About

The Store

Glow Worm Bicycles opened its doors in Marrickville, Sydney’s inner west, making it one of the first retail electric bicycle stores in Sydney and is now open 7 days for test-riding, bike repairs, accessories or a good chat. Located on the corner of Addison and Illawarra Road, the shop is conveniently near to the Addison Road Community Centre, well known for its Sunday Organic Markets and Reverse Garbage.

The shopfront takes a prominent corner location in one of Marrickville's historic buildings – the now derelict Dance Hall. The shop space was empty for many years since the Tony Ferraro barber closed its doors – and for those who remember the building as it was don’t worry – Tony Ferraro’s original red and white signage is just behind our new bike signs, untouched and unspoilt. Glow Worm Bicycles joins the garage sale shop (open weekends only) as the only tenants operating out of this building. Addison Road on the other hand, is anything but derelict and is a very lively place with friendly local residents, our favourite Newsagent cafe and the famous Chinese Takeaway with 1980 prices next to the Domo Diseno Gallery on one side and the new cafe and Tapas bar 2204 all warmly welcoming us when we moved in.

The bicycle mural on the Agar St side of the bike shop was painted by local bike-loving artists and good friends of ours when we moved in drawing the attention of local well-wishers and setting the scene for the newest and coolest bike store on the block.

Inside the shop you can browse the extensive range of bicycle parts and accessories, get your bike serviced, covet the beautiful electric bicycles or grab a test ride. Dogs, children and babies most welcome! Much of the shop fitout was hand built from timber saved from the waste stream by Dylan and Jeremy. Depending on the mood you might hear Tom Waits’s poetry coming out of Maurice and Kaitlin’s hand crafted solar powered wheelie bin sound system.

The bicycle store has already been venue to memorable cycling events such as the screening of Cycling Through the Centre, Mel and Be’s Port Augusta to Darwin cycling adventure and video shows from Guim’s electric bicycle world tour. If you have a bike-related event that you’d like to hold at Glow Worm Bicycles, please contact us. To see what's happening next check out our blog.

The People

Jeremy ‘Jez’ Wells

Jeremy is into bamboo art and architecture, sleeping on the beach on cycling trips, crafting didgeridoos, making kim chi, electric bicycle trailers to move the impossible, art and design. On most days he can be found at 117 Addison Road Marrickville managing the Glow Worm Bicycles shop. Favourite bicycle – my old Peugeot 10 speed. Favourite ebike: The Kona Ute cargo bike with electric kit!

Aiko Mineishi

Aiko and Jeremy are often spotted together. Photographer, video producer and digital artist, dumpling maker and celebrated electric bicycle model, Aiko came from Yamaguchi, Japan to study media at the University of Canberra and we all hope she’ll stick around. She turns heads by speeding up hills and whizzing through traffic jams on a little electric fold-up bike.

Abraham Wile

The most experienced electric bicycle technician this side of the tracks, Abraham graduated from the UNSW School of Photovoltaic and Solar Energy Engineering with an honours thesis in electric bicycle transport. Abraham loves to get inside the inner workings of electric motors, controllers, batteries, chargers, throttles and anything else that can be modified to tweak a bicycle to extreme awesomeness. Staying ahead of a vast range of e-bike products and developments from around the world, Abraham brings invaluable technical know-how to Glow Worm Bicycles. He’s not limited to the electric world and can help you out with all your human powered needs. You’ll see him around on a Sunday at the bike store and you can follow Abraham’s contributions to our electric bike blog.

Dylan Prins

Few people have given so much to cycling advocacy and sustainability in Australia and still look so handsome. Dylan has been involved in Bike Club in Newtown and now Waterloo for many years, helped out at the CERES bike shed and Human Powered Cycles in Melbourne, participated in and helped organise the Otesha Cycling for Sustainability eco-performance tours. He is now imparting his creativity and passion into the Glow Worm Bicycles shop fitout. Other interests include edible-gardening, urban permaculture and re-using materials, Dylan is an urban wwoofer and has minimised his involvement in the cash economy and focused on more meaningful exchanges of barter trades, including his work at Glow Worm Bicycles.

