From then to now… Part 1

Strattons Motorcycles,

Started by Ewan Smith in 2007 firstly named the Mini Bike Centre, the business started in Ewan’s parents back bedroom in the coastal village of Atwick, East Yorkshire. The idea was simple enough and the internet was gathering a massive following all over the world so why not join in? With a small self made website Ewan started listing Wulfsport and O’Neal Motocross clothing for sale (these were the only two accounts Ewan could open at the time as your supposed to have a shop thats open to the public really!). Some success was made and the venture spread into the importing of Mini Moto bikes from China, these were imported by the container and also sold through the first website and a newly added ebay store.
After a year or so the Mini Bike boom was coming to the end of it’s run and the move to Off Road Buggies was made, these were also imported from China by the container load.  These buggies were branded as “Spider Buggies” and from import to distribution Ewan did it all… During 2008-2009 Ewan added over 25,000 miles onto his parents car delivering the buggies from the north of Scotland to Essex and Cornwall.

In 2008 Ewan had simply run our of space (now in the parents garage) so a small unit was found on Annie Reed Road in Beverley near Hull.  Website and ebay operations carried on as before with new addition of Nitro Motocross Helmets (at the time from the same importer as O’Neal). Ewan who had previously managed a Scooter shop in west Yorkshire had built up a good working relationship with the staff at Moore Large (one of the UK’s largest Bicycle importers) who in 2008 also had a motorised division importing and distributing the SYM Scooter range.  Sym Scooter Parts were added to the website and these were also sent out mail order to customers across the UK.

“The plan was always to open a Motorcycle and Scooter shop”

In 2009 the decision had been made that it was now time to open up to the public and expand all ranges of clothing, helmets and accessories. “Opening up the shop as the country fell into the worse recession of all time wasn’t the easiest thing ever, but you can’t just sit back and wait for these things to pass by.”  A new premisses was found, Unit 7 on Beverley’s Phoenix Business Park was to be the new home of Strattons Motorcycles. The shop opened and within a month had taken over as Beverley’s SYM Scooter Dealership and within a year had supplied the local council with forty Sym Scooters for their Wheels to Work program.  In the shop additional brands Alpinestars, Oxford, Caberg and Spada were added.  Used bikes were also starting to be stocked and the workshop side of the business expanded.

Also in 2009 the original Mini Bike site was taken down and replaced with two new ecommerce sites:- StrattonsMotorcycles.co.uk and www.MotocrossMonster.co.uk the Motocross site was solely aimed at our MX customers and new brands like Moose Race Gear, One Industries, Fly racing and a few more were added.  The Strattons site then had new road bike brands added like Akito, Box and HJC Helmets, Moto GP and many more along with the full Sym Scooter range.

In 2010 even more brands were added including Racer Clothing, Stein, Daytona Boots, Rukka and Shoei. During 2010 a decision was made to close down our ebay store and concentrate our efforts on the shop and our own brand websites, a decision never doubted by Ewan.