Just before the Second World War, Conway Trott began to import the first bikes and cars into the Island for general sale.

A generation of Islanders bought their first Peugeots and Velo Solex's through his company on Par-la-Ville Road.

Fifty years on, the company, now called World Distributors Ltd, has moved out of its landmark premises.

Ten decades of customers have gone to the workshop and showroom on Par-la-Ville Road to buy their first motorbike and have it serviced.

But now the business -- under the ownership of Mr. Trott's son, Toby Trott -- has moved just around the corner to Serpentine Road.

The company has set up a new showroom on the former site of the Once Upon a Table restaurant.

Here there is a first floor showroom for both Yamaha and Malaguli bikes as well as a new range of Yamaha go-karts. Beneath the showroom there is a parts store and the repair shop is located in the rear.

"We had been in the same block for 50 years, the same building for 30. Every corner was filled, and there just was not enough space,'' said Mr. Trott.

Landmark bike shop rides into the future The original shop was next to the MR Onion's building in a time when Mr. Trott senior owned property in the area.

But the business moved two numbers down 30 years ago into a space that was at the time state of the art.

However, in a country that has 24,000 two wheeled vehicles on the road, competition has been growing, and HWP and Wheels had crept up on their sales.

So three years ago Mr. Trott took on Bridan Matcham from Wheels as general manager, and began the modernisation of the business.

Now with the new showroom, which is located between Wheels and HWP on the same stretch of road, the management team hopes to take the business forward.

And as part of this new venture, they have brought in three Yamaha go-karts in a bid to get into the sport which is booming on the Island. One, a 125cc stick shift, which retails at $8,500 will be raced by the company.

The other two, a junior 100cc and a semi-professional 100cc will be put on the market for $3,500 and $6,200 respectively.

Bikes in the shop retail between $2,395 and $2,995, and will now be displayed in the new showroom along with accessories such as helmets and boxes.

"Yamaha is Bermuda's number one seller,'' said Mr. Matcham. "It is an excellent model and we have the spare parts and mechanical staff to keep our customers happy so they will come back.'' The company gets its products from all around the world. The Yamaha bikes come from Japan, Malaysia, Europe and Taiwan, while the Malaguti come from Bolognia in Italy. Helmets are shipped in from Taiwan and the boxes they sell made in Spain.

"It takes about six weeks for cargo deliveries,'' said Mr. Matcham. "But we really do get goods from around the world.'' Sitting in the light, spacious carpeted showroom, Mr. Trott added: "The old place was old fashioned and had too many nooks and crannies. We needed to modernise and provide a better place for our customers to come to.

"It is not quite perfect yet. We had to move 30 years worth of things, and we have not yet found a place for them all, but within the next few weeks it will be fitted out properly.' World Distributors will be hosting a grand opening on February 22.