Our Story

I’ve always been fascinated by vehicles and propulsion, and my life has always been a combination of classic machinery and modern technology.

By age 11, I’d rebuilt a 2-stroke outboard boat motor just so I could use it and power a tiny dinghy around a bay in the south of England.

I was building my own soap box carts, and had grand plans of strapping fireworks to it to make it go faster.

I even drew out sketches of a ‘hoverbike’ powered by four giant electric fans by age 12.

I pursued this passion, going on to study Automotive Engineering in the UK, spending a year in between at the UK’s Motor Industry Research Association helping to develop a hybrid version of a 2-seater sports car in an effort to demonstrate how electric propulsion can be exciting and faster than gasoline engines. 2002 was early in the electric vehicle timeline, but planted the seeds.

I hadn’t yet moved into motorcycle ownership, but owned my first classic vehicles. A 1972 MG Midget which I promptly pulled the engine out of to rebuild into a higher power race version, and a classic Mini.

I went on from university to work for Cummins Diesel as an applications engineer, primarily working with B2B customers to develop powertrains for multiple types of machinery through the prototype phase and up to full production. This was a combination of new builds, and retrofitting old equipment with new engines and powertrains. In this timeframe I also found my love for motorcycles, convincing my parents that a Ducati Monster is a great starter bike, because I simply loved the exposed trellis frame and ‘standard’ styling.

I found myself in the marine area of the diesel engine business, helping to develop a new electric motor assisted docking system.  Worked to develop installation, wiring, battery sizing and system tuning methods for high power electric propulsion motors acting as bow and stern thrusters. This taught me almost everything I could learn about the intricacies of electric propulsion and battery systems.

Towards the end of my time at Cummins, I had an itch to learn more, so basically knocked on the door of Scoot, who were developing electric scooters for a shared platform in San Francisco. I took whatever job they had going as a side gig - helping train new riders - simply with the plan to learn more about electric motorcycles. One thing I learned - they are FUN, and simply perfect in a dense city like San Francisco even with a short range.

In 2016, I moved into the Autonomous Vehicle space, joining Cruise Automation at their early stages. Holding roles across Project, Program and Product Management for the Autonomous Vehicle Software, I was lucky to be in deep right at the cutting edge of transportation technology, working on a monumental engineering challenge. In my spare time though, I was building motorcycles - mainly aesthetic changes to already retro designed bikes. 

After three years, I knew something different was calling. I wanted to take all of my experience and build something of my own design with it, combining these common threads of old and new technology.

This is how WainWright Motorcycles was born.