Langley electric bike firm celebrates six years in business

But 30 years later, his career was cut short when he was diagnosed with a rare lung disease and initially given just two years to live.

He received life-changing care at Royal Brompton hospital which saved his life, but his lungs lost 80pc of their ability to get oxygen into his blood.

This ruled out intensive exercise like mountain biking. But a gift of an electric bike, from an ex-sponsor, got Mr Gregory back on two wheels and, he says, "completely changed my life".

He is now celebrating six years at the helm of his business Smilebikes, which sells e-bikes to people with health conditions or who otherwise struggle on traditional bicycles.

Smilebikes offers a range of E-bikes to suit a variety of needs (Image: Smilebikes)

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He said that, for many people, their initial reaction to trying an electric bike was negative.

When he was offered the e-bike by a formed sponsor, his response was: "Thank you very much but I will never ever ride an electric mountain bike."

Once he tried it, however, his opinion soon changed and he has not looked back.

Within two years of setting up Smilebikes, in Forge Lane, Langley, it had become one of the biggest selling electric bike shops in the country.  

“It’s more than we could ever thought it could be," he added..

In his early teens, Mr Gregory formed the Norwich Flyers BMX club and with the help of members, they built Norfolk’s first BMX track in Costessey.

He said: “For the next 10 years that was my life. I raced all over the world and had a fantastic time.”

In early 2000s, he spearheaded the creation of Norwich’s current national standard BMX track at Sloughbottom Park.

Smilebikes also offers e-bike servicing (Image: Smilebikes)

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