THE CREATOR
The Passchier handlebars story (pronounced pash-air) goes back to 1978 when Dirk Passchier started kayaking and, being of Dutch descent, saw fit to create his own kayak paddles out of bamboo. Long story short, he experimented in his workshop with multiple construction techniques, endless testing and refinements.
The resulting paddles proved to offer a degree of comfort and flex that traditional Kevlar paddles couldn’t deliver. Confirmation of how good his paddles were was echoed by a mate of his, Tim Tayler, who was paddling around New Zealand. Tim dropped into New Brighton on his way and was convinced into taking Dirk’s paddles for a whirl. The following day and 86kms later, Tim had no interest in giving them back, as it was the first day that he finished up without sore shoulders.
40 years later, Dirk bumps into Mike, who being a biker, figured out that if you could make kayak paddles out of bamboo that delivered comfort and style, then it would be worth a go to use the decades of knowledge that Dirk had gained to create some bamboo handlebars, that delivered the same benefits.
Many dusty hours in Dirk’s workshop, involving building, testing, building again and more testing, has delivered what we (and those that use them) think as something that is pretty special and just a little bit different.
To be continued… RIDE ON