A BUSINESS which started in a cupboard under the stairs is now attracting world-wide orders.

Adrenalin-Moto was born out of the frustration of motorbike enthusiasts Debbie and Matt Purdy.

They owned Harley Davidson bikes and bought a Buell in 1998 but, because it was new to the UK, they found the availablity of parts and accessories poor and felt the prices charged by dealers were excessive.

Mr Purdy decided there was only one thing for it, and found a fabricator in Newton Aycliffe who made moulds so that they could produce carbon fibre parts and products.

Mrs Purdy, who had an accountancy background, had been looking for a business idea of her own for some time and immediately spotted the potential.

"Matt designed a website - www.trojan-horse.co.uk - and we put a computer in a cupboard under the stairs and waited to see what would happen," said Mrs Purdy, who owns the company. "It was incredible. We started getting all sorts of inquiries and now have suppliers in America, Germany, France and Italy.

"We were running it as a part-time business; it was really out of our enthusiasm for the Buell and Harley Davidson, but it was going so well that I packed my job in last September.

"We now export to Norway, Italy, Japan, Sweden, Belgium, France - all over Europe - and even to America."

Adrenalin-Moto, in Whessoe Road, Darlington, is the UK's first independent Buell parts and accessories specialist. The company is also the sole UK distributor for the French-made Odyssey Kolors Buell bodywork parts and Harley Davidson dealers now have to come to the company for those parts.

On Monday, the company became sole UK distributors for Italian Freespirits braking systems and parts and is also the unofficial sole distributor for RRC performance parts and can obtain similar parts from other companies.

Adrenalin-Moto has also just opened a workshop to service road and performance bikes. Any make can be handled, although they obviously specialise in Buell and Harley Davidson.

Another exciting development is their appointment as North-East regional and Buell national technical centre for Hyperpro Suspension Technology of Holland.

It means they can now rebuild and fine-tune front and rear suspension systems for road and performance bikes as well as re-spring or replace rear shock units - something which Harley Davidson claim is not possible.

"But we can do it," said Mrs Purdy, "We are offering it as part of our service."

Mrs Purdy is thrilled with the high performance of her company.

"We are enthusiasts and offer good old fashioned customer service," said Mrs Purdy. "We always respond promptly to inquiries and requests and, if there is a delay with something, we contact the customer to let them know why."

The couple can obtain parts from all over the world and are happy to advise other enthusiasts.

"The world is our oyster really," said Mrs Purdy, who has no intention of standing still. "We are not happy to sit and wait for things to come to us. We look at each opportunity and, if we think it is right, we take it."

An Italian customer asked if he could translate their web site into Italian for them and that has now been done.

Catalogues are also now being sent out in Italian and French as well as English to tap into potential markets.

Meanwhile, they continue to contact Harley Davidson dealers at home and abroad to let them know what they have to offer. As a result they even list some Harley dealers in America as customers and Mrs Purdy has just completed a mail shot of dealers in Australia.

It is that drive and enthusiasm which has seen the company take off but Mrs Purdy was especially delighted when Adrenalin-Moto was recently named runner-up business of the year in an awards ceremony held by Darlington Business Venture, which has offered some advice along the way.

"I knew we were shortlisted but I had not expected to do so well, it was amazing," she said. "We have been in business only a short time and we just do not know where it is going to take us. That is what is so exciting."

The company still operates its original www.trojan-horse.co.uk web site, as well as www.adrenalin.moto.co.uk. It can also be contacted on 01325 483551