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I found a video of some trikers who start out going backwards, but spin around to moving forwards (watch just the first 10 seconds). As best as I know, my trike can only go forwards. How is such a trick achieved?

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  • Thanks - you've reminded me how much I want to try a tadpole trike again.
    – Criggie ♦
    Commented Jun 16, 2017 at 20:42

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They're back pedaling as they go, this lets the drive train move backwards.

You'll often see BMXers doing the same, you see more in the first part of this video.

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Of course your trike can go backwards. However the pawls in the freehub will engage and the wheel will drive your pedals backwards.

So you can't pedal it backwards... they're just using their feet to allow the cranks to rotate backward.

The trike stays mostly upright because its three wheels - this would be near impossible to pull off on a bicycle.

Also they're using weight transference to unload a wheel, and being on a cold shadowed and icy corner helps to lose traction.

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    Good catch! I thought they were fixie trikes at first! I had to watch the video through to see where they are freewheeling.
    – RoboKaren
    Commented Jun 16, 2017 at 17:29

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