Meet Rick and Gabriele Loft, owners of Bowral’s popular cycling store

When Rick Loft was the best man at a friend’s wedding in Germany, little did he know that he and the maid of honour, Gabriele [who’d been put in charge of making sure he didn’t make any mistakes!] would end up as husband and wife themselves!

Both Rick and Gabriele have a shared passion for cycling and living an active lifestyle, something they’ve passed on to their two busy teenagers.

It was that passion and a chance conversation that led them to buying The Fixed Wheel Bowral in September 2019 – yep! Right at the beginning of that rollercoaster ride the last few years rolled out for us.

We’re happy to say they’re still here, and the doors to this popular cycling store in the Highlands are still open thanks to all their lovely customers.

We caught up with Rick and Gab to hear about what’s been happening behind the scenes at The Fixed Wheel.

1 :: Where did your passion for cycling and staying active come from?

Rick :: I’ve always been into some sort of sport. I did six seasons in Austria as a ski instructor and when I moved back to Australia, I started training for triathlons. That was where cycling got me hooked actually.

In one of the first triathlons I competed in, I got absolutely pummelled in the swim but when I got on the bike, it just felt right. I started to pass people and that was it, I was hooked on cycling and triathlons.

Gab :: He actually competed at ironman level which meant a lot of training and competition days were 8 – 10 hours long. It was a lot to deal with when we had young children so he did that for a while before giving it away.

Rick :: I was National Sales and Marketing Manager at Garmin and we were sponsoring a couple of local cycling races – the first one was at Eastern Creek Dragway – which I went along to watch.

I was sitting next to a guy and chatting to him. He turned out to be President of the club and suggested I come along and give the bike racing a go. It meant the family would only have to come along to watch me for an hour going round and round in circles instead of all day, so I gave it a try.

2 :: And cycling is a big part of your family life, isn’t it?

Gab :: I grew up in Bavaria in Germany and everyone rides bikes there. It’s the main form of transport. It’s how we got ourselves to school as kids. It’s how my parents got themselves to work. You’d jump on a bike to go and do the food shopping, to a friend’s house or to the park.

My Dad was a cyclist too and I grew up watching the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia.

So it was a bit of a shock when I moved to Australia and the cycling culture was so different.

Rick :: Because of both of us being so active and confident on bikes, our kids have grown up with them, and it’s something we do as a family quite a lot.

3 :: So Rick, you’re from Victoria originally and Gab, you’re from Germany….we have to ask. How did you two meet?

Rick :: One of my best mates is German – I met him when he came to Australia on an exchange student program – and he asked me to be the best man at his wedding, which was in Germany.

Gab :: I was the maid of honour.

Rick :: Because my German wasn’t that great, Gab was put in charge of making sure I handed the wedding rings over at the right time and got through the ceremony without wrecking anything!

4 :: And now many years later you live in Australia, have two kids and a bike shop!

Gab :: We bought The Fixed Wheel in September 2019. Both sets of our parents had been business owners and it was something that we’d always thought about doing – running our own business.

Rick :: I was working for a bike wholesaler at the time and would deal with the previous owner of The Fixed Wheel, John. He told me he was moving to France and selling both the Highlands store and the Manly store and I didn’t think too much more about it.

A couple of months later he contacted me and said you should buy it, so we chatted about it and preferred the diversity and the range of cycling and riding in the Highlands, so made an offer on this store.

Gab :: The timing didn’t turn out to be so great because just a few months later, the bushfires happened. I remember opening the back door of the shop and we couldn’t even see the car park!

Rick :: The last few years have been tricky but the community has definitely been here for us. We were lucky that cycling boomed during Covid but the supply chain challenges have given us a few headaches.

5 :: Is that what you love about running a business in the Highlands? The community?

Gab :: It’s been so nice getting to know other local business owners and we’ve all worked our way through these past few years together. So many of the businesses are family-run and it’s been great to get to know them.

Rick :: Our customers have been fantastic too. We traded all the way through the pandemic – either online, or offering delivery or pick up – and they’ve supported us the whole way through. One of the things we love about running The Fixed Wheel is that we get to be part of a customer’s life cycle.

6 ::  What do you mean by that?

Rick :: We’re not here just to sell you a bike and that’s it, see you later. We want to be part of our customers’ cycling life.

Many of our customers buy a bike from us, then pop back in to top up on accessories as they become more confident or start focusing on a specific discipline. They might need us to do some maintenance on the bike or prepare it for something like a triathlon or a long ride.

Maybe they’ve enjoyed spending time on two wheels so much that they come back to us to buy bikes for the whole family. We really like being part of it all with them.

7 :: Speaking of repair and maintenance, you’ve got a pretty gun mechanic at The Fixed Wheel, right?

Gab :: Yes, our head mechanic is very experienced and has a fantastic ability to look at something closely, assess it and diagnose what the issue is, then fix it with skill and confidence.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a mountain bike, road bike, eBike – he can work with a range of different bikes.

Rick :: And another local, Nick has joined us. He’s such a people person and is fantastic with customers and really knows his stuff, too.

8 :: And having a big range of bikes and products is important too.

Gab :: We don’t sell anything that we wouldn’t use ourselves.

Rick :: And getting the right bike for the right purpose and fitted to the rider is really important too. When I bought my first bike when I started triathlons, I was living in Melbourne and I went to quite a few bike stores that seemed to just want to sell me a bike and that was it.

I finally found a bike store owner that spent time with me getting to understand why I was buying the bike, what I needed the bike to do and what I need to do on the bike!

I’ve never forgotten that and when we bought The Fixed Wheel, that’s the value I wanted to give to anyone who walked through the door.

Gab :: We’re also lucky to have such a range of knowledge and experience here too. Rick’s knowledge around training, nutrition, fuelling for events and competitions is useful for customers who are taking their riding to the next level.

Rick :: We’ve helped a lovely local guy who was doing a big charity ride up north and have had our first ironman contestant come in, so it’s been nice to be able to help guys like that perform at their best.

9 :: So, what’s next for The Fixed Wheel?

Gab :: We’ll continue to build on the trust and rapport we’ve got with our customers and hopefully welcome new customers in store. This year will be about taking a breath [if we get a chance – it’s still a bit uncertain in the world at the moment].

Rick :: And we’ve got loads of bikes that have just arrived. After months of shipping delays, everything has arrived at once!

Gab :: All the storage spots in the store and our home are full of bikes. Actually, places that AREN’T storage spots too. Basically, anywhere there is a bit of space, we’ve filled it up with boxes of bikes!

Rick :: The good thing about that is our range is bigger than ever, we can help people out with everything from mountain bikes to gravel bikes to eBikes, road bikes and bikes for all ages and skill levels.

Now’s the time to come in and have a look and meet the team.

The Fixed Wheel is a full-service bicycle shop in Bowral with a team of passionate, experienced and dedicated people ready to share their knowledge with you – they definitely know their stuff! If you’re keen to start cycling or you’re ready to up your game on two wheels, drop into The Fixed Wheel at 44-48 Bowral Street, Bowral or check out their website for more info and to shop online.

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