I have just purchased 2 strida 5.0
One of them has a problem that I will try to describe the best I can:
when pedaling backward you feel that there is resistance in the rear sprocket; also the “drivetrain noise” is absent.
The other bike is perfectly fine.
Any idea?
Welcome gluca,
you wrote assembly, does that mean that you’ve purchased via web and assembled the bikes yourself “out of the box”?
Maybe a piece of package material caught between freewheel and frame?
Do the two bikes have similar belt tension?
Would you be able to change the rear wheels of the bikes amongst each other?
Would it be possible to provide pictures (or better) a video (link), please?
Best regards,
BSA
Dear BSA,
I have now removed the rear wheel and I can confirm that the problem is with the sprocket: it does not spin the way it is supposed to do counter-clockwise. There is resistance.
May I ask from which country you are?
I would suggest you let your local dealer check (change) the freewheel.
Friction in the rear sprocket is quite frequent, isn’t it? I do have a lot of friction in it, and it has not decreased with the mileage.
According to Strida EU, The all metal freewheels have superior sealing to prevent water and road dirt entering the mechanism. Although the earlier freewheel was a standard bicycle freewheel with the plastic belt pulley teeth moulded on … and although these are used on zillions of bikes, Strida wanted to go one better 
… the extra friction should eventually go as the seals bed in.
Me … I like the standard freewheel, and not had to change it in 3+ years daily use.
I am not really convinced by the explanation of Strida EU, because, on my LT, I can feel more drag from the freewheel the day after I have been riding in the rain. So I would guess that some water or mud gets into the freewheel and corrodes or contaminates the internal parts. This increased drag disappears after 3…5 km.
Nevertheless, the drag is much higher than on a standard bike. When I was a teenager, I had a cheap BMX that I was riding on muddy paths. I never experienced drag from the freewheel, well from the chain when it was dirty or rusted.
Is the Strida freewheel design so much different from the one of other single speed bikes? If yes, is it because of the one sided support of the wheel?