Moto Legends signs up HEL

Business news Stalling bike legislation

Moto Legends signs up HEL

Moto Legends Distribution has acquired the rights to distribute HEL Performance products, taking over from B&C Express.

HEL Performance is well-known for its engineering quality and motorsportdeveloped braking products. With a considerable presence in the Bennetts British Superbike paddock, HEL has become the go-to brand for racers, trackdayers, customisers and road riders looking for extra ‘bite’ to their brakes.

Moto Legends Distribution was founded by motorcycle entrepreneur and enthusiast Arthur Macdonald (formerly Bridgestone Motorcycle product manager) in 2008, initially as sole UK distributor for GPR Exhausts. It now also distributes Hepco & Becker luggage and owns the Norman Hyde brand, building a robust B2B distribution network.

Moto Legends has purchased specialist

brake-line manufacturing equipment and hired HEL expert Steve Garfoot from B&C Express. Garfoot has been making brake kits for more than ten years. Moto Legends is already growing comprehensive stock levels and building specific kits for all major motorcycle models in various styles and colours. Macdonald said: “We had a great opportunity to take over B&C’s HEL distribution, so From left: Arthur Macdonald and Steve Garfoot jumped at the chance to bring over their equipment and key man Steve Garfoot to ensure a seamless transition for current customers. HEL is a high-quality brand that racers and road riders trust, so we’re keen to offer its products to the trade in our usual efficient fashion alongside all our other brands.” Moto Legends 01636 605105 arthur.macdonald@moto-legends.com A PERFECT STORM OF INERTIA AT THE HEART OF government has seriously affected progress on a wide range of bike-related legislation, according to the National Motorcyclists Council (NMC). The resignation of Boris Johnson in July, and the extended Tory leadership election, meant no real political activity throughout most of the summer. Even as Liz Truss took over as Prime Minister, the slow process only then began of reshuffling ministers. As a result, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and the Transport Minister Trudy Harrison were both replaced, by Ann-Marie Trevelyan and Lucy Frazer respectively. Harrison regularly claimed an interest in, and knowledge of, motorcycling passed down from her biking father – it’s not clear if barrister and King’s Counsel Lucy Frazer has any experience of powered two wheelers.

Following Truss’s appointment, the death of the Queen on 8 September meant that the hiatus continued into late October, as parliament was suspended for the official mourning period, a state funeral, and then the various party conferences.

The NMC’s statement, released before the Queen’s death, outlines several areas where government action is needed. These range from road safety improvements focused on motorcycling, and an overhaul of the motorcycle licence training and testing regime, through to the decarbonisation policy for powered two-wheelers, the future of road transport overall, and even the mechanics of post-Brexit motorcycle transport to the EU. Progress in all of these areas was already overdue, and with new ministers in place who need to get up to speed, together with pressures over energy prices and cost of living, it’s not clear when any positive changes might now come.

NMC executive director Craig Carey-Clinch said: “Although clearly the government’s attention will by urgent necessity be on energy prices, inflation and the cost of living crisis, ministers in specific departments still have a responsibility to end the inertia of the last few months and get policy work moving again. The issues the NMC has raised today are just a snapshot of a wide range of areas where motorcycling deserves a far more positive and proactive approach from government. Many do interlink and illustrate the strong need for a more strategic approach to motorcycling in transport and other policies – as the Council set out in its publication Motorcycling and the Future of Transport Policy. Which is why we are urgently calling for the government to start delivering.”