Old 02-20-14, 10:06 AM
  #9  
dddd
Ride, Wrench, Swap, Race
 
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Bikes: Cheltenham-Pedersen racer, Boulder F/S Paris-Roubaix, Varsity racer, '52 Christophe, '62 Continental, '92 Merckx, '75 Limongi, '76 Presto, '72 Gitane SC, '71 Schwinn SS, etc.

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Funny thing about "reversed" steering is that there are kind of two ways to go about it.

The geared reversal as shown, needs no explanation.

But another big influence on the "direction" of a bike's steering is whether the grips are ahead of, or behind the steering axis, i.e. the head tube.

When larger offsets are used, as on cruisers (grips well behind the head tube) and on racing bikes (grip options well ahead of the head tube), the steering becomes less of a "turning" motion but rather is either a "toss it to the inside of the turn" or a deliberate "push away" counter-steering, either of which gets the bike leaning into a turn.

I've ridden racing motorcycles also that were fully on opposite ends of the grip-position spectrum, and the bikes with pulled-back handlebars are much more controllable by sheer intuition in either a panic situation or when a corner has a decreasing-radius to it, allowing the rider to literally push the bike toward the desired direction, with the bike's lean angle following on cue. Perfect for muscling a bouncing/sliding dirt bike toward the inside of a turn.

The bikes with grips located forward of the steering axis require "push away" counter-steering input to the grip pointing toward the inside of a turn, which for less-seasoned riders can mean inadvertantly going almost straight when a sudden, sharp steering input is desired.
No exaggeration to say that many riders have died who failed to get their bike leaned over as needed to stay sufficiently to the inside of one of an unfamiliar road's curves, while never coming anywhere close to their bike's traction or cornering-clearance limits.
So, the geared steering, on a bike with certain frame and handlebar geometry, might work ok given a bit of rider adaptation, and might have certain advantages, likely out-weighed by considerations of weight, cost, complexity, maintenance and possible unwanted freeplay in the gearing.
Perhaps there was a particularly slick sales pitch that went along with the sale of such a bike? Never a shortage of those!

Last edited by dddd; 02-20-14 at 10:18 AM.
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