A NEW designer bicycle business plans to employ former Royal Marines to build bespoke bikes at its Exeter headquarters.

Rule Bikes has been launched by entrepreneur and former marketing executive Adam Houlding after more than 18 months of planning.

Described as a lifestyle brand, the company enables customers to design their own Rule Supreme bicycle online by choosing from myriad possible combinations of frames, colours, seats, gears, fittings and accessories.

The bikes are then hand-built to each customer's specifications at Rule's Exeter Airport Business Park base under the supervision of head of operations Stephen Scullion, who has just left the Royal Marines after a 24-year career.

Adam, who relocated from London to Lympstone a year ago, said: "It's taken nearly two years of hard graft to get from the germ of an idea to where we are now. We have already got some sales and some national exposure and celebrity interest. The comments from people who have seen the bikes have been fantastic. At the moment you can only get our bikes by designing them online. We are looking for stores in the South West and beyond to display them but they have to be fashion or design-led, not bike shops."

The company aims to produce around 5,000 of its Supreme bicycles in its first year. There are also plans to launch a Classic range of less expensive, off-the-shelf bikes this summer.

As well as employing a growing number of former Marines, Adam has pledged to donate 10 per cent of Rule Bikes' pre-tax profits to The C Group charity, which supports injured Royal Marines and others in need.

Explaining why he was keen to forge links with the Commando Training Centre, he said: "I'm a good businessman and good at marketing but I'm useless at operations and logistics. I realised I would need an army behind me to make bikes with military precision and luckily I had the Royal Marines on my doorstep. We will have more Marines coming on board so we decided it would be right that our charitable donations went to the Royal Marines."

Stephen, who as a Captain in the Royal Marines managed the force's wheeled fleet in conflict zones including Afghanistan, said: "I started working for Adam in my transition period, so it's been great for me to step out of one career and into another. I used to be a bicycle mechanic before I joined up, and I found the business ethos of giving something back quite refreshing."

Rule is currently making bespoke bikes for world champion cyclist and BBC Sports Personality of the Year Mark Cavendish and Olympic skier and Dancing on Ice star Chemmy Alcott. And in its first link-up with a retailer, the company has joined forces with London fashion house PPQ to launch a limited edition bike.