It is an unassuming little bike shop in an anonymous Greater Manchester suburb. But Will’s Wheels in Heaton Chapel, Stockport, has found itself caught up in British Cycling’s investigation into how so much team kit ended up for sale on the open market during Shane Sutton’s controversial tenure.

For 13 years Will’s Wheels has been selling more than 2,200 pieces of genuine British Cycling team kit on its eBay page: 2XL bib shorts to accommodate thighs as big as Sir Chris Hoy’s (£49.95), tiny jerseys to fit Laura Trott and the women’s team pursuiters (£44.95), super-tight skinsuits (£54.95), winter jackets (£37.50), rain jackets (£65), caps (£10) and socks (three pairs for £12.95). On other corners of the internet it has also been selling former British Cycling track bikes and parts.

During much of this time Sutton, the now former technical director of British Cycling, lived rent-free in the two-bedroom flat above the shop, which is five miles south of the National Cycling Centre. In A Year In Yellow, a documentary about Sir Bradley Wiggins’s path to Tour de France triumph, Sutton was interviewed in the rather shabby flat (scroll to 5min 30sec). In one scene the filmmaker expresses surprise that a man with an OBE would be living in such humble environs. Sutton says he has “never owned” anywhere and puts his honour down to the hard work of others.

Sutton moved out around three years ago after about 10 years as a non-paying tenant, according to Will Wright, the shop owner. Jan van Eijden, a former German national track champion who now trains the Olympic track squad, has moved in instead, also rent-free. “It’s a mate’s thing,” said Wright. “They’re hardly ever here because they’re on the road so much.”

Shane Sutton filmed in Will’s Wheels during a 2012 documentary about Sir Bradley Wiggins. Photograph: BskyB

On Tuesday night, when Sutton was suspended but had not yet resigned, Will’s Wheels was offering 11 different pieces of unworn British Cycling team kit – an old design - for sale on eBay. On Thursday morning, the day after Sutton’s resignation, the listings had all disappeared. Shortly after the Guardian phoned the shop and noted they had been taken down, they reappeared. Nothing strange about that, said Wright.

“Our listings are only up for a week before the sales are listed to finish. The sales you saw must have been programmed to end.” He has set up the online store so that he has to relist things manually to check they are still in stock, he added. “That’s why they must have reappeared this morning.”

Sutton was Wright’s coach in the 1990s, when he rode for the Welsh national team, and they have remained close friends. “I was expecting to get calls when I heard Shane had stepped down,” said Wright over the phone on Thursday.

Multiple sources within British Cycling had suggested there was something unconventional about the relationship between British Cycling and Will’s Wheels. One current senior British Cycling staff member said the organisation must be able to account for how so much kit ended up being sold on the shop’s eBay site. “We change kit every year and inevitably there will be some kit left over but they need to account for where it has gone. This is government money, so British Cycling should bloody well show where it’s gone. There should be a paper trail. It’s ridiculous.”

Will’s Wheels also acts as a reserve repair shop for British Cycling. Photograph: Jon Super/The Guardian

Wright said there was nothing suspicious about his online kit sales. “We’ve been selling genuine British Cycling team kit since about 2003,” he said. “Initially it was stuff we purchased from the GB Stores [the in-house kit caretakers] when they changed sponsors and the old kit was no longer useable. We got quite a sizeable batch 18 months to two years ago in January when there was a jumble sale at British Cycling.” Wright would pick up items for £10-15 a piece, he added. All profits from the eBay sales go to Will’s Wheels, he insisted.

Will’s Wheels also acts as British Cycling’s reserve repair shop, said Wright, which is how he has come to sell “used and damaged track bikes” belonging to the national team. Sometimes he is paid in kit, bikes or components in lieu of cash, he said.

“One of our biggest customers has been British Cycling, on the mechanical side. When there’s an overflow at British Cycling and the mechanics are rushed we do all the bike building for them. I’m quite proud to say that.”

He added: “We invoice British Cycling for the labour and sometimes we get team kit or frames or handlebars in return. Sometimes a broken wheel: stuff we know we can repair.”

Despite his ongoing friendship with Sutton, Wright said he did not deal with him directly regarding these arrangements. “We don’t deal with Shane. He was my coach when I rode for Wales but he’s a little bit higher up in the pecking order: we deal with the guys in the bike store mostly and the mechanics.”

Wright said Sutton did not deserve to lose his job. “He is definitely not a bully. If you ever felt down and you needed someone to pat you on the back and pick you up, it’s him, whatever time of day.”

British Cycling said none of the equipment paid for by UK Sport has “ever been given away or sold on for profit or has even left the National Cycling Centre in Manchester”. UK Sport funds the high-performance skinsuits and bikes created in British Cycling’s Secret Squirrel club originally set up by Chris Boardman.

The Adidas-sponsored team kit and second‑hand Pinarello frames sold by Will’s Wheels are provided free by sponsors, a spokesman said.

He added: “Non-current, unworn kit is also occasionally sold at cycle jumbles – in cases where consent is provided by the commercial partner involved – and the money raised from these sales is then used to further support the Great Britain cycling team. Once sold, we are obviously unable to guarantee what individual buyers will do with the kit they have purchased.

“In addition British Cycling also has a long-standing relationship with an independent bicycle dealership who perform mechanic services for the Great Britain cycling team. They have received payment in kind with equipment which is no longer of use to the team.”

But the spokesman did confirm the Will’s Wheels connection would form part of the organisation’s investigation – ordered by UK Sport on Thursday – into whether team kit and bikes had been sold on, contrary to its own rules.