Alt Bike Culture - Left Handed Bikes

I think someone should make left-handed bikes, with the chain rings and everything on the oppisite side. Because I am very left handed , I generally dismount and handle the bike to the right, often ending up with greasy legs.

It's gotta be tough living in a backwards world...

Though I dont know much about them, may I suggest a chainless bicycle (http://www.dynamicbicycles.com/) ?

Fixed gear bicycles can be assembled either way, right hand drive or left hand drive. But since no one makes backwards freewheels, I don't think there is a way to do it on a 'regular' bike.

I recommend a chainguard, one of the most useful inventions that no one seems to use.

peace,
sam

Fixed gear bicycles can be assembled either way, right hand drive or left hand drive.

It may be a smaller issue, but wont you have a pedal threading problem? The left crank arm being reverse threaded. If you switch them, the threading for both crank arms will be opposite and there'll be a tendency for the pedals to come loose. Or is it still the same? Too much for my little brain.

Either way I'd hate to have a pedal come off on a fixed gear!

I'm lefty. I mount from the left. I hold the left bike handle with the left hand and the saddle seat with the right. I pick up my right leg and swing it over the top bar. I put my right hand on the right bar. I proceed to bike. Should be even easier if you have a woman's bike. Probably the young'uns have a sportier way of mounting than that. In any event, it doesn't seem to require the fine motor skills that left/right handedness tasks like writing would.

Then again, I'm nearly ambidextrous, so maybe there's something I'm missing.

According to Sheldon Brown's logic, lefties should have an an advantage since bikes are wired with the strongest brake on the left side. But I signal with either hand, figuring that motorists won't have a clue what an upraised arm means.

I think someone should make left-handed bikes, with the chain rings and everything on the oppisite side. Because I am very left handed , I generally dismount and handle the bike to the right, often ending up with greasy legs.
I'm right handed but I typically mount from the right. However it should be possible to develop the habit of mounting/dismounting on the left. In fact I would think it's an important skill to be able do either side. You might have to stop on a trail next to a mud puddle, or on a slope where it's not easy to dismount on one side, or next to a wall on your right where you want to lean the bike, and you should be prepared to go off the other side.
Robert

I've gotten to the point where I can mount comfortably from both sides. Its a good skill to have. I mount a little better from the left side, but both work. I can even mount and dismount from the back on the fixed gears, and have occasionally dismounted off the front (unintentionally ;) ).

The pedal threading issue for 'left hand drive' fixies isn't a big deal. If you think about it, the threading on a regular bike is set up to loosen the pedals as you ride! This doesn't matter because the force of friction that the bearings exert on the pedal spindle is no where near the force of friction holding a well tightened pedal in place, but its one of the reasons pedal wrenches are so long, you need to get them pretty tight to begin with, in order to prevent them from popping off! But of course, that is easier than the opposite threading situation, where the pedals will tend to tighten themselves a bit. So if you do left hand drive, you won't have a problem with pedals coming off, but you may have the smaller, but annoying problem of having incredibly tight pedals. Just get a good coat of anti-seize or grease on the threads, and pack a big wrench. :D

peace,
sam

I am a lefty, I thought I picked cycling because it did not have a problem with left and right. :)

Just get a LHD BMX bike and quite whining.

Left handed people like us are the superior race. Even though I use my PC mouse right handed, and a few other things, everything else is left handed.

Left handed people like us are the superior race.

I got nothin'. My wife is a southpaw.

Fixed gear bicycles can be assembled either way, right hand drive or left hand drive. But since no one makes backwards freewheels, I don't think there is a way to do it on a 'regular' bike.


Methinks there's no such thing as a left-side derailleur either.

The pedal threading issue for 'left hand drive' fixies isn't a big deal. If you think about it, the threading on a regular bike is set up to loosen the pedals as you ride!

No, it's not. Sheldon (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_p.html) says:

"The right pedal has a normal thread, but the left pedal has a left (reverse) thread.
The reason for this is not obvious: The force from bearing friction would, in fact, tend to unscrew pedals threaded in this manner. The fact is, however, that it is not the bearing friction that makes pedals unscrew themselves, but a phenomenon called "precession".

