General Cycling Discussion - Front Brake - which hand do you use?

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ZackJones
04-03-03, 05:38 PM
Greetings,

I have all of my bikes configured so that the front brake is on the right side just like on a motorcycle. How about the rest of you folks?

MediaCreations
04-03-03, 05:52 PM
G'day Zack

This one has already been polled here. (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?threadid=11458) It has also been discussed here. (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?threadid=14472)

We might as well just revisit those threads rather than start a new one.

If you add a reply to both those threads they will return to the top of the list.
TandemGeek
04-03-03, 06:08 PM
Trivia Time: If you go back far enough you'll find that bicycles in the US had their front brake controlled by the right hand just like motorcycles (after all, from where did you think motorcycles evolved?). Right handed safety advocates succeeded in convincing the bicycle industry way back when that the "dangerous" front brake should be controlled by the left hand which was less likely to over-apply the brake and do less harm, and there it remains today.

You can also read what Sheldon Brown has to say on the subject which includes a few other reasons as to why front brakes are controlled by the left or right hand in a given country, etc... http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html#whichside

Which theory to I subscribe to? It doesn't really matter at this point -- I just think it's all interesting. Speaking of interesting, I ride a motorcycle and a bicycle about every day of the week and have been riding both for well over 30 years now. Guess which hand controls the front brakes on my bicycles? Wrong! It's the left hand -- because that's how my first non-coaster brake bike came and that's how I learned.

ZackJones
04-03-03, 06:54 PM
Originally posted by MediaCreations
G'day Zack

This one has already been polled here. (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?threadid=11458) It has also been discussed here. (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?threadid=14472)

We might as well just revisit those threads rather than start a new one.



Agreed.

Zack
MediaCreations
04-03-03, 07:08 PM
This thread is now closed. Please continue the discussion in the threads mentioned above. Thanks.