Some of you ride cranksets, chainrings or other components or accessories made by Specialites TA in France. “TA” stands for “Traction Avant,” or forward drive.
Before he started making the parts for which the company would be renowned, founder Georges Navet tried to make, and market, a front-wheel drive bicycle. High-wheel or “penny farthing” bikes had pedals attached to cranks fitted directly to the axle on the front wheel, which was much larger than the rear.
Navet, however, wanted to make a modern bicycle (two wheels of more or less the same size, propelled by a chain-and-sprocket drive) with front-wheel drive after seeing cars with the then-new innovation. I would not be surprised, then, if some cyclist, especially one who rides off-road, looked at, say, a Subaru Outback (or, perhaps drives one) and wondered, “Why can’t my bike have this?”
“This” would be all-wheel drive. Someone called “The Q” may have been that cyclist. Check out his attempt to make an all-wheel (OK, two-wheel) drive fat-tire bike:
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