What started out as a ‘man cave’ has evolved into a business opportunity for two passionate motorbike enthusiasts and now they have been recognized for dreaming big by beer brand Hansa Pilsener.
Ruan Vermeulen and Robert Nicholls, both creative directors at advertising agencies by day, spent a two-week adventure in the Karoo on their bikes. They soon realised that neither of their motorbikes were built for the terrain. “Special custom made bikes were required – so we decided to build them. Here the dream was realised and a business opportunity grew,” said Ruan.
They travel to weird and wonderful places to source bikes, and order specialty parts from overseas. “The market is not massive as most customers who can afford it, will simply purchase a Harley Davidson, but I think people are catching on to the beauty of custom, hand-made and tailored bikes, says Robert.
Both agree that they have stumbled a fair bit during the process and realise they have a lot to learn about the actual mechanics of bikes. “We were all about the aesthetics and soon realised that a knowledgeable person was required full time to work out the mechanical kinks.”
Fury Custom Bikes will star along with Hansa’s original big dreamer, Vuyo, in their own TV advert, sponsored by Hansa.
What stood out for Hansa General Manager Khensani Nobanda about the pair was their dream to live a free life – building and riding their bikes across South Africa’s beautiful open spaces. “Giving them the opportunity to broaden their audience and assist them in achieving their big dream with a TV advert is what we are all about. Being able to celebrate these entrepreneurs through the Hansa Cheers to the Dreamers campaign goes a long way in bridging the gap between their small ideas and their ultimate big dream,” she said.
“Shooting the footage for the advert was huge fun and really gave us the insight into what we are actually achieving and how far we’ve come,” Ruan said. They both agreed that meeting Vuyo was “classic – he is such a legend and a really cool dude – that was a real highlight for us”.
“At the moment this is just a side-line business as we both still work, but the big dream is go into the business of creating custom made bikes for our customers full-time,” said Ruan.
Watch this space – the pair hopes to diversify their business within the next five years by selling merchandise and perhaps adding a small coffee shop.
For more information visit http://hansapilsener.co.za or tweet @hansapilsener
