About us

When Rick Selfe opened the doors to Oamaru Motorcycles in 1972, he had no idea that just over 35 years later the business would have grown to employ his three sons.

Owned and operated by Rick and his wife Janis, Oamaru Motorcycles is one of the North Otago's business success stories.

The family's collective passion for motorcycles has resulted in the development of a thriving business well known for it s skilled mechanics and quality service.

Rick's interest in motorcycles was sparked by his brother and brother-in-law at the age of 10. Initially his interest lay in the racing and the family tradition of representative competition began, with Rick winning championships and representing the South Island.

Originally based in Oamaru's North End selling servicing Honda motorcycles and Stihl chainsaws, Rick managed the first shop after completing a motor mechanic apprenticeship followed by an adult apprenticeship as a motorcycle mechanic.

The business grew steadily, based on selling farm bikes as well as trail and road bikes. By the early 1980's the business had outgrown its North End base, promoting a move to Ribble St in mid - 1981.

This expansion coincided with the arrival of three-wheeler and later four-wheeler bikes, which have grown to become the mainstay of Oamaru Motorcycles.

The 1980's saw some great achievements for the business. In 1983 Honda awarded Rick a trip to Japan in recognition of his achievements as a dealer. Two years later, he won another trip to Japan after being named Honda's top dealer for business Operations. This was followed in 1988 by nationwide recognition for the Oamaru based business when Rick was named Honda's dealer of the year.

In 1989, Rick and Janis's oldest son Blair joined the business and began learning the trade from the shop floor up. Nowadays Blair's advice and expertise are as sought after as Rick's as a new generation of farmers and motorcycle enthusiasts move through the ranks.

Like his father, Blair was involved in motorcross from a young age. He started competing at junior level, age 10, winning many titles along the way including the New Zealand intermediate title in 1991.

Blair's business involvement was interspersed with stints in Europe from 1997 to 2002 where he worked for Josh Coppins and the Suzuki Works Motorcross team. During those five years, Blair immersed himself in the industry learning pretty much everything there is to know about motorcross and bike set-up.

For the past three years that experience has been consolidated by working for New Zealand champion motorcross competitor Darryl Hurley. The lure of the European race circuit has diminished somewhat in recent years with Blair and his wife Rebecca kept busy raising their three boys.

In 1999, middle son Brad opted to join the family business. While initially interested in motorcross, he had taken up road racing in 1995. From 1997 he competed in the 600 sports production class, which is considered to be the most competitive of all road racing classes. In 1999 he finished second in his class and in 2000, represented New Zealand against Australia, Brad also has a son.

The most recent member of the family to join the team at Oamaru Mototcycles is youngest son Leighton, who started working at the family business in 2004 after a spell in Australia.

Like his older brothers, Leighton has always been interested in motorcycles, but unlike them, participated in other sports while growing up including Rugby, down-hill mountain biking, and mountain biking. Leighton is married to Kimberley with a daughter Isla and son Quinn.

While his older brother's main focus is in the workshop, Leighton is concentrating on sales of Honda, and Stihl products.

Although he did not envisage Oamaru Motortcycles would become the family business it is, Rick says he and his sons work well together. While they bring their individual strengths to the business, they are expected to be multi-skilled and apply themselves to the various aspects of running Oamaru Motorcycles.