Fun Sustainable Transport
Prem is a Bum @ BumsOnTheSaddle
Prem resting on some awesome BOTS wedgies
Prem Kanth!
It’s the slightly annoying but entertaining line we hear at BumsOnTheSaddle these days. For some reason Mr. Kanth wants to keep it that way.
Kanth has 6+ years of experience handling customer relations for some kickass customer focussed companies.
He even biked to work on his Firefox Cosmic!
Talk to him and it’s pretty clear that he is a tad obsessed about customer service – which is brilliant cause BumsOnTheSaddle is all about an awesome experience and celebrating cycling.
He aspires to become a hardcore bike tech and is currently undergoing some rigorous brainwashing training here.
While he is currently running amuck with greasy palms and bicycle innards at the tech division at BumsOnTheSaddle we hope to leverage his solid customer relations experience and straddle him down to clean up our communication and customer experience.
This is the man who will be planning and receiving the flower bouquets on behalf of us and those occasional punches when something goes wrong ;)
Welcome aboard Prem Kanth!
Ironically he is extremely antisocial with no facebook and twitter presence. Tsk!
You can reach out to him at prem@bumsonthesaddle.com or just call the store [+91(80) 4123 3036] and say hi.
Please pester him for some discounts. Ask for that elusive ‘free side stand’ when you buy a bike from us!
BBCh12 | Race 3 | Stonehill calling - Road Event
Race details
- What: Road Race
- When: 7am on 15th April (Sunday)
- Where: Stonehill
- Register NOW
The race is going to be 8 laps of 7.6kms each. We have Category 1 mens, Category 2 men’s and Women all starting at the same time. The race is finished when the race winner crosses the finish line.
Standings will depending on which Category you currently belong to, the number of laps completed and the time you have clocked to finish the race.
More info on our Bangalore Bicycle Championships site.
Upping the game and not just the price - Why a price hike on our bicycles?
“It is an irony that higher import duty for bicycles and bicycle components was disclosed in a Budget tabled in the shadow of India’s rising fuel bill. While the automobile industry got away with no major body blow, cycling — it burns no fuel except human energy, is environment friendly and healthy — got hit.”
- Shyam G Menon
Definitely one of the better writeup’s in face of the recently announced import duty hikes on bicycles.
It’s been a waiting game to really understand what our nation’s planners had in store for us. And it’s mostly all out now.
The basic customs duty has been increased on imported bicycles from 10% to 30%. This would translate to an increment of about Rs 200 on an entry level Indian bicycle as they tend to use mass manufactured imported components too.
The price difference of about 20% between the imported and Indian counterparts is what gets the local industry a nice boost.
This would also negatively impact the import of bicycles which has seen about a 5 fold jump in the near past. With lower imports there is also a hope of better exports.
On a completely related note – a local bicycle manufacturer did see their stock gain about 32% and reach a new industry high in the wake of this announcement.
hummmm…
What about the high end market?
Well, the high end market is too small to be really bothered about. The worlds best bicycling brands are manufactured at economies of scale and it’s unfortunate that they are impacted by this duty although India does not have any local manufacturing in this segment. Nothing to safeguard really.
Most of the world is moving towards mass manufacturing to benefit from lower cost of production and to take advantage of knowledge, skill and efficiency. Expecting India to really step into that space and come up with a game changer seems to be a bit far fetched and idealistic.
Especially when the market is at it’s infancy and extremely price conscious.
The market will definitely bounce back irrespective of the price hike but it kinda sucks to imagine that something as awesome as a simple bicycle is consciously made more expensive.
A tool that has the potential to help people reconnect with themselves – giving them a healthier, greener and happier future is something that should be encouraged and not pay dearly for!
Time to re-attach the training wheels and take a spin.
More reading out there
BOTS Boot Camp | 1 April
Date: 1 April 2012
What time: 9:30am – 12 noon
Where: BumsOnTheSaddle
The Bootcamp is aimed at getting a biker from BumsOnTheSaddle comfortable owning his/her bike and understand how they can derive the max out of it.
What we intend to cover at the BOTS BootCamp
- Understand your bike – parts of your bike, gears, brakes, suspension, quick releases etc
- Maintain your bike – maintenance schedule, punctures, issues and solutions and dispel some common myths
- You and your bike – aches n pains, nutrition, riding techniques, pollution, safety
- Using your bike – communities, rides, races, cyclo tours
If you have picked up a bike from us and have not yet received an invite and would like to attend this, please do send us an email at admin@bumsonthesaddle.com
