so. i was just wondering, is there a point to having a left side drive train (chain)? is there a difference that you can feel? any explanations would be appreciated!

Duh. Because Sheldon does it.

You wouldnt have to worry about unscrewing your cog with backpressure any more...but your left pedal is liable to come off.

yep, it'll help you learn to use the search. pwnd.

Don't know why, though...Probably has something to do with my friends' obsession with the word "pwnd."

so you can tear up the other pantleg.

strange. my roomie just got a bmx bike used, and it came set as a left hand drive train. we switched it back to right in the course of taking it apart to clean/relube, but not for any particular reason except for it being the norm.

******************** If you put a regular BMX freewheel on the left side, you can't go forwards... Was it a fixed BMX?

ACS makes the Southpaw Freewheel for just such a left-hand drive setup. But I'd guess that it is reverse threaded, and you'd need a special hub too.

Too keep your pedal from unscrewing, use the front set of a tandem crankset. Viz, the SB.

^^^ Sure, but if you reverse that to right side drive as gnat said, you're screwed, again

Edit: BTW, your pedal will NEVER unthread if you put you cranks on the wrong way. Actually, I believe they are put on the wrong way now. The right side pedal is right-hand threaded, as we all know. Now, if the bearing gets stuck, and you pedal forwards, you will spin the pedal right off the crank. Same with the left pedal, that, for a mysterious reason, is left-hand threaded. Loosen your pedals, hold the pedal body, spin the crank forwards to check. Pedal will come off. This, of course, doesn't cause any problem as bearings never get stuck enough to loosen the screw. Now, what I don't understand and nobody could tell me is why pedals are threaded this way???

can get left side freewheels (acs southpaw ffor example). reason you see this in bmx is so you can grind goofy

How about two cranks/ two chainrings/ two chains/ two cogs (all equal)- Completely useless, but may be fun. Monster bike- sort of.

sure, eddiebrennan, now show me how you take them apart, and put them back together right side drive, and ride the bike forwards. (Original post: "got a bmx bike used, and it came set as a left hand drive train. we switched it back to right in the course of taking it apart to clean/relube"
Or, better still, read my post above yours.

b00sh00: https://www.bikeforums.net/singlespeed-fixed-gear/133215-double-freewheel-double-drive-fixed.html

the rear wheel was set up with double freewheels, so i suppose one is the regular one and one for the left drive. it rides fine.

THE ANSWER. Thanks.

AFAIK, the pawls just operate in the other direction. So, you use a normal hub/wheel flipped around. This way, things wouldn't get overcomplicated.

But normally freewheels are just screwed on by hand and then the pedalling motion torques them down, if the freewheel operated the opposite way on normal threads, then you'd have to torque down with a freewheel tool, and hope you never unscrew it when pedalling (Loctite/JBWeld? )

People who ride BMX, and grind on the right side, user left-side drive setups to save their chainrings.

Holy cow, that's a good point, total oversight on my part. If no one else finds out and posts about threading etc. on left-side drive freewheels, I'll find out when I stop in the shop tuesday, the other mechanic there knows way too much about old bmx stuff, and I know another guy who works there on weekends actually has and rides a left-side drive bmx.

I believe that pedals are threaded the way that they are is because you want it to come off if the bearing locks up. If they were threaded the other way and your foot was attached to the pedal, then if the bearing locked up the bike would, oh I don't know, say rip your leg off or something.

C

Not on a freewheel bike, which is what the design was made for... The threading is supposed to keep pedals from unscrewing, only I think it's amazingly F'd up. I am open for other ideas;-)

Done and done.