Scott Marsden wrote:

2. B1408 changes braking requirement to reflect the predominance of hand
brakes over foot brakes.
Section 21201 states that:
(a) No person shall operate a bicycle on a roadway unless it
is equipped with a brake which will enable the operator to make one
braked wheel skid on dry, level, clean pavement.
[Doesn't sound 'foot brake oriented" to me. Maybe mandate minimum stopping
distances? Can a BMXer stop as fast as a tribike?]

The reason why they call such legislation "foot brake oriented" is because
it was written by people familiar with "coaster brakes", the kind of rear
brake that's activated by pedaling backwards. Bikes that have these brakes
usually have them solely. If they can't skid the rear tire, they're
inadequate.

But... only the rear brake of a bike is capable of skidding a tire on dry,
clean, pavement. No matter how good your front brake is, it will never do
it. Now, a working hand-operated front brake is sufficient to stop a bike by
itself. Not only that, it's superior to having only a rear brake. I have
heard that racers in training use only a front brake because of weight
savings, and because it's superior to having only a rear brake. But they'd
be illegal under this law, because you can't have only a front brake,
because a front brake can't skid a tire on dry, clean, pavement. No matter
the fact that they can stop adequately.

Another example... if you had two hand-operated brakes, and the rear ones
failed, you'd be breaking the law. But if only the front ones failed, you'd
be OK, even though you'd be better off in the first situation than the
second.

My front brakes can easily make my front wheel skid on dry pavement. Vee
brakes, 2 years old. 700c x 35 tires. No problem.

What are you using?
Bernie