17 Sep 2026
For visitors exploring South Australia's McLaren Vale and Fleurieu Coast, cycling offers a very different way to experience the region.
Instead of simply moving from one attraction to another, visitors can take their time, discover local businesses and build their own route through the landscape.
For SA eBikes, creating that kind of experience has been at the heart of the business.
But their growth has also come from something less obvious: making it easier for visitors to connect cycling with everything else the region has to offer.
One of the strategies that has helped SA eBikes grow has been its co-location with the McLaren Vale & Fleurieu Coast Visitor Information Centre.
Being in the same place as the local visitor information service creates a natural connection between cycling and the wider destination.
It also makes the experience more accessible for visitors who may be discovering the region for the first time.
Another focus has been providing infrastructure that works well for families, helping make cycling a realistic option for a wider range of visitors.
It's a simple idea, but an important one: if you want more people to explore a destination by bike, the experience needs to be easy.
SA eBikes doesn't see the bike ride as the end of the experience.
It's a way of connecting visitors with the region.
Shayne developed a digital ride guide that includes links to local cellar doors, restaurants and other businesses, helping guests find their way around McLaren Vale and discover places to stop along the route.
The company also has hire hubs located at several cellar doors across the wine region.
And for guests staying in the area, SA eBikes offers customised drop-off and pick-up at B&Bs, as well as point-to-point rides.
That flexibility makes it easier for visitors to reach cellar doors and restaurants without needing to rely on a car.
It can also encourage them to stay longer and explore more of the region.
In this sense, the bike becomes more than a way of getting around.
It becomes part of the local tourism ecosystem.
For SA eBikes, green tourism isn't just about encouraging people to cycle.
Their entire fleet is recharged using solar power, reducing the environmental impact of their electric bikes.
They also contribute a proportion of every booking to organisations involved in revegetation and regeneration across the region, including McLaren Vale Biodiversity.
The approach reflects a broader idea that sustainable tourism should benefit the destination as well as the visitor.
Cycling has a naturally low impact. But operators can take that idea further by thinking about where their energy comes from and how tourism can contribute back to the places people come to visit.
Like many tourism businesses, SA eBikes is also seeing changes in how customers discover and book experiences.
One of the challenges they've identified is the growing use of AI by travellers when planning their holidays.
Rather than ignoring that change, SA eBikes has started investing in its own online capabilities.
That means looking at its website, social media and wider online presence to make the business easier to discover—and easier to book.
It's a good example of a broader lesson for independent operators: the way customers find you is changing, so the way you present your business online has to change with it.
What stands out about SA eBikes is that the business isn't trying to isolate the bike experience from the rest of McLaren Vale.
The opposite, really.
Its digital guides, cellar-door hubs, local recommendations and flexible pick-up options all help visitors connect cycling with the wider destination.
And that's one of the strengths of independent bike tour businesses.
They are deeply connected to their cities and regions. They know the local businesses, the quieter routes and the places visitors might otherwise miss.
SA eBikes is part of the Cycle Cities network, a community of independent bike tour and rental businesses sharing knowledge, ideas and experiences from destinations around the world.
For operators looking to learn from peers who are facing many of the same challenges—whether that's changing customer behaviour, sustainability or building stronger local connections—that network can be just as valuable as the business itself.