Front Brake on Right Hand
 

05/24/2011 - As a kid I originally set up my bikes with the front brake on the right hand - My Dad recommended this cause motorcycles are set up this way - I don't see many road bikes set up this way though and the bikes I do see set up this way are mostly ridden by guys who also ride Motorcycles - Any Comments...

05/25/2011 - Thanks for the comments - It would appear that people prefer to have their dominant hand on the front brake - Especially on older bikes - Or maybe older riders...

My hard tail dirt bike is right handed (like my motorcycles). The road bikes are left handed. I changed the road bike once for a while but just didn't like the way the cable lay. After that I started using my right hand to signal right hand turns so I could brake with my left. It might have been better with retro brakes where the cable exited out the top of the lever rather than snaking along the handlebar.

there was a recent thread on this. imo, do whatever you like. sometimes it makes sense to run your cables in reverse. don't fight it.

If I'm not mistaken front brake=right hand is the way they do it in England

definitely so in NZ, and probably Oz.

i ride motorbikes too, but i leave the bicycle brakes as they are delivered. there's no confusion.

Front Brake should go to the dominate hand. For most people this is the right, me included. Been riding this way since I had handbrakes.

All my bikes have right handed front brakes... my daughters have never known anything other than this... and I am seeing many more people adopting this set up here.

Me too. All my bikes are set up like this, mostly so I can signal my turns and feather the brake at the same time.

No clutch, no foot brake= right hand brake

hm I like to keep my front brake for the off hand, which is in my case the left one. i need the right badly for coffee/cellphone/waiving/flipping the bird to suv drivers!

I'm english and we always had the front brake on the rightside.
Here in france it is on the left side.
It is to do with making turns into traffic so that you can signal and have your hand on the rear brake.
It is considered safer to slow down with the back brake when signalling with your arm.

So in the US if you are turning left and need to wait for a gap in the traffic you should brake on the rear brake with your right hand.

Well that's the principle anyway.

Always had my rear on the right. Figuring, in a panic stop situation, I'd want my dominant hand braking with the rear brake, but this theory may not hold any water. Just what I'm used to.

I'm not English and I don't ride motorcycles, so none of those reasons work for me. But I too put the front on the right. With side pull brakes one side or the other usually gives a better cable line. As it happens, my front brakes all work better with the cable coming from the right side of the handlebar. Were I using Campy brakes or something, the other way might well be better.

While most of the people I know that use the RHS lever for the front brake are in Commonwealth countries using the left traffic lane, it's simply a matter of preference. I also ride motorcycles and have never had a problem, unlike adapting to RHS shifting!

Brad

+1

I'm left handed, so I go front brake = left hand