned for late 1999 and the third early in year 2000. You can also visit us at www.pedalinn.com or call us on our toll free number 1 800 632 157 we look after anyone…

interview: 6 July 1999