Bicycle rickshaws are pretty common in China and I had always wanted to try one. They are even more common in India, and hey, I am on vacation so why not give it a shot? As my wife and I walk around the streets of Jaipur, we are hounded by one pedicab driver who really, really wants to give us a lift. You can only say no thanks so many times, so I decide to turn his pestering into an opportunity.
"I'll give you 10 Rupee if you let me pedal your rickshaw down the street"
I should have suspected something was up as he readily and cheerily agrees. As I get into the saddle I realize that the frame size on this bike is for too big for my 29in inseam. Every stroke of the pedals threatens to turn me from a baritone to a falsetto. Also, I find it almost impossible to steer the beast. Turn the bars right, the bike will turn hard right. Turn them left, it will still go right. What the ...??? The driver tries to help, but I think he actually was pulling me in the wrong direction.
It also weighs a lot. As I was to find out later, the average rickshaw is 125KG WITHOUT passengers...and no gears for hills. My hats are off to the guys who make this their living. They must have some great quadriceps.
Very cool!
I have the secret of steering one of those things for you:
The rear wheels are fixed to the axle, so to go left you turn the bars left and lean RIGHT. Vice versa for turning to the right.
Posted by: ubrayj02 | March 03, 2009 at 12:07 AM