Pashley Cycles

Pashley Cycles

Industry	Cycle manufacture
Founded	1926 (1926)
Founder	William 'Rath' Pashley
Headquarters	Stratford-upon-Avon , England
Key people	Adrian Williams
Products	Bicycles, Tricycles and Workbikes
Number of employees	50
Website	www.pashley.co.uk

The Pashley Guv'nor

Pashley Delibike

Pashley Cycles is a bicycle, tricycle and workbike manufacturer based in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, England. The company was started in 1926 and remains one of the last 3 companies to still manufacture bikes in the UK, the others being Moulton and Brompton

Formation and Early Years

In 1926 William Rathbone 'Rath' Pashley founded Pashley and Barber in New John Street West, Birmingham. Pashley and Barber declared that they were 'Manufacturers of every type of cycle' and that 'Birmingham produces the finest cycles, these are Birmingham's best'. The model range included everyday roadsters, clubman racing machines, tradesmans carrier cycles and tandems. Barber was Meg Pashley's (Rath's wife) maiden name. Rath had been apprenticed to the Austin Motor Company before the First World War and saw military service as a despatch rider. These occupations in his early years gave him both engineering knowledge and skill and a lifelong interest in two wheel transport.

Competition in the cycle trade was very fierce and after a short while 'Rath' Pashley realised that success would come through identifying a market niche. A new company, Pashley Carrier Cycles, was formed to concentrate on building tough carrier cycles which were designed to withstand the abuse thrown at them by errand boys.

In 1936 the company was incorporated as W.R. Pashley Ltd and moved to a larger new factory (over 30,000 square feet) in Chester Street, Aston. As prosperity returned after the depression the company increasingly focused on delivery and vending tricycles - for dairy products, ice cream and general deliveries.

In the 1930s Pashley made almost every single part of their cycles in their own factory - for the frames, only the tubing and lugs were bought in. Frame building, brakes, wheels, sheet metal work, polishing and enamelling were all carried out in the works.

War Years

During the Second World War, Pashley, like many other engineering firms, turned some of its production capacity over to aid the war effort. Pashley's multi-disciplinary manufacturing capability proved to be of considerable value and the company produced browning machine gun mounts among other equipment.

Post War

In the years following the war carrier cycles were still in high demand but it was the continuation of the supply of larger tricyles, and the infant development of the motor car for the mass market that received most of Pashley's attention. Having made motor rickshaws in the late 1940s, Pashley started the manufacture of Brockhouse Indian Motor Tricycles in 1950 - J. Brockhouse and Co. of Birmingham having acquired the Indian Motorcycle Company of Massachusetts and sub-contracted the manufacture to Pashley. These had a conventional 'two wheels at the back' tricycle layout, similar to the Pashley Pelican motorised rickshaw - with seats for up to four passengers - and the driver. It is understood that Pashley were the first company to fit hydraulic brakes to what was, technically, a motorcycle]]. This innovation may have been influenced by Rath's younger son, John Pashley, who worked at Girling. The prototype Pelican Rickshaw has been returned to the company and awaits restoration.

Pashley also moved briefly into car manufacture in 1953, again with a conventional tricycle layout. Perhaps the most successful of the motorised Pashley tricycles was the '3cwt Light Delivery Truck' with a Kendrick wheel layout. This meant two wheels at the front, giving the driver a view of both the loadspace and the overall vehicle width, useful for manoeuvering in tight spaces.

As more conventional motorised transport became available to most businesses in the in the early 1960s, Pashley's focus moved away from motorised vehicles and, together with the carrier cycles, trolleys, carts and street barrows, large number of road trailers were manufactured, both as simple chassis and fully bodied.

The 1960s and a Production Move

The 1960s was a pivotal era for Pashley. Rath's son, Dick, took control of the company on his father's retirement. Dick had recently moved to Stratford-upon-Avon, and took the bold decision to move the company from Aston to brand new premises on Masons Road, Stratford. At one time Pashley had three factories all in the Masons road area. Production Manager John Kirby began working for the company in 1968 and remains with Pashley to this day.

With the advent of small wheel bicycles, pioneered by Alex Moulton in 1962, Dick Pashley developed a simple 'shopping' tricycle, now known as the Pashley Picador. Many thousands of these have been sold since, users benefiting from the stability and low step-through frame. It's all welded construction was very unusual for the cycle industry at the time, and many years were to pass before other manufacturers adopted this method. A similar two wheeled shopping bicycle, the Piccolo, was also manufactured.

