Orwell profile: Liam McCartney

Petrolhead Liam McCartney is in his element at Orwell Motorcycles.

“I’m a self-confessed petrolhead – bikes, cars, quads, jet skis – anything you can put an engine in,” he said. “If it’s got a motor, I’m into it.”

Liam has been a member of our sales team for nearly six years and set his sights on working at his local motorbike dealership when he was a young customer.

He was working in a shop which sold fires and wood burners and had approached us about a job a couple of times without success. But, with his love of motorbikes and having gained more sales experience, he finally joined our team in December 2015.

Liam, 27, has been into motorbikes since he was 14 and his first was a 50cc Gilera RCR dirt bike.

He passed his test at 18 and his first road bike was a Yamaha FZR250, a four-cylinder Japanese import which revved to 18,500rpm.

“It was an awesome thing. It sounded like a Formula One car. At the time, no one knew what it was and it only cost about £500.”

Since then, he has had more than 10 motorbikes, many of them also quite special.

They include a Kawasaki ZXR400, an original Yamaha R1 and an Aprilia RSV Mille R Edition.

He’s also interested in off-road riding and motocross and in 2014 bought a Honda XR650R which he recently sold.

His passion for all things with an engine included a couple of quad bikes but a mishap last year, when one flipped over, resulted in a smashed collar bone and a couple of cracked ribs.

“I’m not going to be doing that again. I’ll probably stay off quad bikes and stick to two wheels!”

Liam has certainly found his niche at Orwell.

“My favourite bit of my job is just being able to talk about motorbikes all day. I’m very fortunate because, when I speak to customers, we all have something in common,” said Liam who lives with partner Becca.

“If you can do something you enjoy, you are sorted at work. I always thought working in a motorbike shop would be fun.”