Ryan Castle

The unseen but highly appreciated brains behind the website, Ryan has helped set up the Drupal websites for the Sydney Energy Cooperative, Thoughtful Foods, UNSW Enviro Collective and now Glow Worm Bicycles. Interested in a range of environmental issues and sustainability, Ryan’s is a face you’ll be happy to see at environmental issues around the traps.

Darren

The only fully equipped mobile bicycle mechanic in Sydney that we want to know about, Darren leads the mechanical team, bringing class, diligence and years of experience to the workshop at Glow Worm Bicycles. Also found managing Cranks Balmain, Darren’s resume includes bicycle fleet servicing for PedaPod, many happy customers around the eastern suburbs and maybe you too!

Mouna Stone

Artist, singer, baking fanatic and decor legend, Mouna is in charge of keeping the whole business organised and all on a Thursday late-night shopping shift. On other days Mouna can be found at markets around Sydney bringing her latest artistic projects to you.

Guim

Globe cycling e-bike ambassador, Guim Vall Teurels’s electric bicycle world tour took a stop in Marrickville to meet us and tell the community his stories and share his passion for electric bicycles. He’s a fast-talker and charismatic and is walking (or riding) proof of the reliability and pleasure that you get from a Wisper bike, quickly convincing us that we wanted to be the Australian distributor of these fine bikes. Come in and see Guim and hear why riding around the world on an electric bicycle powered by a solar panel on a trailer is plain common sense.

Jess Bugz, Renata and the Mural Artists

Setting the stage for our introduction to the local neighbourhood, Bugz and Renata dreamed up and painted the beautiful mural on Agar St, with help from many friends. You won’t find them in our shop on a regular basis but the mural of course, will remain. If you’re looking for them, look here.

Maurice Wells

Maurice – that’s me. I’ve been involved in the Sydney cycling community for many years and was among the first group to get Bike Club up and running when it was the Nunnery in Newtown. I studied Solar Energy engineering at UNSW where I started the UNSW Bike Club. I first met electric bicycles around this time and saw a huge potential to get more people onto two wheels more of the time with this technology. I went on to write my graduating thesis on electric bicycles and battery design and left with first class honours in 2007. From there it was into the solar industry by starting the Sydney Energy Cooperative. I kept working on electric bicycles as a hobby and finally took the plunge in 2009 with the goal of bringing the world’s best electric bicycles to Sydney and Australia. I couldn’t be happier with the products we’ve got, the people working with me and the community we’re in, so I think we’re on the right track.  

The Electric Bicycle

So what’s the fuss about? The electric bicycle is a bicycle with an electric motor to help move it along resulting in an astonishingly efficient mode of transport. Lightweight, reliable, compact and silent, the motor will make you feel like a cyclist with wings. Hills, headwinds, long distances, everything you want to carry, it all becomes possible, easy and fun with an e-bike. You can get a factory made electric bicycle or retrofit the electrics to an existing bicycle. Either way, the quick facts are:

• Travel around 25-30km/h

• Battery range up to 80km

• Charging time 4 hours

• Travel cost approx 20c/100km or 1kg CO2/100km

• 1-2 year warranty on most components (click here for details)

• no need for registration or license, take it anywhere you can take a bicycle

Please see our product range for specifics or consult our FAQ page for your questions.

Our Products

Glow Worm Bicycles is an importer, distributor retailer and workshop. We are the Australian distributors of eZeebike and Wisper, two of the world’s finest electric bicycles. On the distributor level we are interested in practical cycling products, things that people need when cycling becomes their primary mode of transport. So watch this space for great value quality pannier bags, carrier racks, baskets, safety gear, tools and more.

We operate as a fully equipped electric bicycle store with mechanical workshop, bicycle parts and accessories, bikes for test riding and purchase, and all service and warranty repairs. Our shopfront is in Marrickville, Sydney with plans to expand into Canberra and interstate.

Nowhere near us? Look for our products from our dealers. No dealer near you? Nominate your favourite bike shop or in the meantime, we ship Australia-wide from our online store.