My parents used to own two german folding bikes many years ago, that had an internal gear system whereby you simply lightly stepped back on the coaster brake to change gears. The bikes had two gears. The brand of the bikes was “Falter”. I know that many bikes in Germany at the time utilized this system. What was this type of gear system called? It did not resemble the current “internal hub” system because there were no wires or controls on the handlebars for changing gears.
Why isn’t this used more currently with the resurgence in single speed bikes?
I don’t think that’s the same thing, as someone on the talk page notes.
They’re still around. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hub_gear
They’re a bit heavy compared to a cogset, and difficult to repair, but on commuter/town bikes they work fine.
You’re talking about ‘kickback’ hubs. Bendix made them in the US and Sachs made them in Europe.
Kickback hubs! That’s it! Thank You! I wonder what they’re called in german. These would work well with single speed cruisers, why don’t they make them anymore?
They require a set of planetary gears. With a couple more parts and zero more gears you can have three speeds and charge more.
When I was a kid, the neighbor kid had a kickback two speed. It worked well. The main advantage over a three speed was the lack of a cable to be out of adjustment, and to take loose to remove the wheel.
German always seems really easy to translate from English. They are Kikbackenhubens I think.