Road Cycling - Which lever for front brake

This is my first poll so bear with please.
Like most cyclists I started with left brake lever to front brake. Then I started motorcycling where the standard is right lever front brake, I have since converted any bike I owned to this system for 2 reasons.
#1: I want the most efective brake to be used instintivley, regardless of two wheeled transport.
#2: Like most people my right hand is stronger, and very slightly bigger, hence capabile of modulating the brake more efectivily.
BTW with the improvements in brakes I find I can lift the rear wheel while brakeing with hands on the hoodsand still low on the bike, red KoolStops help lots.
pharmer kev

who needs brakes.

Left, as stock. One of my motorcycle buddys also changed his brakes to right front left rear. I really hate riding that bike! ;)

You missed the option: Right, because that's how bikes are sold in Australia.

Left. Not because the bike came that way. I make other modifications to my bikes...swapping saddles, handlebars, pedals, etc. to suit myself. Left, because I am not a motorcyclist, just a bicyclist. It's a bikey thing. It's what I learned. It's what I am used to. It is what I like.

Ride it on the left. Kind of interesting as I am missing a couple of fingers. Unless I try really hard I naturally feather the brake. Really handy. :)

Originally posted by MediaCreations
You missed the option: Right, because that's how bikes are sold in Australia.

And in Scotland, and since we invented the bike....................:)

Left... That's the way I've been riding for years and it's too late to retrain muscle memory.

Having said that, a lot of cyclocrossers swap their brakes so that they can modulate the rear brake more effectively as they dismount to the left. I've always wondered if those 'crossers who are also roadies [like Roger Hammond, Tim Johnson, Sven Nijs] have their road bikes set up the same way...

Right - but not because it's better, but because that is the way bikes have always been set up in Britain.

Left because thats what I'm used to.

Marty

Motorcycles should be like bikes, not the other way around.

RichC

Right side* .

Sheldon Brown makes a convincing argument for the most powerful brake being controlled by the dominant hand.

Also I motorcycle for a number of years an only then really learned how to properly use a front brake and as a result seldom used the rear anyways.

* Actually as a result of what ended up being my last motorcycle ride 2 of my bikes have the brakes coupled so in effect I use both brakes from the right side but I've got it set up so that the front brake grabs first.

:beer:

If the front brake was in my right hand I would crash every time I turn. I would have to learn from scratch. Like swiching the shift levers.

left front brake on my bicycles and right front brake on my scooter.:)

1# Im glad none of you are affraid of the front brake!!!
2# I wish I had worded it " I use my left hand" and "I use my right hand", if the moderator wonts to change this it's fine by me.
3#Ther doesn't seem to be any middle of the road on this preferance and I can't fault those who use there left hand. Retraining ones self can be a big job and not worth it for many riders but maybe worth it to those with small hands who need every advantage for control they can get.
4# I didn't relise that in other countrys they have been doing it "RIGHT" all along!:beer:
farmer kev

Changed the poll options.

Left because it's the one I've been using since I was 7.

I'm just a little concerned about those who have selected the option of crashing instead of braking. That's gotta hurt.

like i said earlier.. who needs brakes.

I prefer to keep my front on the left side. I signal with my left arm, because it is on the traffic side. I think the bike is hard to control when only one hand is on the bar and the front brake is applied.

Left side = front brake. It never even occurred to me that anyone would want something different, until I read that the UK & Co. use the right side, as do motorcyclists.

Question for UK & Co.: How are your shift levers oriented? Still left for front and right for rear, or they the other way around, too?

Originally posted by WoodyUpstate
Left side = front brake. It never even occurred to me that anyone would want something different, until I read that the UK & Co. use the right side, as do motorcyclists.

Question for UK & Co.: How are your shift levers oriented? Still left for front and right for rear, or they the other way around, too?

Left shifter front, right rear.

