VAIKOM: Plus two student Sumith, who built a bicycle-modelled bike, dreams to build an electric bike one day. Those who know him closely are confident that he will soon turn this dream into reality. After all, they all witnessed how Sumith, a student of Government Devi Vilasam Higher Secondary School, utilised this COVID time to build his bike. The 17-year-old is the son of Nanadam native autorickshaw driver Sunilkumar and Sinimol.
While Sumith initially planned to build a car, he had to drop the plan as the street outside his home was not wide enough for a car. Thus, he concentrated on building a bicycle-model bike. For this, he bought the engine of an old model bike and made it operative. The frame was set up using iron pipes and a petrol tank of 2-litre capacity was placed on top of the frame. The bike has brake, headlight and shock absorbers. While spray paint tins were converted into the silencer, tyres were brought from a scrap shop. Upon painting, the bike looked extremely attractive and stylish. The bike, weighing around 30 kg, has a mileage of 40 km per litre.

It took him one month to build the bike. The work was done by renting a welding set and the total cost came below Rs 10,000. He was assisted by his brother Sujith and friend Arjun. His next dream is to build an ecofriendly vehicle that runs on battery.