Pashley Cycles

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This article is about a bicycle company; for the explorer and antiquarian, see Robert Pashley.

Pashley Cycles is a British bicycle manufacturer based in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon. The company has been making bicycles for over seventy years.

Pashley Cycles was formed by William 'Rath' Pashley in 1926. Previously, he had ridden as a dispatch rider in the First World War and gained engineering experience as an apprentice with Austin Motors. Initially the small company called Pashley and Barber (his wife's maiden name) manufactured all manner of bikes, but it was in carrier cycles that Pashley made their name.

The first premises were set up in Digbeth in Birmingham, but due to increasing demand larger premises were acquired in Aston. In 1936 the business, then known as Pashley Carrier Cycles, was incorporated as a limited liability company and became WR Pashley Ltd.

Originally almost every component was made in-house. Only the tubing and lugs were bought in. This allowed constant product development and a very high level of quality control.

After the depression, Pashley supplied the Wall's ice cream Stop Me and Buy One tricycles, with two wheels at the front and one at the back. Other businesses began to take advantage of Pashley's carrier cycles. Two-wheeled load carriers like the small front wheeled 'Deli Bike' became favourites with butchers, milkmen and vintners amongst others.

With the advent of the World War II, bike production was turned over to the war effort and Pashley's production line was halted in order to manufacture munitions. Coach-building work was also undertaken to convert Rolls-Royces and Daimlers into ambulances for use in civil defence.

After the war the company began making small motorised vehicles. The Pashley Pelican was a rickshaw-styled transporter of goods and people utilising Royal Enfield or BSA motorcycle front ends. These vehicles along with the standard carrier cycles proved popular abroad with exports to Denmark and Holland in Europe and South Africa and Argentina further afield. The Canadian Police made use of the motor rickshaw to collect money from parking meters.

In the 1960s Pashely supplied the Post Office after the factory of their previous suppliers, the Co-op, was closed down. The initial contract was split between Pashley's, Wearwell and Harmanco.

Eventually Pashley's took over the entire contract and so it remains to this day. With a current fleet of around 37,000 bikes the Royal Mail, as it is now known, remains Pashley's largest customer. When tendering for contract recently Pashley produced the revolutionary Mailstar bike.

During the 1960s, domestic demand for industrial and carrier cycles had begun to wane and Pashley's main area of production was manufacturing car trailers on mail order for Freeman's and other catalogue companies. With a move to Masons Road in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1963 came a shift in emphasis back to cycle production.

William Pashley's son Richard realised that the load-carrying tricycle favoured by industry could be converted for leisure use for those who were unable or unwilling to ride a standard bicycle. The result was the Pashley Picador. It was shorter and lighter than its industrial counterpart, and used round tubing instead of box-section frame.

In the early 1970s Pashley continued to adapt existing carrier bikes for use by the general public. The front carrier was removed and the lugs replaced on an even-wheeled work bike. A little further modification meant that Pashley could produce an old-fashioned roadster. In the middle of 1970s Pashley also started to produce the Pickle child's tricycle based on the Raleigh Winkie of the 1950s.

Pashley continued to supply the Post Office with its bikes through the 1970s and 80s and that side of the business grew. It also acquired Gundles in 1974, who were the last other surviving manufacturer of work bikes. This provided a strong base from which Pashley could continue to develop its range of consumer products. It started to make tandems, and adapted tricycles for special needs. Eventually the ladies' Classic Princess emerged with a low step-through frame and wicker basket to the front. In the early 1908s, A small shop was rented in the centre of Stratford-upon-Avon.

In 1991 the quality of Pashley's frame-building was recognised by Alex Moulton who chose the company to make its more economically priced all-purpose bikes. The bike was launched in the spring of 1992. In 1994 a management buy-out took control of the company, allowing them to explore new commercial opportunities and developments in cycling. A licensing deal soon followed and in the autumn of the following year Pashley and Land Rover teamed up to produce a special Moulton Bicycle.

Pashley continued to develop new products throughout the 1990s, partly through acquisition and partly in-house. The absorption of Creswell Cycles in 1997 brought folding bikes and tag-along trailers into the product range while a double-looped frame designed for paratroopers in the war was developed in-house to further the Land Rover range. The Land Rover XCB 26-inch wheel cross-country bike had suspension forks, suspension seat post and disc brakes. Since the 1990s, Pashley have also developed BMX and trials bikes.