Originally Posted by
FreakyFast
Hi there,
I've been working on this used Trek mountain bike I got. With the brake lever and the shifter on the right hand side, it's a little cramped. I was wondering if I could switch the shifter over to the left hand side... it's an 8 speed shifter I would need (or I could change to 7 speed or something if that's my only option. I would like to have only a rear brake, and have the rear shifter on the left hand side.
Let me make sure I understand everything. You have a mountain bike with front and rear shifters and front and rear brakes in the usual places. Or is it a single chainwheel.
Assuming it is the usual triple you want to remove the front brake from the left handlebar and in it's place add the rear shifter. Unless you are going to a single chainwheel and dropping the shifter I would think that would be very crowded and the controls hard to manipulate. Instead of dropping useful controls it might be time to consider why the right handlebar is getting so crowded.
I agree that going to one rear brake is a very poor idea.