I am posting this here in case there is a logical/practical explanation that I haven't thought of. Today as I was unlocking my bike at the university I noticed a cheap mtb beside it with the fork facing backwards. The stem was facing the right way. The cable leading to from the hanger down to the canti brakes was sort of twisted around the side of the stem. I am totally at a loss. Maybe someone wanted like a foot of trail or something. Wish I'd had a camera..

It was probably built wrong to begin with... go to any Walmart and you'll see the same thing on NEW bikes often times.

I saw a bike in Wally World in Fishers, IN around Christmas with the front disc on the right side. On further inspectioni, the fork was on backwards.

Occasionally I have rental customers that will force the stem around on beach crusiers. This supposedly makes for quicker steering, but can overload welded dropouts and cause a crash. Why people do this is a mystery. Guess it goes back to the rampant ignorance of Americans when it comes to bicycles.

When a new bike is packed in the box for shipment, the fork is turned around backwards. Upon assembly, the fork needs to be reversed before the stem is inserted. Since suspension forks do not have the traditional curve at the ends, it's not always obvious which side is the front. The people who are assmbling cheap bikes are usually hurrying and it's easy to forget to turn the fork.

This wasn't a suspension fork. It was an old rigid fork with lots of rake. It really looked wierd. If it was assembled improperly then it sort of reminds me of those underpaid and demoralized soviet factory workers who would spend all day putting stuff together wrong.

Wouldn't turning the fork around cause the steering to slow down? I'd think that a beach cruiser with a backwards fork would ride no-hands really well.

... because in my country, bike forks you!

yeah, i'm dating myself there. a little, anyway.

but this isn't unusual to me; i wouldn't say i see bikes "assembled" this way all the time, but often enough it wouldn't surprise me.