Thought you might appreciate some pictures from the bike shops in India. The manufacturers support their dealers with lots of advertising, most of which is done the old fashioned way, with painted signs like the one above.
Of course a large percentage of the bikes are roadsters. This is unlike China where a dwindling amount of the stock in the dealers is composed of brake road bikes. Here is some new stock being moved in. Notice the bikes are shipped almost fully assembled, complete with the fender ornament which marks one of them as Atlas Brand. The two closer bikes are Avon Brand.
And of course repairs are done as well. Like in china the mechanics, at least in my brief experience, do not have a workstand but tend to work on the floor, sidewalk or street. Here are more new roadsters waiting to be unwrapped.
One can purchase an Indian roadster here in the States- through Yellow Jersey, a bike shop in Madison, WI. The brand is Eastman, nice looking bikes, but the graphics leave a bit to be desired. They look more like the ones on that Scud. I wonder if an Avon or Atlas-branded roadster wouldn't be more desireable and sell better? Especially with the renewed interest in dutch bikes right now...
Posted by: Dadabean | March 24, 2009 at 02:40 AM
I've just bought a Hero. Heard that Hero is the largest bicycle manufacturer in India. do they have alot of these bikes on the road? Would luv to see some vintage Hero. Mine's a fully enclosed chaincase. Olive green.
Posted by: 12inchtoyscollector | March 24, 2009 at 09:59 AM
Hero is indeed the largest bike manufacturer IN THE WORLD...or so they claim. There are many, many, many of them on the road. Some old some new.
Posted by: JS | March 24, 2009 at 11:19 AM