The rise of Brian

30/12/2015 by johnnyozz 4 Comments

Starting to get an understanding of how ‘Indian time’ works, we knew full well that Brian (the Rickshaw) would not have undergone his carburettor transplant by the morning, or probably even by their lunchtime ‘guaranteed’ deadline. So rather than hang around at the base all day twiddling our thumbs waiting, we got up early and instead headed off to take a boat trip on the backwater canal system, apparently a ‘must see’ for anyone visiting Kerala. It didn’t disappoint at all, and the peace and tranquility, along with the cooling breeze was a fantastic change from the bustle of Cochin. The water hyacinth floating down the canal system were also so evocative of my backpacking trip to Asia in my early 20’s.
  

  
  

Arriving back at base mid afternoon we were delighted to find that Brian was out of surgery, and we could take him out for a run. I elected to go first on the test run on busy Indian streets, and you know what, it wasn’t all that bad at all. True, it’s like driving a noisy, smelly, uncomfortable skateboard that turns on a sixpence (not ideal for a top-heavy 3-wheeler) but it did work, and after an hour’s use in real world conditions I’m sure that all 3 of us will master the art. One issue that did come to light from the test drive though was a very marked ‘judder’ in all gears. Having had the mechanics check it over a number of times, they were able to improve it, by biting the connection of the throttle cable with their teeth, but it wasn’t fixed fully. Mentioning this to the head technician, his response was “well your rickshaw is probably the oldest one we have, and it’s a s**t one”! Just what you need to fill you with confidence before a 2,500 km journey, but we’re sure Brian will pull through
Because of the delays in getting our ‘wheels’ ready, we now have to get all of our pimping / customisation done early tomorrow, before New Year’s Eve celebrations and launch day!