Ever since Dervla Murphy's Full Tilt , a steady but increasing trickle of travellers have either themselves done the overland trip by bicycle , or else bought a bike in India and ridden it around the country. In many ways it is the ideal form of transport, offering total independence without loss of contact with local people. You can camp out, though there are cheap lodgings in almost every village - take the bike into your room with you - and, if you get tired of pedalling, you can put it on top of a bus as luggage, or transport it by train.

 

Bringing a bike from abroad requires no carnet or special paperwork, but spare parts and accessories may be of different sizes and standards in India, and you may have to improvise. Bring basic spares and tools , and a pump . Panniers are the obvious thing for carrying your gear, but fiendishly inconvenient when not attached to your bike, and you might consider sacrificing ideal load-bearing and streamlining technology for a backpack you can lash down on the rear carrier.

Buying a bike in India presents no great difficulty; most towns have cycle shops and even cycle markets. The advantages of a local bike are that spare parts are easy to get, locally produced tools and parts will fit, and your vehicle will not draw a crowd every time you park it; although when covered with dust it should not present problems. Disadvantages are that Indian bikes tend to be heavier and less state-of-the-art than ones from abroad; in cities and bigger towns mountain bikes are beginning to appear, but they're not worth buying, with insufficient gears and a low level of equipment. Selling should be quite easy: you won't get a tremendously good deal at a cycle market, but you may well be able to sell privately, or even to a rental shop.

Bicycles can be rented in most towns, usually for local use only: this is a good way to find out if your legs and bum can survive the Indian bike before buying one. Rs10-25 per day is the going rate, occasionally more in tourist centres, and you may have to leave a deposit, or even your passport as security. Several adventure tour operators such as Exodus and Chandertal offer bicycle tours of the country with most customers bringing their own bicycles.

As for contacts , International Bicycle Fund, 4887 Columbia Drive S, Seattle, WA 98108-1919 (tel 206/767-0848, www.ibike.org ), publishes information and offers advice on bicycle travel around the world, and maintains a useful website. In India, the Cycle Federation of India, C-5A/262, DDA Flats, Janak Puri, New Delhi 110058 (tel 011/553006), is the main cycle-sports organization.