Clevedon veteran raises £10k to replace bikes lost in fire

Army veteran and amputee Chris Ganley, aged 31, lost his bikes, along with a lot of his personal tools, in the recent fire at Bridgwater and Taunton College, where they were being stored.

The students had been using his bikes to learn the mechanical engineering trade for motorsport.

Chris set up a Go Fund Me page to help purchase a new bike, after being persuaded by a friend to return to road racing.

He said: “I did not expect the response I got; it has been absolutely incredible. A friend told me to get back racing again, so I set up a fundraising page and it just took off.”

Chris had been developing one of his bikes to enable him to teach up to triple amputees to ride a motorbike.

He also lost his R1 racing bike which he had spent the past six years building and fine tuning, so he could race it around the country with GB Thundersports.

Chris Ganley road racing (Image: Chris Ganley)

He first became interested in motorbike racing through his friendship with his Company Sergeant Major, while helping him at the races. Chris had been racing for four years, before being injured and medically discharged from the army in 2018.

He went on to use the sport to assist his recovery. Chris said: “I had a dream of racing and going further before the accident.

“I had an older bike and added extra things to help me out being a disabled driver.

“When I first learnt to ride I had it in my head I wasn't going to like it, but I went in and got a bigger bike.”

Chris Ganley found road racing assisted his recovery (Image: Chris Ganley)

Now a full-time motorcycle instructor, Chris aims to buy and adapt bikes so other disabled riders can learn how to ride, before they invest in expensive adapted vehicles.

Chris added: “I teach abled riders and looking to adapt bikes, to teach disabled riders so they can try them, before spending a fortune on one and not liking it.”