As traditional roadster bicycles began being removed from the ranges of other British manufacturers, Pashley decided to focus on classic roadsters. Some companies sold rebadged Pashley Roadsters in the 1980s and 1990s. These were built to the original 1920s design. For many years versions of these saw service in large numbers under the patronage of UNICEF. Pashley still make a traditional roadster bicycle and it is still in demand in UK and export markets.

Pashley Workbikes and the Royal Mail

Since inception Pashley has provided carrier cycles to industry and commerce. One of the early, equal wheel carrier cycles Pashley sold in the 1930s (the 'Model L' for £7.10.0) had a front metal tubular carrier and nameplate in a similar manner to the 'Courier' that the company sells currently. This led on to motorised delivery tricycles and the manufacture of ice-cream carts, railway station platform refreshment trolleys and specialist units for the dairy and catering trades. The company continues to make ice cream vending tricycles (Classic 33) and carts (MPVC) alongside its other workbike products. In 1974 Pashley acquired Gundle, the only other surviving manufacturer of carrier cycles. This cemented their position in the market for this type of bike. For many years Gundle models were built alongside the Pashley range, before being absorbed into the Pashley RH range. The RH range was named after Rath's local public house - 'The Robin Hood' in Hall Green. Pashley also made 'SW' (Small Wheel) bikes and does so today under the name 'Delibike' (see above image).

With Pashley's history and expertise mainly devoted to the carrier cycle, it is unsurpising that by the late 1970s Pashley was supplying bikes to the Royal Mail.

The original Royal Mail designed mail delivery cycle was single speed and equipped with rod operated brakes. Pashley was one of a small number of UK manufacturers (including Townsends Cycles) to produce this bike and in the 1990s became the sole supplier. During the mid 1990s Pashley proposed interim upgrades to the 1992 Royal Mail design which resulted in the 'Millenium' model. This had wider tyres, reliable drum brakes and for the first time provided postal delivery staff with 3 gears.

At the turn of the 21st Century Pashley were faced with international competition for the supply of Royal Mail bicycles. For the first time Royal Mail required the supplier to design the bicycle as well as manufacture it. Pashley had been developing a new load carrying bicycle called the 'Pronto' which by employing a step through frame design would allow mail and goods to be safely carried both at the front and the rear of the cycle. This was put forward to the Royal Mail. 3 suppliers from the original 8 European tendering companies were shortlisted and a year-long test programme commenced. This involved 180 bicycles from the 3 manufacturers. Eventually the Pronto was chosen. The Royal Mail named it 'The Mailstar' and deliveries began in 2001. Pashley continue to supply the Royal Mail although vans and trolleys are replacing much of the bike fleet. Under its original name of Pronto the bikes are still used for all types of deliveies by other companies in the UK and abroad.

Product Development, Acquisitions and Mergers

Pashley launched the 'Pickle' childrens tricycle in 1981. It was closely modelled on the Raleigh 'Winkie' trike of the 1950s and featured proper Ball bearing hubs, headset, bottom bracket and pedals. This made it better to ride and more resilient than cheaper competitors. Pashley tandems made a re-appearence in the late 1970s with the introduction of the 'Tourmaster'. These were constructed along more simple lines that conventional tandems, and, like the Picador, used a lugless construction. As a result they were versatile and inexpensive which made them popular.

In 1984 Pashley launched what was to be the last 'all British' bike - the 'Patriot'. This was a conventional sports light roadster design with all the components sourced from the UK. Some components became unavailable and the Patriot name was later used on a 24" wheel hire bike.

For much of the 1990s Pashley were producing one, two and three-wheeled cycles. Unicycles were an intersting side-line for the company and as well as standard and tall ('Giraffe') models Pashley created the UMX (BMX type) and the 'Muni' (Mountain Unicycle). This particular model was successful at off-road cycling events and the term Muni became a generic term for off-road unicycles thereafter.

In late 1994 the Pashley family relinquished control to the employees in a management buyout.

All Pashley bikes are still hand built in their factory in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. The bikes use steel tubes supplied by Reynolds Cycle Technology and saddles by Brooks.

See also

• List of bicycle manufacturing companies

External links

• Pashley's website

Vídeos

• www.youtube.com Video Pashley Bicycles @ Interbike 2010 Part 1
• www.youtube.com Video Pashley Bicycles @ Interbike 2010 Part 2
• www.vimeo.com Video How Pashley Cycles are Made and Why
• www.flickr.com Video elegance in motion