Motorised bicycles take off

GRAEME LEISHMAN didn’t get angry when his son lost his licence for drink driving about six months ago.

Instead he saw it as an opportunity to start a new hobby – building motorised bicycles.
Now he is hoping that hobby will grow into a business venture.

“I call it Rosebank Motorised Bicycles, but it’s not a registered business at this stage,” he said.
“It’s just a hobby. I wanted to help my son get to work and to his girlfriend’s place.

“That one was quite successful, so I thought, ‘why not do another one?’ So I did and I put an ad in the paper for it. It sold really quickly.

“What I do is I get really good second-hand bikes and put a brand new motorised bicycle kit on them.
“They’ve got an engine, muffler, chain – the whole works. They’re kind of like mopeds.”

So far Mr Leishman has sold 11 of his motorised bicycles.

He makes a profit of about $300 on each bike, but they take about six hours of work.
He also has to factor in advertising costs.

“It’s a bit of fun,” he said.

“I bought my first four motors off eBay, then I got on to a place at Bellingen which imports them.
“Just cruising along you can do about 30km/h.

“All but three of the bikes have gone to people who have lost their licence for drink driving.

“It’s a godsend for people who have lost their licence – they cherish these bikes like anything.

“I won’t sell them to kids unless the parents are there as well.”

Although Mr Leishamn describes himself as ‘mechanically minded’, building these bikes is a far cry from his day job – he makes ear candles from home.

He said the candles had been used in alternative therapies for thousands of years, helping to equalise ear pressure.

“This is something completely new to me,” he said.

“I’ve been making the candles for 15 years, selling them to the general public, health food shops and chemists.

“Making ear candles and building motorised bikes are two very different things, but I can do a bit of everything.”