Bicycle Mechanics - Rear derailer

Got my hands on an older XTR rear derailer. Was thinking of replacing a lower grade derailer on a recumbent. The existing derailer on the recumbent is "standard". This XTR works in reverse - the spring pulls the derailer onto the larger cogs and finger force pulls the derailer onto the smaller ones. I had never seen a derailer that works this way. What's up with that? Was this a design that was tried for a bit & abandoned? Can I / should I swap these derailers? Will it work?

Thanks

it is for MTB's and makes it easier to shift to lower gears, as that is what matters going uphill offroad

you can use it but the shifting buttons will be the other way round

Other than having the numbers on the rapid-fire shifter levers being in reverse (i.e. 8 - 1 vs 1 - 8) will this work? Does it work as well as a traditional derailer?

Other than having the numbers on the rapid-fire shifter levers being in reverse (i.e. 8 - 1 vs 1 - 8) will this work? Does it work as well as a traditional derailer?

Your answer will depend on whether you ask me or my son. He loves the rapid rise "backward" derailleurs, I hate them. Sheldon Brown was an advocate of rapid rise derailleurs so that's a pretty experienced endorsement.

Is it just a matter of getting used to backwards controls?

That's what it seemed like from one of Sheldon Brown's articles. I cant find it at his site right now, it talked about how he had put a rapid-rise RD on a bike with brifters.

Customized!

Being who I am, I couldn't leave this bike in stock configuration for long! The first thing I changed was the saddle, installing a Brooks B.17, titanium rail version.

I also added a camera mount to the stem, so I can take videos while I ride, using my new Kodak V570 camera.

I found the gearing basically satisfactory, but found I was getting confused going back and forth between this bike and my two bikes that have Campagnolo Ergo shifters, because on those bikes, the small lever behind the brake lever upshifts the rear derailer, while the corresponding lever on the Shimano STIs downshifts.

I've long been interested in low-normal rear derailers (that's what the first couple of derailers I ever used were, the old Cyclo Benelux models) but had never tried one (or even heard of anybody else trying one) with "road" STI brifters. Always ready to try something new, I bought a Deore XT low-normal rear derailer and installed it. I'm quite pleased with the results, and it's a less difficult mental adjustment than I had thought it might be. I just need to remember: Little Lever, Lower Gears; Big Lever, Bigger Gears. It's now the same on both sides of the handlebars, and I like that a lot.

Downshifting is maybe not quite as fast, as it tends to wait for the wheel to roll around so that the "gate" in the cassette is in the right position, but downshifting is smoother and seems more reliable than with the original Ultegra high-normal rear derailer. No problem with upshifting either. I really like this setup!

there you go