By Romy Stephens
Kids receiving their bikes from Cog Bikes Australia have been greeted with an additional surprise lately.
In a bid to help bring joy to the local community during Covid-19, the bike shop has been sending Coggie the Parrot to deliver its bikes.
Joel Warham is the man behind the Coggie suit.
“I’ve had the parrot suit for a few years and originally wore it during a charity car rally across Australia raising money for Cancer Research,” Mr Warham said.
“I recently found the parrot suit and thought it would be a great idea to help bring some smiles to the community.
“So I dusted him off, put him on and off he went.”
Coggie has also been a way to bring some extra joy to children who missed out on bikes for their birthday recently.
With Covid-19 causing a worldwide bike shortage due to the extra demand for bikes and longer shipment times, many bikes bought for birthdays did not arrive in time.
“No one would expect a parrot to be delivering their bike to the front door, so it’s providing something different for them to see and hopefully making them feel just that extra bit special,” Mr Warham said.
Business has been up and down during Covid-19 for both Cog Bike stores in Monbulk and Warburton, according to Mr Warham.
But the shops’ teams are working to keep both their own and the community’s spirits high.
“Our Warburton location has really suffered as we mainly rely on tourism at that location, so we have been closed through most of Covid-19 in Warburton but we are focusing on the positives as much as we can,” Mr Warham said.
“One of the biggest positives which we have loved is seeing more and more people out riding their bikes and in the search of either repairs on their existing bikes or purchasing brand new.
“It’s the support and the encouragement we are getting from the community that keeps us going and reassures us we will get through to the other side of it all.”
To find out more about Cog Bikes Australia, visit cogbikesaustralia.com.au.
