All things bicycle

KOCHI: Five cyclists — Swathik Raman, Rittu Jacob, Alexina Correya, Anil J and Akhil Alex —  met at an online community that unites cycling enthusiasts in Kochi. After pedalling together for months, they realised the need for a proper store that sells quality cycling products. The result: Five people from very different career paths, including marketing, sales and journalism, decided to unite for a startup, United By Cycling, an online store selling cycle parts and accessories.

Now four of them together, except Akhil, who is a cyclist in Dubai, are promoting cycling in Kochi. Their life changed when they joined Souls on Wheels, a community of more than 200 cyclists, including beginners and experts. After getting to know each other they started taking long and short trips together, and later tried even longer trips covering Salem to Mararikulam in 24 hours.

Rittu started running an initiative as part of Souls on Wheels, The Beginner’s Ride, which organises a weekly ride on Wednesdays that starts from Kaloor stadium. “Everything started from here, and I would say, Rittu is the founder,” says Alexina, a former journalist and the only woman in the team.

“Beginner’s Ride is a casual and fun-filled short ride held every Wednesday, where around 35 beginners and experienced riders come together. It is a great environment for a newbie to feel comfortable with cycling and get consistent with the habit. Even before we launched our company, we had gone on many long rides together to Alappuzha, Athirappilly, Thrissur and Kottayam. This made our friendship stronger,” she adds.

These youngsters participated as a team in Fleche, a worldwide event by Audax Paris (a globally recognised cycling club that conducts long-distance rides) and conducted locally by Cochin Bikers Club. A team has to cover a minimum of 360 km in 24 hours. On weekends, the team of five also go for century rides (100kms).

But one problem they consistently faced as cyclists along with the community was the difficulty to find quality cycling products in Kerala. So, finally, they decided to solve the problem themselves. ‘United By Cycling’ was launched in July 2020, with the slogan All Things Bicycle, and they celebrated their 100th day recently by sponsoring a cycle for a child from an underprivileged family. Currently, they cater to the Indian cycling community and have customers from all over India. 

Cycle components, cycle accessories, tools, cycling nutrition and cycling apparel, etc. are available on the site. For orders below Rs 2,000, they charge Rs 75 as a shipping fee (within Kerala) and Rs 120 (outside Kerala). Delivery is free for orders above Rs 2,000.

“One advantage we have over the other stores is that our customer gets a first-hand experience of the products from us. Since ours is an online store, we had a godown type outlet in Mulavukad earlier. When the customers suggested a physical store and shipping agents found it difficult to reach, we started one in a new location in Kaloor,” says Alexina.

The startup is available on Instagram and Facebook @unitedbycycling