should i take a fixie to india?
 

I'm about to start ordering all the parts for my first fixie, so i'd say it could be all put together by january 5th. I'm leaving for India on the 10th. I'm tempted to make it and take it -- i'm going to be spending most of my time in a flat costal/village area (with paved roads) where it would be fun and useful. but at the same time i would be nervous about finally having this nice bike put together and then have it get stolen or crapped up on the plane or whatnot.

opinions?

I would say that it depends on the bling factor of the bike.

I could have sworn I remember a fixie dude bringing his bike to India. I also could have sworn he reported that it got stolen within a few weeks of arriving there (I believe he was moving for work related reasons to India for a few years).

Koffee

leave your bike at home. with the $50 (each way) you'll save, buy a bike there, then when you leave give it away. maybe bring a lock with you

Knowing traffic and peds and cows and camels in some parts of India I would say go down there and buy whatever they have down there for cheap. Beat the crap out of it and then give it to the first kid you see living on the streets when you leave.
What part of the country are you in? Maybe I could give you a better idea of the area then. You might not find a lot of decent places to lock up your bike if you are in a village where it would be safe.

Yeah one guy who was posting from india said when he needed parts from bike shops in india, he picked up a freewheel for the US equivalent of about a dollar or something ridiculous like that. Other parts were similarly priced.
Just get one there, probably weird brands but there should be no shortage. If you had space you could always just put your fixie rear wheel in your suitcase and stuff clothes inbetween the spokes, then just put it on some bike you get there.

Haven't heard from pyze-guy for a while. I hope he hasn't been eaten by a tiger or something.

With an annual turnover of more than 12 million bicycles, the bicycle industry is one of the most established industries in India. It has raised the country's position to that of the second largest bicycle manufacturer in the world, next only to China.
$1 = 43.8 INR (Indian Rupees)

Still alive and going strong. I was planning to bring my fixie to India when moved here but decided against it for several reasons. It costs alot to ship a bike here, about 3 times the price of buying one and the bike you will bring will be the ONLY bike form overseas. Theft is a problem, and as a westerner you are a target. The westerners where I live seem to have their houses broken into now and then, I speak from experience. As an aside I got to bribe the police, that was a new experience. There are about a billion bikes here, all but 4 being single speed. I leave mine locked with a crappy little cable lock, when I lock it at all. If you want to ride a fixed here, bring parts to convert a bike here to one. My bike has 110 mm horizontal dropouts and a s/s freewheel, it's 48/18 and came with a masterlink chain. All the bikes are cottered cranks so no swapping chainrings. Bring a track cog or two and some cheap pedals that you can attach toe clips to. Buy a bike and get the mech to put your cog on and away you go. Here are the two main bike companies here and the bikes they have. I bought the Atlas Nucleus.

http://www.atlascyclesonepat.com/bikes.htm
http://www.ticyclesindia.com/Hercule...ogue-boys.html


Where are you going to in India? Why, how long etc. If you have any questions send me a pm and I will help anyway I can. If you havn't been here before riding can be a real terror at first, no noticable traffic rules seem to be standard, no stop signs, organized chaos for the most part. It takes a while to become comfortable and ride with some confidence. Best advice is ALWAYS be aware of whats around you. You'll get the hang of it after a while.

P.S. Unless you want to bring a track hub and have a wheel built here, bring some locktite as you will be running a suicide hub. And the brakes here suck.

that "super josh" bike is cool! and only $47.

Cycling Plus had an article from a guy who rode through India last year. Bought a local bike. Found little "fix-it" shops in every village that could fix flats and make minor repairs. "Yellow Jersey" sells an Indian bike here in the USA for $300. The design appears to be a copy of a 1913 Ralaigh DL-1, going strong after about a century.

www.yellowjersey.org/EASTMAN.HTML