Saturday, November 28, 2009

The three wheeled cycle - Trike - January 2009





From the first design sketch to execution, the trike took 6 months to come to life. I was fascinated with the idea that one could pedal in such a comfortable posture.

A more generic model of a trike is the one with 1 wheel in the front and 2 wheels at the back, called Delta configuration. The one I choose to make was slightly different and mechanically challenging. It has two wheels in the front and one wheel at the back, called the Tadpole configuration.

The front wheels are 20” in diameter and the rear wheels are 26”. The trike has 21 gears and weighs 29 kgs. 

















Friday, November 27, 2009

I had a dream… how it all began


Making things! That’s what I’ve always enjoyed. My childhood was full of messing around with tools in my father’s carpentry workshop. Later while graduating at the CEPT University, the metal & wood workshop was my favourite place to hang around. I made the most of it and began my early stints with furniture and product designs with salvaged material.




Setting up my own workshop was always a dream and after a stint with a furniture design company, I started my own workshop ‘6mm designs and furniture’ along with two friends – Mandar and Ignatius, in a rundown garage in a small alley of one of the crowded areas in Bangalore. Slowly we expanded and reached out to a bigger clientele - mass producing furniture for them.


But along side my core business, my experiments in the workshop always continued. From accessories to products my mind and hands kept working at making ideas into reality. The engineering and mechanics behind it all was exciting and challenging. From making a home Gym to a working piston machine to modifying my Enfield, I tried my hands at everything that crossed my mind.






My interest in cycles began when Niya went and bought herself a bicycle to commute to office, a fire fox, a UK based brand. I liked the idea and decided to build one for myself and while doing some research - on one of the online travels, I chanced upon a trike design. The idea was irresistible and it was not too long before I began designing my own trike.