Are we rolling? I found that within the first 10 minutes of riding a bicycle, you start
to forget your worries. That is because the brain develops and releases endorphins and
endorphins is a very good hormone. I had much greater time to appreciate the beauty around
me, developed a greater sense of confidence in my own physical capabilities and also saved a lot
of money and time in city commutes. But beyond all this, I found the world somehow treats you
in a much better way when you're on a bicycle. You can smile and pass a bite on people or kids
and since you're not wearing a helmet, you're on a bicycle, your face is visible, they'll smile back,
they'll wave back at you. That is exactly like making a bond with them in seconds. When you
stop, people come forward ask you questions despite language barriers. They'll want to know
where you're from, where you're going, they'll bring you food, water. This leads to interesting
conversations with people with huge cultural differences but they ignore that all to come
and talk to you. I've realized that this makes the world a much better place and hence I've decided
that I'll spend my life bringing the joy of cycling to all. Hi, my name is Shalesh Krishna and I
design and build custom bicycles. I grew up a very naughty child in Ranchi but a very curious
one too. I used to ride around on my bicycle exploring my locality or I'd be busy breaking apart
my toys trying to see how they work or at times trying to make them work better. Most of the time
I also kept sketching just to record whatever crazy ideas I was having. I used to love listening to
the radio as a teenager. I had tweaked mine in such a manner that the entire house acted as an
antenna so I had excellent reception of many international stations like the BOA, BBC and
many more. I used to write to them and they would reply back by announcing my name on the radio.
Those moments felt like I was in focus and the entire world was listening to what I had to say.
I was a very average performer in academics and I could not very well grasp whatever was being
told in the school because the learning was not hands-on, it was mostly text so I did most of
my learning myself. Generally my interests have been very different from the rest of the kids my
age back then. I had a toolbox to play around with and I was in love with old cars and I wanted
to design them, wanted to become a transportation designer which was a very weird choice for kids
back then. My first professional project was designing a carbon fiber road bike for motorcycles
in Chennai. During this project I could experiment with bicycles even further. I got to break them
apart, reassemble them, study every part in detail and even take the bikes for ride for around hundreds
of kilometers just to understand how the design of a bicycle actually affects its performance
and riding characteristics. Most of the designers in the office prefer to be with their supervisors
in an AC studio whereas I was mostly found in a workshop getting my hands dirty on a bike in the
daytime and doing the design work in the night. Once I even took a company road bike off to Sri
Harikota in Andhra Pradesh that was 125 kilometers from Chennai just to witness the launch of the
Mangalyan without informing my supervisors. You can guess how that might have ended. I started
riding a cycle in August 2013 in the form of a club wherein I took riders to ride to beautiful
places around Pune. My rides never required riders to assemble at a starting point and wait for
the rest of the people to join in. Rather they had the freedom to start from their own homes,
decide their own routes according to the given destination, start at a time which they were
comfortable with according to their speeds in a way giving them the freedom to actually plan
their own adventure. Unlike most rider organizers where they make the riders follow a leader like
a flock of sheep that is not what cycling is all about. Cycling is all about freedom and that's
what rider cycling was giving to people. When I found the time right I started working on
building the custom bikes that I was wanting to. I got my first client in May 2016. He was a
naval submarine and the bike was built according to his own body dimensions and his personality
kept in mind. The bike's name was given Nautilus and it was based on a very popular novel called
The 20,000 Leagues Below the Sea. There's a fictional submarine whose name is Nautilus.
Even the graphics on the bike is as described in the novel. The geometry of the bike was
very special. It was designed to give it the riding characteristics of a road bike but the
handling of a city cruiser. Component sourcing and part sourcing was a very daunting task
for me. That took me to Ludhiana where I met a very young bicycle parts manufacturer by the
name of Saurabh Chhabra. This guy helped me a lot in my process because he found my project very
interesting, supplied me with certain parts and also kept my spirits high during the process.
During the making of the bike a lot of time and money was spent and by the end I was almost
short on cash. In fact I had only 600 rupees left when the bike was made and I was supposed to
deliver it scratch free to the client in Mumbai. But I don't mind these hardships bothering me
because I feel cycling will go a long way in our futures not only because of its benefits but also
because this is a product that will be independent of any technology or external power source to
give everybody free mobility, free recreation and free health of body, mind and soul. That's what
everybody wants right?
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