You can demonstrate this to yourself by performing a simple experiment. Hold a pencil loosely in one fist, and move the end of it in a circle. You will see that the pencil, as it rubs against the inside of your fist, rotates in the opposite direction."

I built my fixie left-handed (by mistake: was doing it nekkid and wanted to keep the transmission away from my knackers!). It ran fine but looked weird - as weird as a single-side fork or other freakbike stuff. Nothing unscrewed, but it was all done up tight and I'm a bit of a threadlock ***** these days. The one problem: I have Time ATAC pedals and I couldn't clip in 'cos they were facing backwards!

No, it's not. Sheldon (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_p.html) says:

"The right pedal has a normal thread, but the left pedal has a left (reverse) thread.
The reason for this is not obvious: The force from bearing friction would, in fact, tend to unscrew pedals threaded in this manner. The fact is, however, that it is not the bearing friction that makes pedals unscrew themselves, but a phenomenon called "precession".

You can demonstrate this to yourself by performing a simple experiment. Hold a pencil loosely in one fist, and move the end of it in a circle. You will see that the pencil, as it rubs against the inside of your fist, rotates in the opposite direction."

Another way to put it: As you drive your car or bike forward, the wheels push dirt backwards. If your wheel locks up while you're moving, it pushes dirt forwards. Similarily, as you drive your right pedal counterclockwise (relative to the clockwise-moving crank), the balls inside it drive the spindle clockwise, screwing it in tighter. If the ball bearing joint freezes up due to long neglect, then pedalling forward will unscrew your pedal.

Robert

Left handed people like us are the superior race. Even though I use my PC mouse right handed, and a few other things, everything else is left handed.If you can do this, its actually a superior method -- you can surf with your right hand and take notes with your left. Same thing with using a keypad -- punch with your right, and jot it down with your left.

Careful of the chainring, it's not just dirty, it's sharp too. Just learn to mount and dismount from the left. I'm lefty and that is what I do. In fact I always try to stay on the left of the bike to avoid the dirty side.

I would think switching the shifting and braking to the opposite sides of the handlebar would be easy. No?

No, it's not. Sheldon (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_p.html) says:

"The right pedal has a normal thread, but the left pedal has a left (reverse) thread.
The reason for this is not obvious: The force from bearing friction would, in fact, tend to unscrew pedals threaded in this manner. The fact is, however, that it is not the bearing friction that makes pedals unscrew themselves, but a phenomenon called "precession".

You can demonstrate this to yourself by performing a simple experiment. Hold a pencil loosely in one fist, and move the end of it in a circle. You will see that the pencil, as it rubs against the inside of your fist, rotates in the opposite direction."

The easy pedal remedy is to get a set of tandem captain (front) cranks as they have a timing ring on the left that goes back to the stokers timing ring. Many bmx crank-bottom bracket system are designed to run a spider on either side to accomodate left or right side freewheels.

Left handed threading on left hand pedals was a Wright Brothers invention. Before that, there was a tendency for the left pedal to crank itself off in time.

Right side freewheels/sprockets came about because with right hand threads on the freewheel and hub were standard and did not require the extra tooling cost for making left handed theading as would be needed for left side freewheel.

There are bmx hubs and single speed freewheels available with left hand threads for left side mounting.

"There are bmx hubs and single speed freewheels available with left hand threads for left side mounting."

Why? Just because BMXers are an ornery bunch?

No, so they can grind on the right side.

Find 1/2 a tandem crank! Oh someone just said that.... Well OK, mount a reg crank th eother way and use eggbeaters. don't thing they care which way they are facing.

Wouldn't it be easier to just dismount to the left? And use a dry chain lube?

Wouldn't it be easier to just dismount to the left? And use a dry chain lube?

You are in the Alt Bike Culture forum, remember? Its not about easy 'sensible' solutions, its about wild and wacky solutions, preferably ones that involve welding, grinding or at least sourcing obscure parts from distant corners of the globe so you can use them in a manner that the designer never intended, all to solve a problem that wasn't really a problem in the first place.

peace,
sam

"There are bmx hubs and single speed freewheels available with left hand threads for left side mounting."
Yeah, I'm watching the X Games and noticed that Dave Mira's bike is a lefty.

