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Question about Secondary alkyl halides

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jmxwell:
Hi all, my name is James. I'd like to know if someone can help me with this question:

Secondary alkyl halides preferentially react by SN2 mechanisms when exposed to strong nucleophiles and nonpolar solvents. However, in bicyclic secondary halides like the ones shown below, the SN2 reaction is about 100 times slower than the SN1 reaction under the conditions specified above. Would you be able to suggest a plausible explanation for this atypical behavior?

Babcock_Hall:
What are your initial thoughts?

jmxwell:
I don't even can't start an explanation, I think this is because bond-making reactions

Babcock_Hall:
It is a forum rule (see red link above) that you must provide your answer or at least some preliminary thoughts before we can help you.  A good place to start might be to list out the factors that speed up or slow down SN2 reactions.

hollytara:
...and what might speed up SN1 reactions....

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