Left brake lever for front or rear brake?

bikingjohn

Why should we use left brake lever for rear brake?

ShutUpLegs

Who says we should :?:

springtide9

There are no rules. Other countries use it the other way around. Swap them if you'd prefer it.

nicklouse

bikingjohn wrote:

Why should we use left brake lever for rear brake?

That is the way bikes have to be sold in the UK.

http://beta.ctc.org.uk/cyclists-library ... egulations

With one caveat.

Down the Road

It's to do with hand signals. In the UK we are more likely to turn left than right (I don't make it up) therefore we need to take our left had off the 'bars to signal.

The right is left to do the braking. On the mainland it is the other way around.

marksteven

if ya rear is on the right the cable dosen't rub on head tube , most frames are built with brake stops on bottom left of top tube

team47b

When you are turning and crossing traffic you need to indicate with one arm and be holding the back brake with the other, so in the UK you need to indicate to turn across the traffic with your right arm and use the back brake with your left. Makes sense to control the bike with the back brake.

I bought a cube bike from CRC and they remembered to set it up the other way round for Portugal, without being asked. I know it was them that set it this way and not the factory as another bike from CRC for Mrs T was left the other way round, they apologised and reduced the cost of the bike

MichaelW

Down the Road wrote:

It's to do with hand signals. In the UK we are more likely to turn left than right (I don't make it up) therefore we need to take our left had off the 'bars to signal.

That is the case in the Northern hemisphere. South of the equator, of course, riders are more lightly to turn right.

Wirral_paul

I'm right handed, and so recon i'll have more control over the more important front brake if its on the right hand bar. Connect your own whichever way works best for you and ignore the "safety regulations"

P_Tucker

marksteven wrote:

if ya rear is on the right the cable dosen't rub on head tube , most frames are built with brake stops on bottom left of top tube

Exactly right - bikes are designed for left hand front braking. Also, its far more EURO.

Pantera_Standish

springtide9 wrote:

There are no rules. Other countries use it the other way around. Swap them if you'd prefer it.

I came a crocker because of this a couple of years back ... mountain biking (on the flat) in the Jungfrau valley
What was supposed be a 'show off' moment with a rear wheel skid ... a vice like grip on the left lever meant I ended up doing a spectacular 360 roll over the handle bars, rolling on my (back pack cushioned) back and almost back onto the wheels .... no injury ... other than pride perhaps, and a gobsmacked roup of riders behind me .... talk about laugh!!......

kela66

Pantera_Standish wrote:

springtide9 wrote:

There are no rules. Other countries use it the other way around. Swap them if you'd prefer it.

I came a crocker because of this a couple of years back ... mountain biking (on the flat) in the Jungfrau valley
What was supposed be a 'show off' moment with a rear wheel skid ... a vice like grip on the left lever meant I ended up doing a spectacular 360 roll over the handle bars, rolling on my (back pack cushioned) back and almost back onto the wheels .... no injury ... other than pride perhaps, and a gobsmacked roup of riders behind me .... talk about laugh!!......

Same thing happend to a mate of mine, he ran his back brake on the right (old BMX habit for him) tried another lads bike out, peddled flat out and came to a roundabout he thought was clear but saw a car at the last min, yanked the brake on did a sumersalt over the bars grazing the top of his head on the way then landed on his feet standing up!! a bloke in a van pulled up next to him wound the window down and said "here mate that was the fooking collest thing Ive ever seen" he thought he did it on purpose

ShutUpLegs

No excuse for poor bike handling skills

DonutDad

haha I did the same thing 25 years ago - got back from a mountain bike day out with friends from the local bike shop. We unloaded the bikes from the van outside the shop and I picked up a friend's new bike for a quick go. Didn't know he had his brakes set up the 'wrong' way round, just like his road bike.
I did a couple of wheelies then rode back towards the group unloading the bikes, and grabbed a handful of rear (no... front) brake and leaned into what I thought was going to be a mighty 180 skid and it threw me off and I splatted up against the shop window - luckily it was Sunday and the shutters were down or I'd have been the new window display!

thanks for bringing back happy memories of my numpty mountain biking days!

bikingjohn

Thank you all, awesome replies! So far the only reason seems to be safety regulations and cable rubbing issue

Leeuw

If you look at the design of brake calipers, the front caliper has the cable entry point on the right hand side (when viewed from the saddle). I presume this comes from cycling being more European, where they drive on the right, so the "arm free to signal" bit is reversed, so parts are designed accordingly.

