Originally Posted by
AllenG
That was the way saddles were mounted on race bikes back in the day.
Slack seat posts were the norm, and saddles were on stems.
Wright Brothers' bicycle
1905 Motorpaced Stayer bike
PS. the fork is not backwards.
Indeed, but these designs are type conforming. The wire stay frame tossed out the blueprint and as such, since they were giving themselves such free reign, why not just go a bit farther?