Show Report: Kev Walsh Parts Fair
We meet up with Kev as he battles with the logistics of the weather at Wicksteed.
Kev Walsh and the Wicksteed Parts Fair beat the spell of bad weather, which was referred to as ‘The Beast from the East’. Dealers, traders and jumblers had a great day, and their customers picked up some great bargains...
There was some speculation before the event that it might not go ahead due to the bad weather the week before. However, Kev wasn’t having any of it! He knew how important this parts fair was to everyone and Wicksteed was going ahead no matter what.
Variety inside and out
Outside the dealers and traders were offering a tempting selection of interesting parts and accessories, scooter frames and full scooters. Meanwhile, inside the Celebration Suite it was a full house with around 30 dealers, traders and jumblers selling all the new and used parts and accessories you could ask for.
At the gate a queue was steadily building; a handful of brave scooterists had arrived on their scooters to check out the bargains on offer, and there was the usual element of keen customers trying their luck to get in early to grab the bargains before the main thrust of arrivals turned up.
European feel
With the gates open and having taken a look inside I returned outside and visited Enric Casanovas from Spain who was selling an appealing selection of scooter spares and classic scooters imported from Spain. Further down the main area was Sam (aka The Lambretta Finder) who was selling a very nice Li150 Special and Li 150 series 2, which he’d recently imported from Italy. Sam also had a wide range of original parts and spares, which were available for interested customers to have a rummage through. By the side of Sam were Carl and Nigel of Swiss Tony’s Scooter Spares. Carl and Nigel (neither of whom are Swiss or called Tony) had a
variety of Lambretta parts and Lambrettas for sale, which included a J-Range, two Lunas and other Lambretta frames all of which had also recently been imported from Italy.
Moving back inside, Jockey and Marcus of Jockey’s Boxenstop, (which translates as ‘Jockey’s Pit-stop’) from Germany were selling a selection of tidy accessories along with some very neat German engineered specialist performance parts, one of which was their impressive ‘Anti-Dive’ front disc brake designed to fit the Lambretta Series 1, 2, 3 and GP.
Advice and guidance
Harry Barlow’s ‘Pro-Porting’ stand was busy with customers. Throughout the day Harry was also energetically engaged providing expert advice to help customers decide on the set-up of their scooters, which would give them the perfect style of ride, and performance features they were looking for. Nearby Scootopia were proudly showing off their race Lambretta SX200, which will be competing in the 2018 season.
Satisfied customers
The day saw approximately 1000 visitors through the gate. The value for money at Kev Walsh’s parts fairs is excellent and the admission fee paid on the gate is easily recovered through savings made on purchases through the course of the day or on specialist advice received. Hot refreshments are available throughout the day and parking is free.