By having the front brake on the left lever, you get a smoother cable run from the bars/tape to the caliper... Less cable tension, smoother brake modulation (maybe!). I have the front brake on the left for the smoother cable run, which looks neater to me.

ddraver

With few exceptions the rest of the world does it the Euro way...Like driving on the other side, it's us Brits that are the strange ones!

rolf_f

ddraver wrote:

With few exceptions the rest of the world does it the Euro way...Like driving on the other side, it's us Brits that are the strange ones!

Not so! You'd be surprised how many drive on the left.

Total driving on left - 1,940,043,524 - 34%
Total driving on right - 3,824,348,286 - 66%

http://users.telenet.be/worldstandards/driving%20on%20the%20left.htm#population

ddraver

we re 1/3 rd though so we re strange....

I bet (hope) you can't find a link telling you what way they have they re brakes though

davidof

Motorbikes are set up with right front brake everywhere in the world, as I ride a motorbike I prefer to keep things the same on a cycle.

rolf_f

ddraver wrote:

we re 1/3 rd though so we re strange....

I bet (hope) you can't find a link telling you what way they have they re brakes though

If 1/3rd is strange then that makes for a lot of strange people and in so many ways. 2,000 million people is quite a few

And no - I didn't even try to find a bike brake link!

Incidentally, I use left front since the calipers are clearly designed for it and, in any case, it doesn't bother me which side is front from a feel perspective. I've sometimes had a mixture of the two on different bikes. However, 25 years ago you could get calipers that had the pull on the left side - I wonder what happened to them. These days you'd think it would be quite cheap to produce left and right handed calipers.

bikingjohn

davidof wrote:

Motorbikes are set up with right front brake everywhere in the world, as I ride a motorbike I prefer to keep things the same on a cycle.

that's exactly why I use right front brake.

bikingjohn

Rolf F wrote:

ddraver wrote:

we re 1/3 rd though so we re strange....

I bet (hope) you can't find a link telling you what way they have they re brakes though

If 1/3rd is strange then that makes for a lot of strange people and in so many ways. 2,000 million people is quite a few

And no - I didn't even try to find a bike brake link!

Incidentally, I use left front since the calipers are clearly designed for it and, in any case, it doesn't bother me which side is front from a feel perspective. I've sometimes had a mixture of the two on different bikes. However, 25 years ago you could get calipers that had the pull on the left side - I wonder what happened to them. These days you'd think it would be quite cheap to produce left and right handed calipers.

good point! I will try using left front brake and see if it really provide a better modulation.

Velonutter

Quite a few of my mates and my family all ride with the rear brake on the right.

If you are right handed you have better control on corners and everyone who now rides Euro Style love it. All of my bikes are set up Euro style and I would never go to the other way round.

dusk

It makes sense to keep it the same as motorbikes, also I for one am glad that my most useful brake (the front one) is controlled by my much stronger hand (my right one)

rolf_f

dusk wrote:

It makes sense to keep it the same as motorbikes, also I for one am glad that my most useful brake (the front one) is controlled by my much stronger hand (my right one)

How come your right hand is much stronger? Apparently the norm is only about 10% difference (but only for right handed people).

rpd_steve

Must do alot more of something with the right hand

I tend to use the front brake as my primary brake - its the only one to use for ultimate stopping power. The faster you stop the more weight transfers to the front and the less you can brake with your rear...

I use front on the right, because that's how my first bike as a kid was set up and that's how I have stayed!

migrantwing

Rear is on the right on my bike as it's German (Ghost). Do any of you 'cross' your gear cables?

Monty Dog

RH front brake and I cross my gear cables under the downtube - keeps everything a lot tidier

migrantwing

Monty Dog wrote:

RH front brake and I cross my gear cables under the downtube - keeps everything a lot tidier

Some people mention that there may be friction of cables when crossed, causing poor shifting. I've not experienced this at all, and as you mention, Monty, it all looks tidier.

Trickyh

bikingjohn wrote:

davidof wrote:

Motorbikes are set up with right front brake everywhere in the world, as I ride a motorbike I prefer to keep things the same on a cycle.

that's exactly why I use right front brake.

Same for me.. i've always wondered why Euro/US bicycles are set up this way when every motorbike in the world (that I know of) is set up with the clutch on the left and the front brake on the right. It must be a total mindf*ck when they do graduate on to big (sports)motorbikes and realise that 90% of the braking is done on the front righthand brake :?: