Now that I have decided to buy a cycle, I had to find one which would fit my size and pocket. Bicycles in India start at 3000 rupees and go all the way up to 15-20 thousand. Of course, there are cycles which cost 35-50 grand, but that was not on my radar.
I wanted to get a road bike since I always thought that MTBs were too heavy. I have set my budget at around 5000 bucks.
Two of my colleagues ride a Firefox Target which are MTBs and cost around 10,000 bucks. The ride felt really great compared to my landlord's cycle and these bikes were very light.
Another colleague rides a Hero Thunder which costs around 5,500 bucks. I haven't ridden it yet.
The Hero cycles website didn't help much. But I did manage to find a few more models ie: Hero Thunder Racer and Hero Octane.
One of my colleagues (a bike "expert") gave me all the gyan about aluminium frames, suspension, brakes etc. He advised me to pick up the Hero Thunder Racer since the Firefox road bikes start at Rs. 17000.
Being the geek that I am, I trawled the net to see what information I could find online about Indian bikes. I managed to find a few phone numbers of cycle dealers in Bangalore through an online yellow pages.
After a lot of calls, I learnt that many of them had not heard about the Hero Thunder Racer and those who did know about it, did not have any stock.
So I have decided to visit Dispensary Road (Near Commercial Street) and A. S. Char Road (near Majestic) over the weekend. These are supposed to be where all cycle dealers are available.
Lets see what the weekend brings !!
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Cycling to work - A fool's dream
I think I might have found an end to my traffic problems. The silver bullet is CYCLING.
A couple of colleagues cycle to work. They have been doing this for a year now. So I decided to give it a try.
The distance from my house to office is approximately 10km and I couldn't believe I would be able to cycle that far. So instead, I requested my landlord to loan his cycle to me. But he, in turn, wanted to get rid of his cycle and so requested me to buy it instead. But I managed to borrow it for a week to "evaluate" it.
The first day, it took me 45 minutes to get to work and I felt dead the whole day. But by the end of the week, I had brought it down to 30 minutes.
The week up, I had to return the cycle since I didnt like the ride too well. Hope to buy a bike soon.
A couple of colleagues cycle to work. They have been doing this for a year now. So I decided to give it a try.
The distance from my house to office is approximately 10km and I couldn't believe I would be able to cycle that far. So instead, I requested my landlord to loan his cycle to me. But he, in turn, wanted to get rid of his cycle and so requested me to buy it instead. But I managed to borrow it for a week to "evaluate" it.
The first day, it took me 45 minutes to get to work and I felt dead the whole day. But by the end of the week, I had brought it down to 30 minutes.
The week up, I had to return the cycle since I didnt like the ride too well. Hope to buy a bike soon.
Smart traffic cops
Travelling to my old office was a quiet affair since it was only four kilometers away with empty highways and only one major signal. But since I have moved to Thoughtworks, the bike commute is getting really exasperating.
Thoughtworks is located in Diamond District on Airport Road and since I travel via Intermediate Ring Road, I have to take a U-turn at Manipal Hospital. The traffic cops close this u-turn around 10am to supposedly speed up the traffic flow. But this only results in traffic piling up with three lanes of vehicles trying to take a u-turn at Pizza Hut junction .
By the time you take the u-turn ahead and come back to Manipal Hospital junction, this u-turn has been opened. So if I had just waited at Manipal Hospital for half-an-hour, it would have been the same. I don't really understand what the cops are upto?
To add to my woes, there is a u-turn right in front of the Diamond District entrance. But the cops like to confuse motorists by closing it and opening it at random.
Thoughtworks is located in Diamond District on Airport Road and since I travel via Intermediate Ring Road, I have to take a U-turn at Manipal Hospital. The traffic cops close this u-turn around 10am to supposedly speed up the traffic flow. But this only results in traffic piling up with three lanes of vehicles trying to take a u-turn at Pizza Hut junction .
By the time you take the u-turn ahead and come back to Manipal Hospital junction, this u-turn has been opened. So if I had just waited at Manipal Hospital for half-an-hour, it would have been the same. I don't really understand what the cops are upto?
To add to my woes, there is a u-turn right in front of the Diamond District entrance. But the cops like to confuse motorists by closing it and opening it at random.
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