A Brief History of Pasq & the ADV1 (so far)
We have visited with a lot of people at rallies, expos, and just going down the road. The questions are often the same, so we put this video together to answer some of those common questions:
- Where is Pasq headquartered?
- What does Pasq mean?
- How do you say, Pasq?
- How long have you been working on the ADV1?
- Where did the idea come from?
- Are you part of a large company?
- What is the ADV1 made of?
- And many more…
So come along for a short trip down memory lane as we explain the hows, whens, wheres, and whys of Pasq and the ADV1.
Video transcript:
In Oct of 2019, Rod started to explore building his dream trailer. He started with PVC hoping to have someone make it in metal for him later. After seeing the PVC prototype and doing some research, he and his partners decided to explore it as a business. They were super lucky and stumbled upon design engineer and motorcyclist, Luke Pomranky, who quickly signed on! They enlisted Warp9 wheel makers to make a custom wheel
And they eventually found an air shock made by Fox that worked perfectly.
They started reaching out to pannier manufacturers, hoping to get a partnership or two going. The first to respond were the good people at Giant Loop!
In September of 2020, the company was incorporated. A name, of course, was required. After a lot of brainstorming and dithering, the team decided on Pasq, which is a modified spelling of a hearty purple prairie flower. It was also trademarkable!
The logo came next. A lot of options were considered, but in the end a simple, elegant design that could be seen as a bird flying to the right, or a trail between two mountains seemed perfect.
2020 was spent with Luke putting in long hours designing in SolidWorks CAD software, and then he and Rod continually refined.
The team set a deadline to launch the trailer at the BMW MOA national Rally in Great Falls, Montana, in mid-June of 2021. The first step was to get the tubing laser cut and bent to their exact specifications. Pasq is headquartered in Chicago. The tubes were cut and bent in Milwaukee, and then transported to Barnstormer, a custom metal shop about 60 miles south of Chicago.
It was when the tubes arrived at Alex and Amada’s shop that the magic began.
After a week Luke and Rod took a day trip to Barnstormer to check out the progress and to see the jigs they’d made to assemble and weld the ADV1. Everyone was nervous because they had a very tight deadline to make it to Montana in time. All the branded stuff started coming in to take to the rally.
After a few days, everyone headed back to barnstormer to assemble the very first ADV1 prototype
And to take it on its very first pull, behind Rod’s Super Tenere.
The ADV1 was quickly disassembled on the very day it was assembled, and on their way back to Chicago, Luke & Rod dropped everything off at a powder coater. Rod & Luke reassembled the now black ADV1, put on the decals, and headed across the great plains to Great Falls and the BMW MOA national rally. It was a huge success and the booth was mobbed the whole rally. They were also able to pull the ADV1 behind a 1250GS for the first time, which requires a special axle adaptor.
After getting back to Chicago, they were able to finally place the ADV1 next to the PVC prototype that started it all to see how far they’d come. At the MOA rally, Luke & Rod met the team at Denali Electronics. The Denali team made it clear they would love to help out the development of the ADV1 by providing lights and a much needed wiring harness. Also at the rally, they met the folks at Jessie Panniers, and another amazing partnership was formed.
With winter’s February grip on Chicago, Luke and Rod turned south. They spent a couple of weeks in Arizona testing as well as taking photos and video. They were able to get some off-road time as well as highway miles. They were thrilled with its off-road abilities but were surprised to find they weren’t happy with the ADV1’s performance at higher speeds.
While the team headed to Overland Expo West in Flagstaff—where the ADV1 made several “best of show” lists. Luke was hard at work looking for options to improve higher-speed performance. He found the perfect solution: the trapezoid hinge. He quickly made a proof of concept prototype out of off-the-shelf hardware. The trapezoid hinge proved to be amazing. It turns as a hinge should when you’re steering your bike with the handle bars. But when you’re going straight and steering by leaning, it locks. You are then NOT a motorcycle pulling a 1-wheeled trailer, but instead a 3-wheeled vehicle that is perfectly stable at all speeds. The team spent the summer of ’22 showing off the ADV1 at a variety of rallies and expos around the country. The nearly universal positive reaction was beyond their expectations. They also made version 2 of the trapezoid hinge, which was closer to what they wanted for the final design. As of October 2022, the final design is nearly complete. It’s very different from the original prototype, but at the same time very similar. It will carry the same amount of gear, but is nearly 2 feet shorter and about 25 pounds lighter. It will be made without welding, but will still have the 6 inches of suspension travel and will handle off-road conditions as well as highways.
Delivery of the ADV1 is planned for Spring of 2023.