Some might find using the same hand to run the front brake and the rear derailer confusing but it works fine for me, but I did have a few years in there off the bicycle to let the old habit die.
Thanks Joe for improving my poll!
Hope you all have plenty of good miles tomarrow, I gotta work.
farmer kev :)

Well, I just learnt something, I though all road bikes had right front brakes and only MTB's had variable sides and that was only because those from a Motocross background had them the other way round. I know realise that the other way round (as quoted in American mags) is actually the way that I and most of the rest of Australia have our brakes. Right front makes sense, the front brake should do most of the work and the majority of people are better coordinated and stronger with their right hand (sorry lefties).

Originally posted by Rich Clark
Motorcycles should be like bikes, not the other way around.

RichC

No no no...

On the right, just like motorcycles ... and pretty much everywhere else in the world.


Originally posted by MediaCreations
I'm just a little concerned about those who have selected the option of crashing instead of braking. That's gotta hurt.

There's always the option of the Fred Flintstone brakes, Just need to replace shoes more often.
:beer:

I use my left hand because that is the side of the handlebar where the lever is that controls my front brake :p

Carl

I'll go fo the traditional brake set up which is left hand front brake and right hand rear brake lever

Nothing to say. Just wanted to bring this thread back to the top after recent interest in another thread.

Originally posted by Richard D
Right - but not because it's better, but because that is the way bikes have always been set up in Britain.
New zealand too !!:thumbup:

I rode with the left/front for many years. Recently switched to right/front and find that I now can brake more quickly, with better control and more power. Probably the result of too many years on motorcycles.

Interestingly, my first (1962) Bianchi was factory-cabled right-front, and I used to set up all of my bikes that way. However, I have ridden left-front for many years now, because I got tired of warning my friends that my bike was cabled differently than their Schwinns.

I normally apply only the front brake when stopping. To avoid overheating the front rim, I use the rear brake to control my speed on long descents. I use both brakes about evenly on slippery pavement, because a front wheel skid is extremely dangerous.

As a nonmotorcycling, fairly ambidextrous lefty, I like left-front cabling, but I think it teaches right-handed kids to rely too heavily on the rear brake.

When I bought my new mountain bike I swapped the brake levers so I have right hand front brake. That's how I've always ridden and that's the way my old mountain bike (now my commuter) that I bought over from the UK was set up. I figure it's easier to change the levers that for me to learn to brake with a different hand :) I also thought there might be some level of anti-theft with that setup :D

LEFT........don't know why

Anybody want to add to this poll?
Can't believe nobody has picked the third option yet.
kev

I prefer to keep my front on the left side. I signal with my left arm, because it is on the traffic side. I think the bike is hard to control when only one hand is on the bar and the front brake is applied.

and in Australia and the UK, they drive on the wrong side of the street.

left hand, front brake. right hand rear brake...since the rear is more likely to lockup and the right hand is better at modulating it works better this way. I learned to decend with old campy brakes...they really don't do a good job at stopping...refer to them as speed modulators but they slow you just a little so I learned to find the best line fast and keep my speed coming down the mountain.

Right hand-front, Left - rear. As mentioned earlier this is "just the way it is" in the UK, so I was a it confused when, after my dear wife bought me a "thrift store" bike to use in the US (one of the benefits of a long distance relationship), I found it was set up "wrong".
I soon put that right - to my way of thinking - but have had less success in trying to teach the good people of Los Angeles to use the correct side of the road. ;)

A couple of times I have crashed before I was even able to think about the brakes.....

Cheers

Ed

You missed the option: Right, because that's how bikes are sold in Australia.

Yeah, but you guys drive on the wrong side of the road!

And in Scotland, and since we invented the bike....................:)

I thought you invented drinking, cursing and throwing golf clubs, usually all three at the same time :-)

A rule of thumb I use when helping a beginning bicycler get the hang of braking...

Just remember R&R means right hand, rear wheel- for both shifting and braking.

I'm left handed, so I use my left hand, but I live in the UK so I have to switch it over every time (not very often mind you :) ). I find it much easier when slowing quickly for a junction or whatever to brake with one hand and change down with the other. I rarely use my back brake so my right hand is free to shift or signal.