An army marches on its stomach, as Napoleon (supposedly) once said. The diminutive Corsican emperor was talking about logistics of course, and logistics, in the form of parts and accessory supply is as important for the bike trade as it is for an army attacking Moscow in the middle of winter. It’s not glamorous work, but without a steady supply of bread and bullets – or fairings and filters – neither an infantry regiment nor a dealer’s workshop will last very long.
It’s fair to say that some firms have a better reputation for parts supply than others. Aprilia and Moto Guzzi have both had their difficulties down the years, with parts for both brands suffering from scarcity and long lead times. However, one of the most experienced operators in the bike trade, Martin Thraves, and his company Ultimate Parts, are aiming to improve matters. Ultimate Parts has been appointed as the UK’s only official parts wholesaler for Aprilia and Moto Guzzi. Thraves is currently setting up a new 10,000sq.ft warehouse, adding to three units in Nottingham, Ilkeston and Leicestershire, and will be building up a large cache of spares for modern Aprilia and Guzzi bikes, supported by a fast delivery service.
Thraves already has a massive stock of parts for older bikes, which his firm has been selling as an unofficial supplier for several years. He explained to BDN how that came about.
“Back in the 1990s I owned two large, franchised dealerships in Nottingham and Leicestershire, Marcol Motorcycles, which sold Moto Guzzi and Ducati and all the Italian brands. When we grew out of retailing we had a lot of spare parts left which we just couldn’t give away. We started putting the parts on eBay, and then I started talking to all the ex-Aprilia dealers I knew, and we bought up their new old stock. It got serious when Aprilia hit problems and was bought out by Piaggio. That left all the importers worldwide with millions of pounds of stock, and I bought probably 85% of it. We’ve built up a monster: I think most dealers have probably got £20k-40k worth of stock, but we’re up to about £15m worth.”
And Thraves says he’s got some extremely rare parts: “The last two-stroke RS125, I’ve got 34 brand-new front wheels for it. I’ve got cylinder heads for the Tuareg 350, which I don’t think was even imported here. And because we bought out six importers, I’ve got unusual stuff like the special toolkits for RS250s – not the ones under the seat, the dealer workshop tooling. Moto Guzzi filters and levers for the old and new models. We’ve even got stuff that doesn’t officially exist: factory-made special-order stuff for different importers around the world.”
Ultimate Parts isn’t replacing the official parts supply chain, but it’s aiming to give dealers another option, and Thraves will keep regular parts – service consumables and common crash-damaged parts – in stock for next-day delivery. “We will stock every lever, every handlebar, every filter for every Aprilia, and other spares as well. If a customer falls off their bike, we should be able to supply everything to get them back on the road. We offer industry leading trade discounts of 20-40% on fast moving items and up to 70% discounts on the older bulk-buy parts.”
Ultimate Parts is looking to expand its customer network and is signing up new dealers now. As well as a massive range of new and ‘new old stock’ Aprilia and Moto Guzzi spares it also has stocks of parts for Laverda, MV Agusta, and other Italian brands.
Ultimate Parts
0115 921 6668
[email protected]
www.ultimateparts.net