Passions combine at new meeting place for Hobart’s biking community

‘Coffee and cycling are two of my passions’: A Hobart family has taken the plunge to open a hip new bike garage with a cafe. Here’s what to expect.

New Business Pedal Bite Owners Simon and Russell Waters in their bicycle workshop which has an adjoining cafe in New Town. Picture: Linda Higginson.

Got an old bike sitting around in the garage? Take it into New Town’s hip new bike garage and grab a coffee while you are there.

The family team at Pedal Bite Bicycle Garage have been servicing bikes out of 135a Newtown Road since February and five weeks ago they expanded with a cafe next door – Pedal Bite Coffee.

“A pedal bite is when you slip off the pedal and it grabs you on the shin or the back of the calf,” Owner Russell Waters said.

With 40 years of customer service experience, Mr Waters runs the cafe side of the business after years of road cycling helped him develop a nose for good coffee.

“Coffee and cycling are two of my passions,” Mr Waters said.

He said the cycling community tended to become coffee connoisseurs as heading to a cafe or coffee shop is a bit of a tradition after a ride.

“After a ride you roll into the coffee shop and you learn to appreciate good coffee,” Mr Waters said.

“If you ride in with a group of 30 guys and the coffee is not good, 30 of those guys will go somewhere else.

“It’s important to us to do a good quality roast,” he said.

Mr Waters imports specialty Victorian coffee roasters St. Ali beans for his brews.

Co-owner, mechanic and son Simon Waters is a mountain biker making the most of Tasmania’s growing mountain bike trails.

“We work on e-bikes, road bikes, mountain bikes and I’ve even worked on tricycles,” Mr Waters said.

“A lot of my customers go and grab a coffee and sit down and say g’day before heading off on their day,”

Mr Waters facilitates a group bike ride every Sunday where he invites all ability riders to join his mountain bike ride. As summer approaches, he wants to organise rides either starting at or finishing at the cafe.

Originally published as Passions combine at new meeting place for Hobart’s biking community