Have you ever wondered where all the new parts available for British bikes actually come from?
Tim Britton visits an established company that may well have supplied them.

OK, the scene is you’re in the local dealer’s picking up some bits for the current two-wheeled love of your life. You tell the stores person/proprietor/assistant what you want, they nip out the back and pull it off the parts tree – which automatically regenerates and grows a new bit. You hand over your money and off you go, happy. Nice idea but a bit fanciful. The thing is, where do the bits come from?
“It is amazing how many people think that, though, Tim,” said Stuart Allen. “They just expect the bits to be there and never give a thought to the process that gets them to the dealer.”
Stuart, will be familiar to lots of people through his duties as chairman of the Royal Enfield Owners’ Club, but his day job is with the long-established Wassell wholesale company.

Mention the name Wassell to a bunch of British bike owners and the most probable reaction is likely to be a puzzled frown and noises to the effect ‘parts suppliers, aren’t they?’ Some might know or remember that Wassell used to manufacture a trials and scrambles bike in the 70s; others, when reminded will say ‘oh, yeah, me cables used to come in a Wassell box’. The main reaction is that most people have heard the name but aren’t quite sure where. It isn’t really surprising as Wassell have always been a wholesale operation, right from the very beginning back in 1946 when WE (Ted) Wassell spotted a niche in the market. Ted had served in the Royal Navy and, like a lot of ex-servicemen, was looking for something to do after being demobbed.
Paul Harness, Wassell’s MD, took up the story: “In the first year of trading, from rented premises in Birmingham, Ted exceeded £5000 in turnover which, given the state of the country at that time, was a significant sum. This sort of growth continued and, by the end of the 50s, annual turnover was around the £250,000-mark.”