MotioninMotion Wheels

Not content with more than ten franchises and two of the largest dealerships in Peterborough and Leicester, Wheels Motorcycles has recently added Cradley Kawasaki to its portfolio. Not bad for a young lad who started with a halfshare in a Honda C50!

The lad in question is Neil Steen, the current managing director of Wheels Motorcycles, who says that the company has a proud reputation for outstanding service. “We are long-established franchised dealers for Honda, Kawasaki, Aprilia, Vespa, Piaggio, Derbi, Moto Guzzi, Suzuki, Mutt, MV Agusta, Super Soco, Niu and Zero Motorcycles. We also have the UK’s largest Alpinestars store and stock all the top names in clothing and accessories, including Alpinestars, Dainese, RST, Kriega, Shoei, Oxford, HJC, MotoGirl, Muc Off, SDoc and many more. Our fully trained staff have a wealth of knowledge in the industry spanning more than 30 years and are always on hand to help.”

As most motorcycle dealerships will be aware, if you’re trying to source a Kawasaki part and Cradley Kawasaki doesn’t have it, then it’s odds on it doesn’t exist. “Cradley still has the most knowledgeable Kawasaki parts staff in the country, with over a hundred years’ experience between them,” says Steen.

“It also offers the UK’s best trade discount for dealers, as well as tens of thousands of new and discontinued parts in stock and ready for next-day delivery.

“Since purchasing Cradley, we have created a new website for parts, accessories and bikes provided by Dealerwebs. For the first time,

Wheels Motorcycles has been on an expansion and acquisition spree ever since it was first established by a teenage Neil Steen. Cradley Kawasaki is the latest addition to its portfolio this new website allows the customer to search for discontinued parts online. These improvements, along with bringing the Wheel’s lifetime guarantee and up-to-date sales process changes to the Black Country, are helping sales increase. They are also invigorating a historic dealership, dating from 1974, and taking it into the future as part of a large redevelopment programme which has already begun. There’s a lot of doom and gloom hanging around regarding the recession. However, I feel if aftersales is the focus, with customer service a priority, there is still a good future out there for motorcycle dealers. We will be actively looking for the next opportunity.”

Lifetime Guarantee

The Wheels lifetime guarantee is not just a strong sales aid; it also generates a significant amount of workshop traffic and customer loyalty. Obviously, it doesn’t apply to consumables, but it covers component failure and, in extreme cases, complete engines have been replaced. Steen admits that service charges aren’t the cheapest, but every bike is thoroughly cleaned on leaving the workshop and the customer gets a complimentary drink, all part of the feel-good factor.

Of the other brands, Wheels is the biggest Aprilia dealer in the UK, and it’s also the longest-lasting, having been with the company since 2005. Other Italian franchises include Moto Guzzi, Vespa and Piaggio, so it also has the scooter market covered, including electric models from Super Soco and Niu. Zero Motorcycles is also part of the line-up.

As ever, all this didn’t happen by accident. The aforementioned, half-owned Honda C50 may have fired Steen’s enthusiasm for motorcycles and motorcycling, but the