MnHPVA Show-N-Tell




Dave Krafft's Retro-Direct SWB Dave had to "Figure 8" the timing chain to clear the fork crown. So, unlike most Retro Directs, he is in low gear when pedaling forward. Because he pedals faster forward than backward, he finds his rear sprockets are too close in size to provide two really different gears. He finds that (at least so far) that he can't push the 16 tooth backward any faster than he can push the 20 tooth forward. He will be getting some other sprockets to try out on it. Otherwise, he likes the retro-direct drive idea and was able to build it up pretty easily. (I believe he has since acclimated to pedalling backward and it's working better. Mark) This gave Mark the idea to modify his 3 Speed Bent to make a similar retro-direct crossover drive recumbent. But he would have the retro-direct drive on the first stage (left side) and a normal second stage (right side) with a three speed hub at the rear wheel, for 6 speeds. He thinks this would be acceptable on the 3 Speed Tour of Lake Pepin, because it would still have a hub gear and no derailleurs. The retro-direct would just add history and curiosity value. (As well as a lower gear for the infamous Bay City Hill Mark) One unexpected problem with this system is that you can't back the bikes up, as when one freewheel is ratchetting the other is locked. So if Mark does Retro his bike, he would try to modify a shifting trigger so he could deliberately find the infamous Sturmey-Archer “neutral”. This would allow the bike to be backed up when needed.