Fancy a career in the motorcycle industry? Read on…

Have you ever dreamed of turning your passion for motorcycles into a full-time career? Then ABR’s series, called The Day Job, is for you.

In this edition, Infinity Motorcycles’ Alan Arnold reveals how he went from working on the shop floor to becoming a key figure in one of the UK’s biggest and best-known motorcycle gear retailers, a journey that all started with a love of bikes passed down from his dad.

When Alan Arnold joined Infinity back in 2000, he originally agreed to work for the company for just two months in the run up to Christmas. Some 25 years later, he is the Group Sales Director and Shareholder of one of the most successful clothing and accessory retailers the British motorcycle industry has ever seen.

With 17 stores across the UK and a thriving online business selling just about every brand you could possibly imagine, the rise of Infinity Motorcycles has been an inspirational success story, and Alan has been a key part of that success for more than a quarter of a century. We caught up with him at Infinity’s Camberley store in Surrey amid the sawing and hammering of the construction of its new adventure zone to find out what it’s like to turn your passion for motorcycling into a career.

“While a lot of people might say they started riding at three years old, or they were riding motocross from age six, my introduction and passion for motorcycling came from my dad,” Alan says. “I guess he had a bit of a midlife crisis and bought a Kawasaki GPZ 550 when I was 10 or 11. And I just remember thinking it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. He used to put me on the back, and we used to go everywhere on it. He’d take me to school and he’d pick me up on it, everything. It was just fantastic and from that moment I knew that I needed to be on a motorbike.

“So, when I turned 15, he bought me a little MX 50, and I used to use that around my nan’s place. And then, as soon as I turned 16, I had a Kawasaki AR50, and then just progressed on from there, into bigger bikes and then into sports bikes. But it all stems from my dad.”

However, it would take a few years before Alan’s passion for motorcycles translated into a job, let alone a career. After a few years spent within recruitment and then with computer company IBM, an advert for sales staff at Motorcycle City caught his eye.

Alan says: “The basic pay was horrendous, but it was basic plus commission, so I went for the interview and hoped for the best. When I got home the manager called and asked when I could start and I was like, OK. I actually found motorcycle sales really easy. I think that’s just because the reason I was in that industry in the first place was because I had a passion for it. And I think if you’ve got a passion for what you’re selling, it almost doesn’t become selling, it’s more advising, guiding and giving information. I took to it like a duck to water.”

A career with Infinity Motorcycles

And that passion and ability saw him progress from the sales floor to assistant manager and then branch manager at the Farnborough store in a relatively short period of time. But as quickly as that progression happened, changes within the business saw the original owners of Motorcycle City selling up and Alan facing redundancy. The new owners had begun buying up stores for what was to become Infinity Motorcycles and offered Alan a job within clothing sales at the rebranded store. But with his mind then set on selling bikes, not kit, Alan jumped ship for West London Yamaha.

While he was busy selling everything from YBR 125s to R1s, and then moving on to independent bike trading, the newly formed Infinity was gathering pace, buying up dealerships and business across the UK. With many staff coming from the now defunct Motorcycle City like Alan, soon there were two stores, then three and before long Infinity had close to 10 sites across the country. But it was the opening of the Camberley store that would be the turning point and set Alan on his future career and evident success within Infinity.

He says: “I got a call from Rob to say that they were going to set up a big warehouse in Camberley, and they needed someone to open it up and oversee it, and could I do it? I said, ‘well, I can do it, but only because it’s October. I’ll do it for a couple of months and then I need to go back to the bike trading.’ That was 25 years ago.”

Gear for new and old bikers

Fast forward to 2026 and now, with stores from Southampton to Glasgow, Infinity Motorcycles stocks an incredible 177 different brands from Abus to Zerofit, covering everything from boots to batteries and gear bags to goggles, with each brand carefully vetted to ensure they are up to the company’s high standards. While Infinity caters towards the mid to high end of the accessory and clothing market, they also stock products for those new to motorcycling and the company ethos is still the same.

