Kia M

Tell us about yourself in a few words.
I like bikes, plants, and snorkelling.

Where did you grow up?
In 1770, Queensland.

What do you do at Commuter?
I’m a front of house person. Roles include: host of Bailey’s Question Corner, convenor of the lunchtime quiz, webshop, stock stickerer, bike seller, route-slinger, stoke-bringer.

What did you do for work before Commuter Cycles?
Cycling through the classic dream jobs: Ski bum, Marine biologist, Botanist, Tax auditor

What got you into riding?
Melburn Durt! It’s an offroad cycling community for women (cis and trans), trans men and non-binary folks.

What was the first bike you bought with your own money?
A second-hand green mixte called Gertie for makin’ trouble along the Merri.

Tell us a little about your current bikes?
I get around the city on a Ricardo that Zeke helped me rebuild a couple of years back. It’s single speed with flat bars, fenders, a dynamo hub, wald basket and framework designs sight seeker. The perfect commuter. For adventuring, I recently built myself a Velo Orange Piolet (affectionately named the Kiolet) and it is the most beautiful bike I have ever laid eyes on. In the winter time, I thrash around in the mud and trash talk my friends on my Focus Mares cyclocross bike.

Favourite riding and non-riding food?
Fresh fruit and hot chips for cycling. Kale, broccoli, lemon and yeast flakes are my go-to at home.

Best day on a bike?
Rides that involve water! I love putting my bike on a ferry and trying to spot dolphins (regularly from the Westernport ferry!), loading my snorkelling gear onto my bike and heading to my favourite reefs (see our post on snorkpacking for tips), riding my packraft to the Birrarung to visit the bats, and bikepacking trips that involve impromptu river stops for swims.

Favourite route/riding accessible to Melbourne?
FRENCH ISLAND BABY! And the Westgate Punt

What do you do when you’re not at Commuter (other than ride bikes!)?
Usually looking down a microscope, working on my PhD in palaeobotany.

What is the kindest thing that anyone has ever done for you?
A lovely woman offered me a place to stay when I got caught out in a snow storm in Joshua Tree. We spent the evening, warm and dry, working together on her environmental documentary film.

Ask me about
Snorkpacking, Melburn Durt, Bike routes, Getting your first ever adventure bike, or setting yourself up with bikepacking bags

What is your favourite type of cheeese?
Meredith Goat’s cheese on everything

You’re in control of the music in the workshop. What do you put on?
Dua Lipa, Shania Twain, Dolly Parton

Formerly named Commuter Cycles, Off Course is Melbourne's home of commuting, touring and adventure cycling. We stock Surly Bikes, Kona, Salsa, Tumbleweed, Wilde & Pelago and Australia's largest range of Bikepacking gear.

Off Course Bike Shop

Off Course acknowledges the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional custodians of the lands and waterways in the area now known as Brunswick, and pays respect to their Elders past, present, and emerging, as well as to all First Nations’ communities in Australia.