<p>Imagine a hand-made ride, built with passion, a sunroof, two seats, three wheels and you have what Vijay rigged for Niyatee. Technically, it’s not a bike but a trike. Make that a Recumbent Tandem Trike with a Sunroof. And it’s got turning lights. All that’s missing are seat belts!<br /><br />Vijay, who makes furniture for companies like AOL, IBM, Target, Shell and Suzlon, confesses that he got into cycling just 9 months ago when he bought a bicycle for Niyatee to commute to office. “It looked like a good idea, so I bought one as well,” says Vijay. The complications began when he became fascinated with building a quad bike, but somehow stumbled upon a trike design with two wheels in front. Vijay designed a frame for Indian roads within 3 days and when the first trike was ready —it was a smaller yellow one meant for a single rider — they took it out for regular rides on Sunday mornings to Lalbagh. “We were a bunch of laid back bikers and a recumbent trike seemed perfect, except that Niyatee could not handle the attention she got on the roads,” says Vijay. The solution? A Tandem Trike that both could ride and divide the attention! “Riding together is a much better feeling,” says Vijay. <br /><br />The tandem has a sunroof that can easily be replaced with a carrier — you can put a kayak on it, transport wooden planks, carry shopping, anything. It’s ideal for gated communities that are proliferating in Bangalore and holiday resorts practically anywhere. Who knows, a company like Infosys which has bicycles in its Electronic City campus and runs golf carts for its guests, may want a couple of these as well.<br />Given his playful nature, Vijay is busy cooking up stuff for future editions of the trike: the next model may have a pedal-powered mobile charger, a wind-powered lighting system…nothing is beyond his imagination. He has begun to get inquiries with people asking him the pricing for the tandem. “One of these days I have to get down to the boring part of figuring out what this costs,” says Vijay.<br /><br />Arun Katiyar is a content and communications consultant. He is also a trustee of the RideACycle Foundation (www.rideacycle. org). He prefers to ride a Merida 880-24.</p>
<p>Imagine a hand-made ride, built with passion, a sunroof, two seats, three wheels and you have what Vijay rigged for Niyatee. Technically, it’s not a bike but a trike. Make that a Recumbent Tandem Trike with a Sunroof. And it’s got turning lights. All that’s missing are seat belts!<br /><br />Vijay, who makes furniture for companies like AOL, IBM, Target, Shell and Suzlon, confesses that he got into cycling just 9 months ago when he bought a bicycle for Niyatee to commute to office. “It looked like a good idea, so I bought one as well,” says Vijay. The complications began when he became fascinated with building a quad bike, but somehow stumbled upon a trike design with two wheels in front. Vijay designed a frame for Indian roads within 3 days and when the first trike was ready —it was a smaller yellow one meant for a single rider — they took it out for regular rides on Sunday mornings to Lalbagh. “We were a bunch of laid back bikers and a recumbent trike seemed perfect, except that Niyatee could not handle the attention she got on the roads,” says Vijay. The solution? A Tandem Trike that both could ride and divide the attention! “Riding together is a much better feeling,” says Vijay. <br /><br />The tandem has a sunroof that can easily be replaced with a carrier — you can put a kayak on it, transport wooden planks, carry shopping, anything. It’s ideal for gated communities that are proliferating in Bangalore and holiday resorts practically anywhere. Who knows, a company like Infosys which has bicycles in its Electronic City campus and runs golf carts for its guests, may want a couple of these as well.<br />Given his playful nature, Vijay is busy cooking up stuff for future editions of the trike: the next model may have a pedal-powered mobile charger, a wind-powered lighting system…nothing is beyond his imagination. He has begun to get inquiries with people asking him the pricing for the tandem. “One of these days I have to get down to the boring part of figuring out what this costs,” says Vijay.<br /><br />Arun Katiyar is a content and communications consultant. He is also a trustee of the RideACycle Foundation (www.rideacycle. org). He prefers to ride a Merida 880-24.</p>
