How long...

[suburbanreuben]

Does it take to get used to brake levers mounted the wrong way round?
Front on the left, etc? Can you chop and change between bikes easily enough, or do you have hairy moments?

 

[matttromans]

I've run all of my bikes 'euro' for years. Not sure I could go back now! I think i'd be ok provided I thought about it each time I applied the brakes - not much good when it needs to be instinctive! Did take me a while to get used to though.....

As I see it the benefits of the 'euro' layout are being able to shift gears whilst braking hard on the front, being able to signal right whilst braking on the front, and most importantly much neater cable routes! The drawback is left (weaker hand) hand braking on the front, however, I think V-brakes and discs have pretty much nullified this point.

 

[Neil]

The drawback is left (weaker hand) hand braking on the front

No need to have one hand have a weaker grip than the other, see: http://www.heavygrips.com/. There's a whole subculture of strength training just dedicated to grip strength.

 

[suburbanreuben]

My left hand is stronger than my right. It's my gripping hand, whilst the right is the "precision" hand.

 

[matttromans]

Just saying it as I see it - I can't see any other reason for the UK to run Right/front? I thought it harked back to motorbiking days when brakes weren't what they are now, so having the front brake on the right, which is for most people their stronger arm/hand made sense. Happy to stand corrected though.

Suburbabreuban - are you considering a switch?

 

[Kona-Ian]

Only ever had front brake right rear brake left.

 

[suburbanreuben]

Suburbabreuban - are you considering a switch?

No. I've just bought a bike from Germany, and it has the levers the wrong way round. It also has the 3sp gripshift operating the rear mech, and the 8sp operating the front mech!

 

[dbmtb]

I run Euro on everything except my cross bikes and my RC300 (the internal hose routing makes Euro brake config. rather untidy looking)

It's not big problem remembering which is which.

 

[sic_nick]

It is not because your right hand is stronger but as most people are right handed they are more dextrous with that hand and can control and 'feather' the brake better thus avoiding crashing over the bars when grabbing a huge handful of front brake.

 

[highlandsflyer]

Riding motorbikes about as long as bikes, prefer consistency.