Pedal2Go to come up with three-wheeled and four-wheeled cycles

If a small startup in Chennai has its way, learning to ride a cycle may become a lot less painful. Kumar Natarajan, founder of Pedal2Go, is working on building hand-made prototypes of three-wheeled and four-wheeled cycles that are expected to hit the stores later this year.

It was his doctor’s advice to do some exercise that prompted Natarajan to hone his idea of building these fancy cycles. Initially, he collaborated with the small cycle-repair shops in his neighbourhood to build the first prototype.

The response to his prototype was so interesting that Natarajan made it a habit to carry a camera to record the reactions. Natrajan, who has invested about Rs 25 lakh so far, has built three prototypes so far: a couple of four-wheelers and a three-wheeler.

He is looking for investors to raise somewhere between Rs 1-2 crore to bring his cycles to the market.

After many improvisations, the final prototypes would be ready within a couple of months. Pedal2Go is in talks with IIT-M for getting help on the engineering and design aspects and also exploring opportunities to market a cycle developed by the institution for the physically challenged.

“Nothing is on the papers yet. We could either be their design consultant and they (Pedal2Go) could own the IP (Intellectual Property) or we could generate the IP and he could fabricate and market the product,” said Prof G Saravana Kumar, Engineering Design Department at IIT-M.

Natarajan says besides IIT-M, he is also in talks with three international designers to get the final product out.