History behind North East Motorcycles
"We are Elgin’s longest running motorcycle shop. We have seen many local bike shops come and go over the years but still we stand tall and will be here for many years to come...."
My "Old Man" as I always called him; John Watterson was born and brought up in Dundrod, Northern Ireland. Dundrod holds the world’s fastest road racing circuit "Ulster Grand Prix". He religiously went to every single race held once a year in August. My father passed on the bug to me and I loved to hear all his stories about the races in the 60's.
My father first got a job in a motorcycle shop in Northern Ireland when he was 16 sweeping the floors. I remember he told me that one day they had a Honda 250 Six in the workshop; one of the top riders in those days needed a workshop for the week end. He said when they fired it up the whole building was vibrating and the dust coming down from the rafters was spine chilling.
From that day on he was a massive fan of the Honda 250 Six. My dad said that he just missed out on getting one of the used spark plugs it as he finished his shift early that weekend and the other mechanic's got one each. He was gutted to say the least.
We moved to Elgin in 1977 where my father was offered a job as a head mechanic in the "Motorcycle Centre" he jumped at the chance. The “Motorcycle Centre” was situated where Comet is now. They were a huge shop at the time with all the major franchises (Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha, Benelli, MotoGuzzi, Ducati and even Hesketh!!).
He went on all of the training courses and became a fully qualified factory trained motorcycle mechanic. He told me a lot of stories about that place and I could tell he loved every minute of working there. I remember there was the big RD250/350LC boom and he was working to midnight building these bikes from new.
In 1984 the shop closed and my father went to work for Burghead Motorcycles but it did not work out so in ‘85 he left and went off to start up his own shop, North East Motorcycles.
1987 came along and I started coming to the shop every day after school (and sometimes during) as well as on Saturdays. In my eyes my father was a genuinely gifted motorcycle mechanic. He taught me all the ins and outs and all what’s and what not's.
At the age of 14 I was learning a lot about something I found I loved and realised for the first time in my life this is what I wanted to do. I wanted to follow in my father’s footsteps. I now have a very broad knowledge in motorcycles as I have worked on them every day since I was 14. I am still learning something new every day and I love it!
My father was one of the most genuine and honest traders out there, I worked with him for over 20 years and he always gave his honest opinion on a job. He taught me everything I know and I loved working with him every minute. Never once did we fall out in all that time, even when on the lunch break of my 21st birthday when I managed to get drunk in an hour and walked back into the shop ready for my afternoon shift.
He sent me home.
BikingDirect
In 1999 I had an idea for a website I was going to build. We were going to sell a wide range of motorcycle accessories, everything from clothing to handlebar grips.
We had to have a name but the ideas I came up with were rubbish. My father came in one morning and said he had thought of something; my first reaction was to laugh but he suggested BikingDirect.com. It was absolutely perfect and luckily no one else had taken it.
We are proud to have been one of the first motorcycle clothing and accessories web sites to get on to the web. We started off with only myself running the website and only a few brands; Shoei, Sidi and Spada.
We have expanded over the years to cover over 30 brands and now have a dedicated team to run it.
The key is to have a memorable name and excellent customer service and that is what we have.
Simon Watterson
Managing Director of
North East Motorcycles.