Meet Tanya Weeks, founder and CEO of Vicious Cycle, Australia’s first standalone boutique cycling studio. With zero fitness industry experience but a clear vision, Tanya took a leap of faith that’s grown from 20 bikes in Sydney to a multi-modality gym with locations spanning the city and Bali.
But Vicious Cycle is so much more than a workout. Built on four pillars: music, movement, motivation and meditation, it’s a full mind-body experience driven by beats and motivational coaching in the dark. From breaking the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest spin class to hosting rides at the Sydney Opera House and partnering with global brands like Nike, Tanya has built a community that’s as much about breaking negative cycles as it is about breaking a sweat.
In this exclusive interview, Tanya shares how she created a brand people want to wear, talk about and belong to — and how she’s bringing the world’s best trainers and riders together in one powerful movement. Let’s meet this local legend!
Tell us about Vicious Cycle, how did it all get started?
When I moved up to Sydney, I looked for a pay-per-ride or pay-per-visit style boutique space where I could continue doing spin. I had just started doing spin in Melbourne before I left and I couldn’t find it as I was Googling and I was looking for anywhere that I could walk in and do a pay-per-visit session.
Everyone was like, “Now’s your time Tan, you should do it.” Knowing absolutely nothing at all about the fitness industry, I was always in it as a participant. I took a leap of faith and just started my own business. I found the consultant, we found a location. I came up with the name and before I knew it, the doors were opening and I never looked back. We started in the city with I think something like 20 bikes and now we’ve doubled over time. Through COVID we’ve developed, we’ve expanded, and now it’s become a multiple modality gym, but the foundation of our brand is the cycling.
How do you promote your services and build your strong brand identity?
We formed that identity and promoted the business quite organically. I was the first one to launch a standalone studio in the country. We didn’t really know how to promote it. It became something that people would speak about, tell their friends. We were based in Bondi. Bondi is quite cliquey. As we’ve progressed into the city, we’ve realised that we’ve got such a broader reach. So whilst we still obviously heavily rely on organic word of mouth, we definitely have to play in the social media world so we use a lot of Facebook ads. And I think maybe because we are moving people so much through motivational speaking or music and the dark lights, it has an effect on people that is so much bigger than just a physical workout. When you make someone feel something, they go and tell 5, 6, 7, or 10 people because they want them to experience it as well.
Merchandising and putting the name on products helped too in forming our community. People are just attached to the brand. It makes them feel so great. They want to wear it, they want to share it. We have lots of different partnerships; whether it’s a collaboration or an event. We find that most of those avenues are helpful in promoting the brand.
What have been some of your favourite parts of building the Vicious Cycle brand?
I’ve been very, very lucky. Or maybe it’s not luck, but I’ve been very proud to lead some incredibly iconic events through this brand and host a lot of the best trainers around the world. And I think because we started the brand, it’s got longevity, it’s become Iconically Sydney, but also Australian. We’ve been approached by brands like Nike a couple of times. We broke the Guinness World Record for the largest spin class in the world. We have ridden right outside the Opera House, expanded the brand globally and opened up in Bali. We’ve had such a wonderful time hosting some of the best studios and trainers from around the world, true to our vision of bringing in and co-creating with the best in the world and bringing that community together.
Vicious Cycle’s got some incredible social media posts. What’s your approach to making content?
So the trainers will film drills, they’ll call in the community and that’s also how we form community. We ask them to be a part of our drills. We love getting content and showcasing our front row who are proudly in the front demonstrating their abilities on how they can ride.
It really is easy to capture. We don’t actually need to stage a lot of our drills. We can just shoot the trainer or the front row or the movement in the room. When you have all these people moving and flowing together, it just looks incredible on camera. So we’re very lucky in that aspect, to have an organic program here.
VistaPrint believes in supporting businesses just like Vicious Cycle. As a customer of VistaPrint, what are your favourite products and how do you use them?
VistaPrint helps us bring things to life. I came up with this “hot girls summer” campaign and I wanted to use a new logo. I wanted to do new branding. I wanted to make it this big production. I wanted T-shirts, hats and water bottles. Within 10 days, those products were in my reception. I couldn’t do that in the past. I was shocked. I was surprised, but I was excited too because now I know I have the ability to be able to go, “I want to do this”. I didn’t even realise that I could get all these products in one place. I think the cropped T-shirts and the caps and the water bottles are probably my favourites at the moment.
Ready to build your own brand like Tanya? VistaPrint has the custom marketing tools, design services and merch to help turn your vision into reality.
From business essentials to promo materials, we’ve got everything you need to make your mark. Follow @vistaprintaustralia on Instagram for more branding inspiration and catch more Aussie #LocalLegends on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@vistaprintau.
