Pasha Coxhill and Co are spearheading a new wave of bicycle enthusiasm in Liverpool. SHUBs Richard MacDonald interviews this charming gent and discovers some of his brilliant creations.
Q: So who are you?
A: I'm Pasha Coxhill and this is the Number 2 Bike Company.
Q: What were the motivations for the company?
A: I used to work for Cycling Solutions, a company in Liverpool who go into schools to teach kids, ages 9-10, how to ride bicyles on the road. They got a massive gig off the council to get new bikes into deprived areas and they needed a mechanic to sign the bikes off as officallyroadworthy so I got the job doing that. The must have been about 400 bikes, so I learnt a lot about bike maintainance and getting them running.
The hours from that job started dwindling a bit as the funding was being cut and I thought 'Uh Oh, i've gotta get some money' well I knew a bit about bikes and i've got a mate down at the tip and I know Bulky Bob (a company working with councils to recycle and reuse bulky household waste) so I went to Bulky Bob and said “look give me any old bikes, I'll give you a fiver each bike, take them home, do them up and sell them on... just to make some money... to pay the rent, then it went crazy!
Ride with us on tall bikes, wooden bikes and bike jousting, after the jump...
Q: So it was set up for profit?
A: Originally, yeah it was, but not now... not at all... now it's all not for profit... sort of steering towards a community based thing, then when any profits I make (he laughs) will someform or other go back into the community. So it can be free workshops, giving bikes away, anything like that, anyway to get rid of the money, get people on bikes and get rid of the bikes.
Q: You have hundreds of bikes here, are they all from the tip or do you get people donating things?
A: Sometimes, yeah. We've had a few really good donations now and again. We had a couple of old guys who brought down their old gear and said 'you can have it'. I was expecting really crap mountain bikes and they brought in... wow... everything was Campagnolo, shiny, ran like a dream. We've still got some of it here, some really expensive things. There are some really generous people out there. This fella, took us to the boot of his car and we were like, “Oooh, it's Christmas, oh my God”. We laid them all out over the floor and all of our geeky mates were like “Oh my God, look at this stuff” for about three hours. You see, it's never crap with the old boys though, they're always well maintained.
Q: Your primary thing is getting old bikes and making them roadworthy and getting them to people, there is a big green and eco-friendly aspect to this, is that something you care about?
A: Only so far as who you do personally, the way you live your life, things you eat etc... I'm not some sort of mad eco-warrior.
Q: What do you think of cycling activism then? Groups such as Critical Mass?
A: (he takes a deep sigh) That's my pet bugbear man, that one. To be honest most of the people i've met in Critical Mass are sound, really really sound. But to get cycling across to people who may not appreciate how difficult it can be sometimes, doing in en masse, stopping traffic etc... it's not the way to go.
Q: Disruptive rather than constructive?
A: Yeah, totally. 'Cos all they are going to get from that is... say your're a car driver and you're stuck behind 20 cyclists you'll be naggy and you'll end up hating them. We should rather teach people how to ride bikes on the road properly then there'll be no problem.
Q: With the recession, cycling is becoming more popular, have you noticed an increase in interest?
A: Well we've been going for... i've been in here [the workshop] for eight months, the last two months – two and a bit – it's really started to kick off. It's a weird thing, Liverpool has never really been much of a cycling town, or it's never seemed to be. Everyone was saying “Oh God, you don't want to cycle in Liverpool man y'know. But now people see other cyclists, there are much more of us... I guess people don't feel quite so scared in company, y'know. It's brilliant. The more people on bikes the better.
Q: You've also got a collection of interesting and unusual bikes. Tell us about them.
A: We've got all sorts. We've recently had an exhibition (2 Wheels Good http://www.hightideuk.org/index.htm), it was sort of any bike that ever wanted to make, this was to be the excuse to make it. So a friend of ours, Leo, he made a bike from construction grade plywood and it's beautiful... was beautiful until someone took off the wheels... (he looks guilty and laughs) ...but when it was running it was
lovely, you'd ride around on it and as you'd go around corners it would creak like an old
sailboat, creeeek! Beautiful.
Q: What about your Tall Bikes?
A: Oh yeah, Tall Bikes as well! We've made loads of Tall Bikes. (Essentially two bike frames welded on top of each other, making the rider five feet above the ground!) I was spending too much time on the internet one night and found this, I think they're called the 'Black Labels' (Black Label Bike Club), in the States. They like Tall Bike gang, like Hells Angels with Tall Bikes. They do jousting and stuff, things like that on them. So we went down to
the workshop and built one and everybody loved it so we built four or five and weve got loads of them now.
Q: Do you do your own jousting?
A: We do! You should come down, jousting, destruction derby. We do it once a month, we call it bike wars. We just go down, smash about on bikes and then come back here, BBQ, beer, sit off and chat, enjoyable.
Q: Do people often ask you to build custom bikes for them?
A: We do have them. But they very rarely come through. I dont think they appreciate how much time and it takes and really... it wouldn't be expensive expensive but it's not going to
be cheap cheap either. Sometimes they back off when they see the time and money... and I suppose they won't have a bike then when it's in here and i'm working on it. But one day I hope to get into proper, proper bike building. 'cos i'm not a bike builder – I think that's a different, different category. Those guys are proper craftsmen If you know what I mean. I'm just a grubby handed mechanic.
Q: Have you always been into mechanics?
A: I've always been into fixing stuff... or breaking stuff. It's the same thing really, like the difference between genius and madness. As a kid i'd take things apart, breaking things just to fix them. Same thing, slightly different.
Q: What are your plans for the future? Bike building proper?
A: Ha ha, that for me is probably a dream rather than an actual serious plan. The main plans for the future of this place and bike recycling is to start up what's called an alternative education provider, for kids, young adults who don't do so well at school. They can come here outside of school and still learn stuff. At the minute I'm working with the Council and the Police, running workshops for kids who truant a lot or get bullied. They can come down here and they can still fulfil the things they need for the Curriculum but they can do it outside of school. We haven't done a lot so far, only two but they get something out of it.
It's a personality thing I think. They want to know that you are not going to turn and suddenly become some sort of horrible teacher type. Which is good because I was a total nightmare at school. I'm sort of those kids thirty years on. So I am in a good place to help them out really, there is no pressure for them they come along do what they pretty much want to do. The only thing with me is that if they start something they have to finish it. They can take as long as they want to finish it as long as they get it done it's magic.
Thanks to Pasha and the Number 2 Bike Company.
All photos/videos belong to Richard MacDonald.
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