“We’ve got to believe in a product to put it in our stores,” Alan says. “If the staff don’t believe in that product, they just won’t sell it. We have people that have worked with Infinity for the same amount of time that I have. We’ve got managers that have been here for 20 plus years, sales staff the same, and around 95% of us ride, so we know what works.

If I sell you something and it doesn’t fit correctly, or if I sell you something and tell you it’s waterproof and it’s not, and you keep bringing it back to me, that doesn’t work for anyone.

Customer retention for us is absolutely our prime goal. If you’re a customer of Infinity Motorcycles, I’m going to do everything I can to keep you as a customer. So, there’s no point in us stocking anything in that’s no good.”

Allied to the multiple stores, Infinity Motorcycles also has a thriving online business, allowing customers the choice to either purchase in person or at the click of a mouse. Or in many cases, a combination of the two.

Alan explains: “As with any business in 2026, we need an online presence, and our website is by far our biggest store. But beyond just a sales point, if you provide someone with good service on the website, then you’re giving them confidence to go in and visit a store. People can sometimes forget now that stores exist.

“We are big fans of bricks and mortar, allowing people going in and trying this stuff on, feeling it, having a chat with someone who has been trained and knows about the product. You need to try trying that helmet on and walk around in the boots you’ve always wanted.

“I think the motorcycling is quite personal and almost niche, so people will always want to go into the store and physically see and hold the product. But of course, the flip side is that maybe you’ll get someone who has had Shoei helmets for the past 12 years. They’re really comfortable, and they know they need a medium size. So, in that instance, they might be happy to buy from us online and have no problems.”

With the ever-increasing popularity of adventure bikes, I ask Alan how this has affected the sales of clothing and accessories?

“It depends on the location. There’s still a massive sports bike loyalty in the Southampton area, and also as you get further up north, probably because the roads are so nice. There’s still a lot of sports bike fans up there so that means we sell more one-and-two-piece leathers and race style clothing than perhaps other areas. And obviously, as you get down into London, it’s commuting and urban type stuff to reflect motorcycle use in a big city.

“But the adventure market is just massive and personally, I’m hook, line, and sinker into it. Events like the ABR Festival are so positive for the industry, and there’s definitely been a huge change in that direction. Customers of mine that have followed me through the years, are now turning up on GSs, Tigers, all the adventure bikes, and of course all the kit that goes with them.

“At first, I was a bit like, ‘I don’t know if I want to give in to that.’ But the more you look at them and think about what you can do on them compared to a sports bike, it begins to make much more sense. And from a business point of view, with a market so huge and increasing, we’d be foolish not to try and cater for it. In Camberley at the moment, we’re turning part of the store into a dedicated adventure store, with all the helmets, clothing, accessories, the whole lot.”

And as if to prove his point, after years of allegiance to his beloved sports bikes, Alan has finally succumbed to the seemingly inevitable, with a box fresh BMW R 1300 GS due to be delivered the very next day.

“I’m going into it with no expectations as I’ve never owned a BMW, but I just love the look of it, and that big boxer engine, I think is phenomenal. I have to be to be honest though, I’ve got four kids, a wife and a dog, so I’m not going to be setting off on some massive motorcycle tour, and I’m probably not going to get away with going away as much as I used to. But I’m just going to jump on it tomorrow and enjoy it, and I’m looking forward to using it to visit some of our new stores on two wheels rather than the normal four.”

So, with this new found enthusiasm for adventure travel, we were keen to know where Alan would like to take his new ride. The Stelvio Pass, the Amalfi Coast, a blast down to the French Riviera?

“What I’d really like to do is to ride up to Glasgow, and then up to Loch Lomond, and then carry on right towards the top of Scotland. I’ve been reading a bit about the NC500 recently, and I’m looking to ride that very soon. What I need to do is put it down as a store visit, and then just disappear off for a week with a couple of mates on the new 1300. Fantastic.”

Now that sounds like our sort of trip. You can discover more about Infinity Motorcycles at www.infinitymotorcycles.com.