Brake lever orientation

[GT-Steve]

Just out of curiosity, I'm wondering how many people run their brake levers the 'wrong' way round??

By which I mean, the left-hand lever pulls the front brake, and the right-hand lever pulls the rear??

 

[stumpjumper1990]

No right or wrong..... What are you used to ride!? Think in Europe the left hand brake is front.... That's what I'm used to....

 

[jimo746]

Front brake on the right.

I'm right handed, I find it's easier to modulate the braking pressure with my right hand, so that's what I use for the front brake, where it probably matters the most.
If I had the front brake on the left then my ham-fisted cackhandedness would probably result in many a trip over the bars for me

Besides, it's the way I've always had the brakes on my bike since I was a kid.

 

[Canuck]

Aren't alot of brake systems designed with the idea that the front brake lever will sit on the left?
V brakes for example, I've seen alot of bikes with front levers on the right and the cabling just seems to get really messy

I ride with the front brake lever on the left, always have and probably always well

 

[NeilM]

I always have the front brake on the right, comes from over 35 years riding motorbikes.

Plus, that's the way bikes have always supplied, isn't it?

 

[konatime]

I switched mine so that my rear brake is in me favoured right hand, prefer a back wheel slide in an emergency (where nature will taake it's course/the big squeeze) over a front wheel n'more caper. That said ....over the last eighteen month i think i may have become left handed (certainly for me riding style) through covering the right lever and steering by dint of left side bar end (dogs lead also trapped in that hand)..suprised me how little time it took.Not had a spill for a long time either, with two equal hands on the bar it's harder for shit to snatch the front off me.

 

[foz]

I've always used front brake on the left, even when I still lived in the UK. Most brake calipers are designed for front-left, as the cable will then curve more easily to the right hand side of the fork (front-right brake cable routing looks pretty weird, especially on smaller frames). I think the vast majority of frames nowadays have the rear brake cable routing to the left side of the TT too - designed for rear-right brake setup, where the cable curve will be much smoother.
BITD, when all bikes had downtube shifters, front-left also meant that braking (with your left hand) while changing gear (with the right, both front and rear mechs) was possible. Maybe not too necessary when just out riding, but pretty useful when racing.

And FWIW, I also ride a motorbike. It's a scooter with no clutch, and has the rear brake on the left, front on the right. I have never had trouble at all swapping between the two or getting my brakes mixed up...

So although I think bikes and brakes are designed the way they are because a front-left/rear-right combination is the most common, there's nothing wrong with having them the other way around.

 

[tintin40]

Front on the right for me.

 

[Raging_Bulls]

Plus, that's the way bikes have always supplied, isn't it?

Only in the UK, Neil. The rest of the world has the front brake on the left, even the countries where they ride on the left side of the road.

There's no law in the UK that determines how you should have your brakes set up, only that new bikes need to be delivered with the front brake on the right.
Once you've taken delivery, you can switch them around if you like. Of course most people don't bother to turn the brakes the right way round, and once the kids learned it with a front-right setup, they're likely to stick to it.

Not only V-brakes are designed for a front-left setup, any shifter is too. Otherwise we'd have the front mech on the right as well.

I too have plenty of experience riding motorcycles. Never had a problem between switching layouts.
Even a bicycle with a front-right layout doesn't really bother me. It takes less than 5 minutes to adjust to the different layout, and modulation isn't a problem either if you take another 10 minutes to familiarize yourself with the bike.

 

[tintin40]

Back in 1990 i did try swapping them over as i had this bad habit of pulling to hard on the front and going over the bar

Soon went back to the right.