Taranaki-based motorcycling accessories importer and distributor Eurobike Wholesale celebrated its 50th anniversary in April 2023 . And the current operators of the family business can think of no reason why they won ’ t be celebrating another 50 years in the future too . Let ’ s face it , 50 years can be a lifetime for many small businesses , and it is a testimony to Eurobike Wholesale , which was started by New Plymouth couple Don O ’ Connor and his wife Glenys back in 1973 , that it is still going strong and is now considered a major player in the Kiwi market today . As they say , behind every good man is a good woman and Glenys certainly kept the business ticking over in the early days . With a current staff of “ about seven ”, including part-timers , the current owner / operators , former road-racing star Rodney O ’ Connor and wife Jessie , work from a warehouse in an industrial precinct of New Plymouth that occupies a large slice of real estate and would have many motorcycle enthusiasts salivating over the vast variety of products within . From humble beginnings to where it is today , Eurobike Wholesale has a growth pattern that would be the envy of many .
EUROBIKE ’ S ROOTS Founder Don O ’ Connor explains , “ In 1969 I bought Callender Motorcycles , the Suzuki dealership in New Plymouth . We operated that for three or four years and started importing accessories and then selling them to other
dealers . That ’ s really how the company started . “ Our first products were Koni shock absorbers and Rossi boots . It just sort of grew and grew . It was very hard in those days to get licences to bring some of the products into New Zealand . In the late 1970s we started importing Bell helmets from America and , in the Suzuki shop , we were selling Ducatis … not a lot of them , just a few … and sold them until about 1977 . “ At about that time , the Ducati importer in New Zealand had gone belly-up and so we went to Ducati directly and asked if we could sell their bikes . Straight away we became the Ducati importer in New Zealand . We were wholesaling and retailing the Ducati bikes , and then the wholesale side of things grew bigger than the retail side of the business . We decided we were struggling to do both so sold the retail side of the business , Callender Motorcycles , and carried on with Eurobike Wholesale . “ We outgrew storage space and were renting space all over town . We ’ ve been here in Rimu Street for 22 years now .” explained Don O ’ Connor
THE NEXT GENERATION “ In the beginning we just thought Wholesale would just be an add-on to the bike shop . But the add-on became the major family business ,” said Don , “ My son and daughter-in-law operate it now and have been doing so for the past four or five years ,” said the nearly-78-year-old . “ I had always been involved in some sort of motorsport all through this time … motocross racing and then speedway racing in TQ midgets ,
The 1980s
In the beginning
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