Last evening I was driving down Harrison St. in Princeton, NJ, and saw a lady riding a two-wheel recumbent on the sidewalk. She was cruising along at a fairly low speed, but what was odd was that she seemed to be pedaling backwards! What's up with that? do you think whoever put her bike together somehow got the chain on wrong, or is there some deep and transcendental meaning to all this?

I suppose it's possible that she did it on purpose. Backwards pedaling is one of those things, like rear wheel steering or linear drive, that seem to keep attracting the fringe element.

But your idea is good too -- it was just put together wrong.

OR she may have just been relaxing muscles by back-pedaling. OR it is a two speed with the second speed on the back pedal, which i doubt.

OR maybe it was just an optical illusion?

OR she may have just been relaxing muscles by back-pedaling. OR it is a two speed with the second speed on the back pedal, which i doubt.

Why doubt? There are hubs that have two speeds- one on forward pedaling, the other on backward. They get shown at Interbike and similar shows- I've never actually seen one "in the wild".

...Or the chain is simply routed for reverse pedaling.
For some configurations, this could actually provide a very straight chainline.

Why doubt? There are hubs that have two speeds- one on forward pedaling, the other on backward. They get shown at Interbike and similar shows- I've never actually seen one "in the wild".

I've never heard, nor seen, such a beast; and I can't believe they were ever a commercial success if they were made. When I was a kid, I had a 2-speed hub which was shifted by backpedaling slightly. Backpedaling too far activated the coaster brake.

Last evening I was driving down Harrison St. in Princeton, NJ, and saw a lady riding a two-wheel recumbent on the sidewalk. She was cruising along at a fairly low speed, but what was odd was that she seemed to be pedaling backwards! What's up with that? do you think whoever put her bike together somehow got the chain on wrong, or is there some deep and transcendental meaning to all this?



but I won't go any where....sometimes it just feels good to do it.

I've never heard, nor seen, such a beast; and I can't believe they were ever a commercial success if they were made. When I was a kid, I had a 2-speed hub which was shifted by backpedaling slightly. Backpedaling too far activated the coaster brake.

With regards to the two speeds, one backward, one forward, maybe a more detailed explanation. It is basically a normal rear hub but it has 2, independent freewheels on the drive side, one usually larger than the other. Picture two single speed freewheels screwed onto the same side. The chain routing is as follows . .

Starting at the rear wheel, on top of the big sprocket, the "power side" of the chain runs forward, over and around the chainring, just like normal. The chain continues on towards the back wheel and goes over the smaller sprocket now, loops down and around it, and runs forward about a foot, parallel to the ground. The chain then goes around a small pulley (like a RD pulley) heads back towards the rear wheel, runs up and over the big sprocket again, and ends where we started this journey. The small pulley is usually held in place by a "U" bracket that has a stiff spring attaching it to the right side chainstay to provide chain tension.

While pedalling forward, the top of the chain (power side) is pulling like normal, and the bottom of the chain (return side) is spinning the smaller sprocket backwards making freewheel. When you want to use the higher gear, you simply stop, and pedal backwards. Now the bottom side of the chain is the "power side", driving the smaller sprocket, and the chain is spinning the big sprocket backwards.

Not the most common drive set up, but I saw one in real life and have seen some pictures of others on the net. Interestingly. there have been power tests on pedalling backwards, and it is nearly as efficient in power output as pedalling forward.

Chain installation error gets my vote. The first time I assembled a bent I checked carefully, checked again, and still had it wrong. I also managed to create a nice chain moebius strip until the necessary brain cells returned from vacation.

Chain installation error gets my vote. The first time I assembled a bent I checked carefully, checked again, and still had it wrong. I also managed to create a nice chain moebius strip until the necessary brain cells returned from vacation.

Yeah, but... in order to get "reverse" drive, you'd pretty much have to have the chain running in a figure 8 pattern. You MIGHT be able to get it to work on an over/under idler, but on most setups, the chain'd be sawing against itself where it crossed over, making it almost impossible to pedal. Wouldn't it?

SP

For some reason 'British-built' comes to mind. lol They just seem to like doing things on the other side. GB

Yeah, but... in order to get "reverse" drive, you'd pretty much have to have the chain running in a figure 8 pattern. You MIGHT be able to get it to work on an over/under idler, but on most setups, the chain'd be sawing against itself where it crossed over, making it almost impossible to pedal. Wouldn't it?

SP

It's not hard at all when you combine long chain length with some serious talent.

My money's on a silent freehub, which would make it impossible for you to audibly tell that the bike was freewheeling and not under power as she was pedaling. It would also explain the low speed.