The wiring whisperer: Mono Motorcycles
Daniel Morris describes his biking journey, from starting riding motorbikes at a young age to establishing ‘mono motorcycles’ and becoming a ‘wiring whisperer’.
Based in Funtington near Chichester, Sussex, ‘mono motorcycles’ was established in 2017. Daniel Morris started the company as a mobile motorcycle repair business and moved into a workshop in February 2018. Since then, they have been working very hard to establish themselves in the industry.
Daniel started riding motorcycles at a young age. He describes his biking journey and how he came to set up mono motorcycles.
Daniel: Motorbikes have played a massive part in my life. From the tender age of seven, I was part of a display team called The Wasps Motorcycle Display Team and cut my biking teeth on a Yamaha TY80. I loved the thrill of jumping through fire, leaping over cars and being part of the human pyramid with many of us perfectly balanced on one motorcycle!
My father was very keen for me to understand the workings of the motorcycles I was riding so quickly had me servicing and repairing my own and my friends’ bikes. However, my parents initial plan of letting me ride at such a young age, hoping it would extinguish my desire to ride on the roads later in life, kind of backfired.
The understanding of engines at such a young age stood me in good stead and by the time I was sixteen I was stripping, modifying and creating bespoke builds. My first road motorcycle at sixteen was a Yamaha FS1E. The welder I received for my fourteenth birthday was put to great use, as the modifications and repairs came thick and fast.
As time went by, I became the go to person for tuning and modifying both cars and motorcycles. After college, I completed an apprenticeship with Sycamore Cars, and I learnt the trade from the inside. The wealth of knowledge I got from this experience enabled me to strengthen my skills set.
During my teens, my desire for speed took me off the roads and onto the motocross track, where for many years, I was competing against some of the best riders in the business. Motocross allowed me the freedom that road riding simply couldn’t give me and I loved it! At the same time, I was honing my trials skills and had my first road bike. Three bikes, three brains!
By the time I was twenty-five I was Workshop Controller for a Ford main dealer, followed by running my own business, Gleam Auto Valeting and I became a Zymol detailer. I sold the business and then spent the next ten years working for the AA as a Technical Advisor. Motorcycles, however, were always there; riding, modifying, fixing, racing, a constant in my life!
My journey has taken many diverse directions, but finding myself at a point where I was happy and content, I started to look at life differently.
Therefore, with the support of family and friends, I made the leap early in 2017 to move my passion into a full-time business, and mono motorcycles was born. Katy, my partner in life and business, left her career as a secondary school English teacher in January 2018 and has been the mono motorcycles Business Manager ever since.