^Yeah, that makes a whole lot more sense than my theory. Nice.

A lot of Racycle advertisement copy is preserved; you see it on ebay and various bits are on the web. Somewhere I read that the large chain ring was intended to reduce the inefficiency of the chain; they were worried about the friction of the plates of the chain rubbing against one another, and the larger the chain ring, the less they rub. I know, that's kinda crazy. They were beautifully made bikes, though.

Here's that one I mentioned before. I'm kinda sorry I never went to look at the thing....