The Flying Pigeon Project

Indian Roadsters Part 3, The Details

Indian bikes had a lot of surprises for me. While Chinese bikes have many simplified details to facilitate maintenance and assembly, Indian bikes have taken a different route while still achieving high levels of mass production and durability.

Bike stands: 

Most Chinese roadsters have a sidestand with a rear wheel stand being reserved for 28" frames or utility bikes, but in India, there are no sidestands on roadsters. All seemed to have a rear wheel stand exclusively.

Rear package rack:

Chinese roadsters have package rack that are usually a tubular affair that bolt right to the seat clamp. In my mind this is a very logical simplification. Indian roadsters however, have package racks that CLAMP to the rear frame tubes in a "dutch" style. The package rack itself is also somewhat larger and made of I-beam pressed steel strips and not tubes.  Really heavy duty racks like the one below are riveted from steel strips.

 

Decorative Hardware:

Indian roadsters definitely have it one up on Chinese bikes in this regard. First there are the detailed chainrings which I had mentioned last time. Additionally there are lots of little things like fender ornaments. Although these are not unknown on Chinese roadsters, they are certainly uncommon. In India though almost every bike seemed to have one.

 

Other items like the fork brackets show a higher level of detail as well like this one from a BSA. Yes, BSA bikes are still made in India.

Badges, Paint and Decals:

As you might have seen from the bikes above, most, if not all Indian Roadsters have a badge riveted to the rear fender. This is different than Chinese roadsters where this place is usually occupied by a decal.

Other finishing details were highly variable between brands with the best offering nothing to criticize. However a on an unusually large number of bikes the quality of these finishing details seemed to be haphazardly applied. Decals are often overly thick, applied off center and not covered by clear coat. One bike had a decal that said "Latest German Paint Technology". Clearly while the company management might think that is a selling point, I doubt anyone else does. The decal was peeling and the "German paint"  had somehow been dripped /sprayed onto parts of the brake rods. But you have to remember these bikes are built to withstand hostile monsoons and cratered roads. They need to resist rust first and foremost and look pretty second. Although, as I was to find out later some looked very pretty indeed.

Operational Hardware:

Quite simply, all the bikes had Philips style side pull rod brakes. There was not a single center pull to be seen. All had westwood rims. No drum brakes or coaster brakes were in evidence. All were single gear.

Seats:

Seats came in several forms, all of them were heavily sprung to withstand the harsh road conditions. There was a plunger type sprung seat, where the springs pull rather than compress with a shock. Then there is the ore conventional (to western eyes) hairpin spring type saddle. Another type had normal compression springs but acted on a pivot under the seat nose. Occasionally this type could be seen with 3 rear springs. This seemed to be the most comfortable of the types I saw.

None of these seat types are readily found in China.

   

Indian Roadsters: Part 2, The Bikes

In my previous post I talked about the riding conditions in India. These conditions among other factors seem to have had a role in how roadsters have evolved in India vs. China. Let's take a look.

1. One of the first things I noticed was that none of the bikes I saw had a chain case. Although some of the manufacturers websites show a chain case, I did not see one on the road, all the bikes either have a hockey stick chain guard or an extended "super chain guard", but this does not encompass the chain, it is only one sided. I suspect that in the monsoon rains a chain case would probably make a significant water-catch and soon rot away. Almost all Chinese roadsters, by comparison, have a chain case.

2.  Of course the normal hockey stick chain guard creates  a great opportunity to advertise the name of the brand. All the bikes I saw had some type of elaborate chainring displaying the name of the make.

3. No step-through frames. 99.9% of the bikes I saw were diamond frame. I saw only a handful of step-throughs. There maybe a number of reasons for this. A step-through frame is somewhat less durable than a diamond frame. I am sure that is part of it, however I think the main reason is that women don't ride. During my two weeks there I saw two ...only two... ladies pedaling a bike. Perhaps fashion plays a part. After-all, who wants to get their elegant and expensive saree all into a sweaty tangle? I speculate of course, maybe a reader knows better? The one below is certainly a rarity.

