Repair Stories

Rickshaw Repair in Dheli

At a bicycle and rickshaw repair and sales shop in Delhi, a man with lightning fast hands puts spokes on a new wheel.

Rickshaw repair at a shop in Delhi

Rickshaws are an important business in India: cycle rickshaws transport “sawaaris” (passengers, a mix of locals and tourists) all over the city and haul goods to and from markets. Yet most rickshaw shops and rickshaw drivers remain severely impoverished. A rickshaw driver from Amritsar will actually be running in the Punjab legislative assembly elections next week, intending to represent India’s poor.

Neelam kits at a rickshaw repair shop in Delhi

The shop we visited makes most of their money repairing New Delhi’s rickshaws with hand tools. They also sell bicycles and rickshaws made from Neelam Kits—indigenous repair often goes hand in hand with distributed manufacturing.

Pair of wheels at a Delhi rickshaw repair shop

P.S. You can click on any of our photos to bring up a larger, higher resolution version.