Originally Posted by makeinu
Because on a normal bike, every time you turn the (larger) chainring the (smaller) rear sprocket turns many times. More distance (actually rotations) is traded for less force (actually torque)
....
Even the Rohloff requires no less than 2:1 gear ratio from the cranks to the hub. Maybe the Sturmey-Archer 8-speed could take the punishment since it takes an unusually large rear sprocket.
Hmmm... yeah, okay, I'll buy that. The Strida crank takes an 18-Tooth sprocket; can such a small sprocket fit on the 8-speed hub? Another problem with my scheme, which I forgot to mention, is that you'd be using the hub backwards: holding the shell stationary, applying force to the axle, and transmitting that force to the cog. So it would only work for riding the bike backwards. Unless there's something you can do to the inside of the hub, to make it freewheel the other way, you'd have to flip everything else over and do a left-hand drive on the Strida... which might work, but you'd have to rebuild the whole bike ... re-weld the stem ... void your warranty for sure. It's probably easier to track down the Miyata five-speed crank.