I noticed that when I was watching his BMX trick tips video. If I remeber correctly he grinded left, and di a few other things lefty, the 180s and stuff like that.

[slaps forehead] I forgot about the shaft drive bicycles that use the Nexus hub. No chain, no chainrings, no worries.

I run an LHD bmx. I used to be a right-grinder and having the drivetrain on the left side keeps it out of harms way. This is a pretty new thing for bmx though, in the 90's people just had gigantic bash guards. I have never seen a geared bike w/ LHD, but it may exist.

I run an LHD bmx. I used to be a right-grinder and having the drivetrain on the left side keeps it out of harms way. This is a pretty new thing for bmx though, in the 90's people just had gigantic bash guards. I have never seen a geared bike w/ LHD, but it may exist.


Can you explain "grinding" to a nonbmxer?

Hop onto a low wall, kerb, park bench, and slide. Generally ruins paint, but if you have pegs on your axles, you can grind on them.

Hop onto a low wall, kerb, park bench, and slide. Generally ruins paint, but if you have pegs on your axles, you can grind on them.

Are you you sliding on the BB, stays, something else (besides the pegs)?

I don't do it myself, I was only answering your question. I think it's mostly pegs and pedals, but the frame probably cops some abuse as well.

I think someone should make left-handed bikes, with the chain rings and everything on the oppisite side. Because I am very left handed , I generally dismount and handle the bike to the right, often ending up with greasy legs.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=133154

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=133154

As an update, since my wife is a lefty, I mounted a bash guard on her MTB - no more worries about contact with the chainrings.

Depending on the "obstacle" sometimes you will grind on the chainring, but never really the BB. Most "freestyle" BMX bikes have huge rear drop-outs that form a large flange when butted up agaist a peg. A common problem in the past was for the edge of the "obstacle" you are grinding to pop over the flange and grind on the rear cog, or chain. To solve this problem, some of us now run our drivetrain on the opposite side that we grind on. Due to the opposite side drivetrain the new fad is to omit the pegs altogether and grind on the rear dropout/axel, and the crankarm/pedal (held in the horizontal position). As you can imagine this is pretty destructive to the bike but it gets you cool points at the skatepark to do "pegless" grinds.

Sheldon runs one of his (many) bikes as a lefty

Fixed gear bicycles can be assembled either way, right hand drive or left hand drive. But since no one makes backwards freewheels, I don't think there is a way to do it on a 'regular' bike.

I recommend a chainguard, one of the most useful inventions that no one seems to use.

peace,
sam

Actually, I used to ride BMX and I knew plenty of people with "left side drive" bikes. All you need is a new hub, profile makes one but they are top of the line and expensive, and a lefty freewheel.

Two words, ACS Southpaw.

Ahhhhhhhhh friggin haaaaaaaaaaa! You are too funny mate! (Shiraz kickin in =) )

Ahhhhhhhhh friggin haaaaaaaaaaa! You are too funny mate! (Shiraz kickin in =) )

FTC won't get that. He's about 14, and wouldn't know a Shiraz from a Merlot.

Its wine. Wine is probably the worst thing to get drunk off of too, you may feel good while your drunk but, the hangover will kill you. I've never drank it personally, and thats because it tastes like crap. And dont give me ***** about underaged drinking. Because I know most of have drank atleast soemthing at my age.

Boy, those chainless bikes look like total crap! You should totally check them out. One look at the components and construction is enough to see these guys are not serious. Get a load of this!
"Experience exhilarating riding performance in comfort and style. With the Outback’s full-suspension frame design, Shimano 8-speed premium gearing and rugged components, you’ll be the talk of the mountain"

I'll stick with the greasy left-handed leg, thanks.

Boy, those chainless bikes look like total crap! You should totally check them out. One look at the components and construction is enough to see these guys are not serious. Get a load of this!
"Experience exhilarating riding performance in comfort and style. With the Outback’s full-suspension frame design, Shimano 8-speed premium gearing and rugged components, you’ll be the talk of the mountain"

I'll stick with the greasy left-handed leg, thanks.

How does your left leg get greasy? Also, if you're buying a shaft drive, Nexus-equipped bike, you're probably only using it for commuting/bike paths.

My leg never gets greasy, and I even lube my chain.