Hi Jim,

In my tri-shaw post (#34) I alluded to fabricators of work-bikes, and how they were to be found in most/all of India's large cities; here are a few examples:

The photo from Mumbai shows just one of the shops that line Mutton Street, which is entirely separate from the bike shop "bazaar" along Kalbadevi Road, to the west. The sign is pretty self-explanatory; they build carts as well as cargo bikes.

Madurai's Work-Bike bazaar is located about half-way between the Menakshi Temple complex and the Gandhi Museum, which was formerly a home where Gandhi was kept under house arrest by the British, before independance (If I can come up with the district or street address, I'll post it later). The work-bike pictured will be used by a vendor to sell "bhel-puri", a snack that originated in Mumbai but which has caught on in the south. The builder also had another specialty: Hand-cranked trikes used by disabled people (I can't find the picture I have of one right now; again, I'll post it another time). The builder told me all of what he sold was "hypothecated", meaning a bank financed the purchase for his customers, so they could pay it off while using his products to pursue their living.

Cheers for now,

Paul Woloshansky
Calgary, Alberta

bikwalla@telus.net