Why are the crank, chain, and gears on the right?

[just jim]

Genius!!!!!

 

[sloe]

The pedal on the chainwheel will be reversed and will unscrew all the time

But not for those of us who prefer to cycle backwards....

 

[andrew_s]

You can get left-side transmissions for BMX, so you could do single free as well as fixed.

 

[TimDanaher]

I was thinking about LH transmission for my track bike, since my left leg is much stronger than my right...but, as noted, it would need a machining a new hub body with a LH thread, and presumably a opposite-thread inserts for the cranks.

 

[swee'pea99]

I was thinking about LH transmission for my track bike, since my left leg is much stronger than my right...but, as noted, it would need a machining a new hub body with a LH thread, and presumably a opposite-thread inserts for the cranks.

Putting all the potential negatives to one side, would it actually make any difference whatsoever? Would it, for example, be advantageous if, say, your left leg was stronger than your right?

 

[gavintc]

I cannot see any connection between leg power, double chain rings and left hand chain rings. You only have a finite amount of watts in your legs. Putting additional drive train in there will only absorb valuable energy. Putting it on the left will make no difference - the cranks will transmit the power to the chain whichever side it is on.

 

[swee'pea99]

I cannot see any connection between leg power, double chain rings and left hand chain rings. You only have a finite amount of watts in your legs. Putting additional drive train in there will only absorb valuable energy. Putting it on the left will make no difference - the cranks will transmit the power to the chain whichever side it is on.

Concise, to the point, correct - no?

 

[gavintc]

[quote name='swee'pea99']Concise, to the point, correct - no?[/QUOTE]

OK, I am prepared to learn. What advantage would a double chain or a left chain produce?

 

[Hilldodger]

None.

And you are right.

Whenever someone comes up with a radical new design I always ask, why hasn't it been successful before? It's bound to have been tried.

 

[swee'pea99]

OK, I am prepared to learn. What advantage would a double chain or a left chain produce?

I'm agreeing with yer, yer numpty!

 

[Amanda P]

Years ago, just when six-speed freewheels were coming into vogue (am I giving my age away?) I remember some letters in the CTC magazine questioning why six were necessary.

One chap claimed he'd built a bike which had a six-speed freewheel (one suitably modified) on each side of the rear wheel. He'd put a triple chainset on each side of the bottom bracket and sourced some mirror-image derailleurs. They were rare, he said, but Shimano made a few, and if we didn't believe him, check some of the pics in the magazine. Each sprocket and chainring had a prime number of teeth, so there were no duplicates among the 36 gears availabe. Whichever side of the transmission was in the lower gear just freewheeled slightly relative to the other one (so only 35, really).

I think this was all tongue-in-cheek...

 

[TheDoctor]

I have a feeling I once saw a fixie on Sheldon's site with all the chainy gubbins on the other side. Granted, the pedals would try and undo themselves but I can't see any fundamental reason why it wouldn't work. There's no real point, but since when did everything have to have a point ?

 

[02GF74]

OK, I am prepared to learn. What advantage would a double chain or a left chain produce?

none that I can see - having extra chain ring, chain, cog will be detrimental as it will require more mass to be shifted, not to mention losses in the transmission.

.... but back to orignal question - maybe it is becasue most folks are right handed to putting the gear shift on the dwon tube, like it was before STI came olong meant the routeing of the cable to the rear shifter made more sense to have it on the right?

this stuff about stuff undoing, well, you would just use left and right handed threads to prevent that so can;t see that being the reason.

 

[gavintc]

 

[dan_bo]

It's so you don't mucky your shirt up when carrying your bike cyclocross style!