Pashley, the longest established British bicycle manufacturer and Morgan, the longest established British automotive manufacturer, are collaborated on two hand-built concept bicycles.
Building a car with just three wheels instead of four wasn’t enough for that most historic of automakers Morgan. The company has just launched a collaboration with bicycle company Pashley that will see a pair of bike models built taking inspiration from the automaker’s cars.
Morgan Motor is known for building new old cars. The company builds cars like the Plus 4 and 3 Wheeler that are mostly unchanged from when they launched. Which happened prior to World War II. Pashley Cycles is nearly as old as Morgan. Founded in 1926, it is the longest established British bicycle manufacturer.
Both companies are known for building their wares the way they have since the beginning. Hand-crafted, using traditional methods, materials, and styling. All things that have come back into style with consumers tired of mass production plastic and planned obsolescence.
“Pashley and Morgan share many similarities including our unrivaled heritage, design innovation and British craftsmanship and this is evidenced in the beautiful bicycles we have produced. These bicycles will appeal to Morgan car owners and discerning cyclists alike,” said Pashley Managing Director Adrian Williams.
The Pashley-Morgan collaboration will start with two bicycles, set to arrive this summer. The bikes were penned by a team of designers from both companies. Which probably means that the two designers met up in their local pub and penned the drawing on the back of a chip wrapper. Or at least that’s how we picture it, seeing the meeting through the tobacco haze of a window that was installed sometime before the first settlers arrived in Canada.
The bicycles will be labelled the Pashley-Morgan 8 and the Pashley-Morgan 3. The numbers represent the number of gears in the rear hubs, with the eight gear hub coming from Shimano and the three gear model from Sturmey Archer.
The bikes will be hand-built at Pashley’s Stratford-upon-Avon factory using high-end components. Reynolds 631 steel tubing bent into the curved top tube, Brooks vulcanized rubber saddles, and a vintage-look domed headlight powered by a dynamo mounted to the front hub.
As a nod to the wooden bracing Morgan is known for, the cycles will have wooden mudguards and chainguards, black ash for the 8 and walnut for the 3. The wooden bits will be made in Morgan’s own woodshop. Handlebar grips will be made from hand-stitched leather, in colours chosen to complement the seat materials.
The bicycles will go on sale this fall, through select Pashley dealers worldwide. Which makes them a slight bit easier to find in Canada than the cars.
Images © Morgan-Pashley
Keyword: Historic Automaker Morgan Planning Two-Wheeler