Interbike 2008: Pashley Guv'nor

Pashley Guv'nor

This beautiful bike is a throw back to an early 1930’s model that Pashley built and carried. This new version was built early last year for one of the owners as a personal bike. It was never intended to get moved into their product line. However, a last minute decision put it in the shipping container for 2007 Interbike and just a few minutes into the show a dealer signed up to buy twenty of them so they decided there might be a market for the bike afterall.

Here’s the description from the Pashley web site:

It features a Pashley built Reynolds 531 diamond frame (in 20.5, 22.5 and 24.5* inch sizes), with relaxed style forks, Brooks B17 Titanium saddle, drop North Road handlebars – with leather grips, a single speed rear wheel, with 28 inch gold lined black alloy rims and light tyres being used front and back. The Guv’nor is also available as a 3 speed model.

Today I got a chance to actually throw a leg over the Pashley Guv’nor and take it for a short spin.

It was definitely a different style ride as the handlebars have a big bend in them yet your saddle is still higher than the bars so it feels very compact. While seated it was pretty comfortable and felt extremely stable at high speeds. The steel frame does a great job sucking up vibrations and bumps.

Since I was riding a singlespeed I had to get out of the saddle to climb the hill and that’s when it felt to weird for me. My hands were so far back and underneath me that I felt pretty unstable. This could very well be something I could get used to, but the five minutes I spent doing it was unsettling.

All in, if you’re into a classic style bike, I can’t imagine a better fit than the Pashley Guv’nor.

MSRP:. £795.00 (approx $1475.00)

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