CHENNAI: Fifty-five-year-old G Rajendran of Villivakkam did not continue school after Class 8, but his creations never fail to attract eyeballs on the street. For the past two decades, he has been making unique modifications to bicycles and gives them a ‘different look’.
Rajendran has spent most part of his life designing and building giant bicycles. His latest design resembles a tricycle that has rear wheels about 8 feet in height and can go up to a speed of 50km/hr if two people pedal it, he said.
Rajendran is someone who creates these giant machines not for any monetary consideration, but purely out of passion. Thus, he seldom gets any patronage for his creations. Rajendran said that one of the complaints he hears the most is that the cycles are too heavy, and so, he is working towards making them light.
As Rajendran takes out his vehicle, there are several who click pictures and record videos. However, there remains a question of the functionality of his mean-looking bicycles. Even traffic police are not too fond of his creations and they have warned him several times that if his vehicle causes any accident, it will be seized instantly. “I have promised them it is completely safe,” Rajendran said.
Rajendran has designed seven such different bicycles so far and his latest design took him three years to conceptualize and Rs 60,000 to build it. He works out of a lathe workshop run by his younger brother and lives with his parents after his wife left him. An event management firm had approached him to buy his recent design to use for wedding photoshoots, Rajendran said.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/when-giant-wheels-hit-the-chennai-roads/articleshow/81923369.cms
