Originally Posted by
cudak888
Come to think of it, Pashley got away with the Guv'nor because it was released at the height of a retro-vintage hipster market when nobody else was making a stripped down roadster with a light, steampunk aesthetic. Perfect timing.
For a while I was under the spell of many of Pashley's offerings, including the Guv'nor... Then as I learned more about the early twentieth century bicycles that the current lineup is supposedly inspired by, I realized how modern the vision behind the new bikes actually is... Very little semblance of what actually was, and much more of a facade created by trends such as those you mention, like Victorian steampunk. Now I wouldn't dream of owning any Pashley bike - especially because all of the 24.5" models, which is my ideal frame size, have silly double top tubes that would have typically been reserved for even larger or workhorse frames.
Marketing follies abound, even among the venerated!
-Gregory