You might have noticed a new but familiar face inside the Lithgow Bike Stop over the last few weeks.
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Lithgow born and bred Katrina Knight, took over as the owner of the store on November 15.
Katrina grew up around the bike scene. Her dad raced when he was a kid and Katrina and her brother followed in his footsteps.
"It was a family affair, I had my first Peewee when I was about five and I started racing around 12.
"I used to race here at the Clarence motocross track and also did Australian titles, State titles and I even raced over in America once," she said.
She started working in the motorbike industry at the age of 17 and said it was always the plan.
"When I was 17 I got a job at Ballards Offroad, a big mail order motorcycle accessories business, I was there for six years.
"Then I went to Yamaha Motor Company where I worked in internal sales for three years and then moved into their spare parts division as the national sales marketing coordinator," she said. She then worked at a suspension business in Penrith until she had her son.
Katrina said after a few years away from home she wanted to "move back to the sticks", where her kids could grow up and she could still work in the business.
"I wanted to come back to where I grew up, where the grandparents are and the kids can go play in the bush and I could still work in the industry because there isn't as much opportunity.
"I'm lucky, it all fell into place," she said.
She said the transition into the business had been smooth thanks to her long relationship with previous owners Dave and Cathy.
"After 27 years they're ready to focus on other things and thankfully I had quite a good relationship with them when I was younger which made this transition a lot easier," she said.
As a child, Katrina often went to Lithgow Bike Stop for parts.
"They bought the store in '92 and we've been coming here since I was five.
"When I started racing, Dave and Cathy started sponsoring me from the get go and until I was about 24.
"They always helped us out with parts, bikes and advice," she said.
She said owning the store would have its ups and downs like any business, but she was thankful to also have familiar faces stay on board to work with her and help along the way.
"Our head mechanic Jamie is thankfully staying on here and Helen will work with me in the showroom. My dad John will also be on board as the other director," she said.
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Prior to taking over, Katrina had spent six weeks in the store to learn as much as she could on how the processes worked and met some regular customers.
"We're still settling in now and even though Dave is not in here I know I can call him anytime of the day with a question and he'd be happy to help," she said.
She said the best thing about being back in the country was even though the job was quite busy, it was a different atmosphere compared to working in Sydney.
"To be able to meet up with people that I haven't seen in years whether it was people I raced with, went to school with or know mum and dad - they come in and we reconnect, it's great," she said.
"Hopefully we can just make this [business] continue to be successful and run it for another 27 years like the previous owners did and more."
Katrina wanted to thank Dave and Cathy for their help and support over the years, her family and the community.
"We appreciate everything and everyone, we've been really busy leading into Christmas and everyone has been so patient," she said.
To celebrate the new ownership Lithgow Bike Stop will host an opening gala day on Saturday, December 7.
There will be a free sausage sizzle, giveaways for the kids, in-store specials and those who make purchase on the day will go into a draw to win prizes.
The mini bike promotion will also run - anyone who purchases something for $50 or more will go into the draw to win the mini bike.
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