4. No baskets. Almost every bike in China has a powder-coated wire basket in front of the handlebars to carry groceries, etc. Not so in India. Instead riders seem to prefer using the "rat trap" package rack, or just hanging a bag over the handlebars.

5. No small frames. Almost all bikes had 28" wheels to boot. Perhaps, Indians tend are a bit taller than Chinese, so this may have something to do with it, but even children were riding bikes with 28" wheels. So again, I think durability may be the key.

6. Durability is number one. With names like "Atlas" and "Hercules" you get the impression that strength and durability are paramount to Indian buyers. As a result many of the bikes we saw were double-bars, like this delivery bike. And check out the number of spokes: By my count it is a 64 spoke wheel! Talk about strength!

But the Indian manufacturers have taken the double top bar concept even further. How about a Four-bar?

Still not strong enough? Check out this Ashoka utility trike. Yep. That's an Eight-Bar frame!!!!

Of course these bikes must far outweigh my Flying Pigeon's puny 40lb frame. At some point something is going to give and apparently some manufacturers have realized that there is more than one way to add strength. For example, take a look at the large diameter tube roadster. I saw these with both lugged and welded frames.

Or maybe something even more advanced like this welded frame, oval tube roadster.

More about Indian Roadsters, next time!

Indian Roadsters: Part 1

Yes. I know. This is a blog about Chinese Roadsters. Specifically traditional, brake-rod, lugged framed roadsters. But this digression is too good to pass up.

The recent Chinese New Year celebration allowed me and my wife some vacation time in sunnier climes. So we hopped a flight south of the border... to India. Although, I knew that India had it's own tradition of brake rod roadsters, I had no idea exactly how truly elephantine this tradition was. 

For example did you know that Tube Investments,the famed one-time mother company of Raleigh still exists in India? And still manufacturers Hercules, Philips and BSA brake rod roadsters?

Or maybe that arguably the largest bike manufacturer in the world, Hero is also located in India?

There is clearly a lot to talk about here. So, I will be covering it in many parts, so as not to test your endurance.

First, there are some keen differences in the environment between India and China. India is a beautiful country, with some of the most beautiful places I have been to. But getting to them can be something of a chore. Indian road conditions are almost universally bad. The pavement is simultaneously in a state of construction, destruction, neglect and over use. This is symptomatic of a country whose economy is spinning faster than a Bollywood dance number. 

However, unlike China where most cities that allow bicycles have dedicated lanes, there were no such lanes in the Indian cities we visited. This means as a rider you will share the road with cars, trucks, tuk-tuks, camels, elephants, cows, and many, many motorcycles and scooters. 

Because the transportation infrastructure is not as highly developed as China, it also means the vehicles must suit. The Chinese are moving away from bicycles as day to day transport at a rapid pace. But in India, the story is still at an earlier chapter. On Indian roads a high powered sports car or motorcycle would prove a very ineffective and uncomfortable transportation tool, but a bicycle...make that a rugged and reliable brake rod roadster...well, that is just fine. In fact, the vast majority of bicycles I saw were brake rod roadsters and they were an even larger percentage of the overall traffic than here in China. 

And the bikes must be rugged, and not just because of the road conditions. Unlike in China where there is a "Bike Doctor" on most streets to fix your flat, India has instead a sparser distribution of larger (but still small) bike shops.

Of course, the incredible press of traffic often means that going by bike can be the best way to get around. Or so it seemed to me. You can check it out in this video I took while visiting Delhi's famed and beautiful Red Fort.

Potato Sidecar

One of the great street foods of Beijing are hot sweet potatoes. In winter you can often find vendors with a 55 gallon drum converted into a stove serving out sweet potatoes near subways stations and bus stops. Many of these are mounted on bikes and trikes. Like this one mounted sidecar-style on a Flying Pigeon.

Just throw a couple of briquets of hot coal in the bottom of the stove and put the potatoes on top. Brilliant. Makes a nice warm snack for walking around the town...and a convenient handwarmer. Go ahead! Buy two and put them in your pockets! Also makes a convenient side dish to take home for dinner. Delicious!