We recently connected with Vicki Peden and have shared our conversation below.
Vicki, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So, what do you think about family businesses? Would you want your children or other family members to one day join your business?
When we started the Cowtown Cycle Party 10 years ago, our goal was to have a family business where we could spend more time together – working and playing. We added Pedego Electric Bikes Fort Worth 5 years later and have certainly met our goal. My husband and I own and operate both businesses, and our daughter Keely is a Captain and Manager for The Cowtown Cycle Party, and Chief Social Officer for both companies. Our new son-in-law, Marco, is also a Cowtown Cycle Party Captain. We all agree we are in the business of helping our customers have fun, and we’re having a blast doing it!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
We have two great cycling companies in Fort Worth and I give credit to my husband, Neal, for finding the business opportunities for both of them. He is an avid reader and discovered Pedal Pub’s 16-person Dutch-made party bikes. We named our company the Cowtown Cycle Party and put longhorns on the front of our party bikes to give it a Fort Worth flair. The Fort Worth City Council, under Mayor Betsy Price, enacted a “Group Cycle Ordinance” that allowed us to start our business. We now have 3 party bikes and are constructing a new building at 809 Galveston Ave. in the Near Southside. This will allow us to add more party bikes to our fleet, and offer more fun! Our two-hour BYOB tour can be a pub crawl, a sight-seeing trip, or even a spin class. The choice is yours! Only 10 seats have pedals, and we have a small electric pedal-assost motor, so pedaling isn’t too strenuous. It’s perfect for birthdays, corporate team-building events, and bachelor/bachelorette parties.
Neal also introduced us to the premium electric bike company, Pedego. We were the first Pedego store in Texas with sales, service, rentals and tours. There are now more than 200 brick-and-mortar Pedego stores throughout the country that are all part of the Pedego family. What sets this company apart is their quality craftmanship, 5-year warranty, and the network of service and support that our owners get. We like to have fun and host a major event each year to show our appreciation to our clients. It’s called the “Pedego Palooza”. Our Pedego electric bikes allow you to pedal as much, or as little as you like. They have 5 levels of pedal-assist and a throttle. With more than a dozen unique models, they give just about everyone the ability to enjoy riding a bike.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Resilience means never giving up, and that has been our mantra. Opening the Cowtown Cycle Party was not an easy process. There were no other party bike companies operating in North Texas. Officials were hesitant, at first, to allow a business like ours to operate. A BYOB bike that can hold 16 people on the streets of Fort Worth? The whole idea sounded a little crazy. The process of getting a city ordinance written and approved was a lengthy process. Former Mayor Betsy Price, an accomplished cyclist herself, came to our aid and when our Group Cycle Ordinance finally came before the City Council, it was unanimously approved.
Now that we had a license to operate our business, there was the problem of where to store a big party bicycle measuring 19 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 9 feet tall. We rode around on Fort Worth’s Molly the Trolley looking for a suitable place with a very large garage door. Thankfully, we found the perfect location in an historic parking garage downtown.
Several years later, a new problem arose: our rental space sold, and we had to leave. This prompted our land purchase, close to the Rahr and Sons Brewery. We planned to construct our own building. Unfortunately, we later learned that our street had no working sewer line. We were told we’d have to install it ourselves, and it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. We did not give up, and found an even better property to build on, very close by. While this lot did have water and sewer service, we had to wait for an adjoining property to sell for us to get a utility easement to power our building. The build-out ended up taking two years. During the interim, we worked out of a local flower shop warehouse. During that time, we started our second business, Pedego Fort Worth. When our building was finished in 2017, both companies moved in. We are fortunate to have a unique metal building designed by 97W Architects in Fort Worth. It’s built around a shipping container, which houses the office, kitchen, and restroom.
The next challenge was a very good problem to have – we needed more space for the big party bikes and the booming Pedego Electric Bike business. 97W designed a new building for just the Cycle Party that compliments the current structure. There is another waiting game to play since the manufacturer of our pre-engineered metal building is so backlogged that we’re looking at eight months for them to deliver the building components. With any luck, and continued patience, we hope to split the companies into two locations by the end of 2022.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Our social media audience began before our doors opened. We invited our personal friends to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to gather steam. Once we opened, our fan base boomed!
Both our companies, the Cowtown Cycle Party and Pedego Fort Worth, are all about fun experiences, and our customers’ point of view is key. We encourage our party bike riders and ebike owners to tag us in their posts. When their friends and followers see the fun, they seek us out!
Our advice to those beginning to build their presence on social media is invite your friends to like your pages. Your real-life friends want to see you succeed and will be your best supporters. When they tag you or share your posts, doors open to many new customers.
Contact Info:
- Website: info@cowtowncycleparty.com info@pedegofortworth.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cowtowncycleparty/ https://www.instagram.com/pedegofortworth/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CowtownCycleParty https://www.facebook.com/pedegofortworth
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vicki-robbins-peden-2b6a4821/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ctowncycleparty https://twitter.com/PedegoFW
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGLFcZZmMhDVVPmKblhq9Pg https://www.youtube.com/user/PedegoElectricBikes
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/cowtown-cycle-party-fort-worth-3 https://www.yelp.com/biz/pedego-electric-bikes-fort-worth-fort-worth
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@cowtowncycleparty https://www.tiktok.com/@pedegoelectricbikes
Image Credits
For photo #4 Brian Luenser