The Flying Pigeon Project

Indian Roadsters Part 8: Bicyclopedia India

I have compiled a little visual index of all the different roadsters I came across while traveling in India: Bicyclopedia India. Overall there are 32 different brands...and those are just the ones that I saw in my short stint there. 

Almost all originate in Ludhiana, India which must make it the roadster capital of the planet. Ludhiana is sometimes known as "The Manchester of India" because of it's industrial capacity. But these days, I'd wager the Punjabi city far exceeds Manchester in industrial output.

For future reference and convenience, I've also placed a link to the Bicyclopedia India over on the left-hand border. Enjoy.

Indian Roadsters Part 7: A Visit to the Dealer

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.

Indian Roadsters Part 6: Indian Oddballs

This post isn't really so much about roadsters as about some of the odd bicycles we saw in India.

First there was this bike. Some kind of urban mountain bike/BMX hybrid I suppose. But it is not the design that caught my eye, it was the brand: "SCUD". Not really the first name in quality.

 

Then there was this bike. What is it? We saw many of them. Give up? It is a road going wheelchair. The occupant has a "pedal for each hand. Some of them also have tiller steering leading me to believe that those models had linked wheels. 

There there is this gentleman: The Rabbi of Pushkar. Not exactly the kind of character one might expect to run into in India, so why why was he there? It's a well known fact that after mustering out of the Israeli Defense Forces, many Israelis go traveling for a year or two, usually to some place cheap and warm. South America, South East Asia and India are favorite destinations.

Besides being a Hindu pilgrimage site, Pushkar also has a much deserved reputation as a kicked-back party town and can best be described as "Jamaica meets Varanasi". So of course a lot of travelling Israeli's end up there. The rabbi is there to keep them on the straight and narrow. Good luck with that. He seemed to be taking it all with a sense of humor.

 Note his bike seems to be a softtail version of the SCUD!!!

Indian Roadsters Part 5: Spice Up Your Bike

Of course it's no fun if your roadster looks just like every other of a billion roadsters in the country so why not spice it up!

Let's take a look at the bike below. First let's add some pillion foot rests and add some tassels to that. Then a day-glo reflector, seat cover, various mirrors, hub polishers, a horn, an Indian Flag, decals, spoke decorations including a fish, a strange handlebar mounted package rack, garlands of flowers, and to top it all off, not one,not two but THREE mudflaps featuring Bollywood actresses! Hey, Aishwarya Rai can ride on the back of my bike anyday!

 

Or maybe you want to take a different path: Wrap your tubes with pictures of Bombay Beauties and put some CDs in the spokes.

Or you can take a more modest approach. Like this spray painted image of the Hindu god Ganesh found on the rear fender of a BSA. Swastikas are also often similarly applied as they are a potent and ancient Hindu totem. Finally, take a look at the brass mandala "wheel of life" charm. Is it coincidence that it looks like a chainring...or is it karma?

 

PS: Note the small top bar child seat behind the on the bike with the Mandala charm.

Indian Roadsters Part 4, Pedaling a Bicycle Rickshaw

 

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.