Side pull brakes: non-driveside cable pull

For fun I am rebuilding a circa 1985 Peugeot road bike. It has
single-pivot Dia-Compe side-pull brakes. When installed on the bicycle,
the part of the front brake on which the cable pulls is on the left
from the perspective of someone sitting on the bike. This is opposite
to my other bicycles and requires a longer cable that changes
directions if the front brake lever is on the left and the cables are
routed beneath the handlebar tape. I've read most of the discussion on
this group concerning mounting the front brake lever on the right and
would consider this except that my other bikes are not this way and I
think consistency is a good idea.

Do most folks with these brakes have the front brake lever on the right
or do they stay with convention? Any reason related to braking
performance to do one or the other?

Thanks.

Joe LoBuglio

Joe LoBuglio wrote:

For fun I am rebuilding a circa 1985 Peugeot road bike. It has
single-pivot Dia-Compe side-pull brakes. When installed on the bicycle,
the part of the front brake on which the cable pulls is on the left
from the perspective of someone sitting on the bike. This is opposite
to my other bicycles and requires a longer cable that changes
directions if the front brake lever is on the left and the cables are
routed beneath the handlebar tape. I've read most of the discussion on
this group concerning mounting the front brake lever on the right and
would consider this except that my other bikes are not this way and I
think consistency is a good idea.

Do most folks with these brakes have the front brake lever on the right
or do they stay with convention? Any reason related to braking
performance to do one or the other?

Either way works (front right is the convention in the UK anyway, and we
use the same brakes as anyone else - although our front V brakes come
with a 130 degree noodle to give a gentler curve).

Quoth Joe LoBuglio:

For fun I am rebuilding a circa 1985 Peugeot road bike. It has
single-pivot Dia-Compe side-pull brakes. When installed on the bicycle,
the part of the front brake on which the cable pulls is on the left
from the perspective of someone sitting on the bike. This is opposite
to my other bicycles and requires a longer cable that changes
directions if the front brake lever is on the left and the cables are
routed beneath the handlebar tape. I've read most of the discussion on
this group concerning mounting the front brake lever on the right and
would consider this except that my other bikes are not this way and I
think consistency is a good idea.

It most certainly is. I once nearly crashed on a recently purchased
used bike when I accidentally applied the rear brake, and was only
barely able to stop in time to avoid cross traffic.

Do most folks with these brakes have the front brake lever on the right
or do they stay with convention? Any reason related to braking
performance to do one or the other?

Generally, most folks run the front brake on the left in countries where
they drive on the right, and on the right in countries where they drive
on the left.*

Japan and Great Britain drive on the left, so traditionally Japanese and
British brake calipers used to be set up that way.

The British don't make stuff anyore, and the Japanese have yielded to
the demands of the world market, so most calipers in current production
have the opposit "handedness" of your older Japanese ones.

*Many of us consider this custom to be an error, and use the opposite
setup. See: http://sheldonbrown.com/brakturn for a detailed discussion
of this issue.

Sheldon "Right Front" Brown
+---------------------------------------------------+
| If you oppose making marriage legally available |
| to all adults, you are promoting promiscuity. |
+---------------------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

Hello,

I've seen a lot of Italian racers e.g. Francesco Moser, Moreno Argentin,
and Fausto Coppi who had the right front setup. The guy who set up my
first race bike, a Torpado, set it up right front for this reason.

The guy who set up the bike said was told this was safer if you had your
hand off the bar to drink some water and you had to panic brake for some
kind of emergency, you'd be less likely to take out other riders since
you'd lock up the back brake. However I'd rather be able to grab the
front brake, If I could only use one.

At any rate this was pretty early in my serious cycling phase and I got
used to it and couldn't change back easily (I tried after riding right
front for six months or so). I do like having my dominant hand on the
front brake since it's the one that does most of the stopping.
Since my bike was set up "different" than most guys in the US, I noticed
which riders had left front and which had right front. It was easier to
tell in the days of non-aero levers. Riding bicycles right front helped
me when I got interested in motorcycles about ten years after I started
racing bicycles.


By the way, Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche both had left front brakes.
(Don't they drive on the left in Ireland?)

I read in an interview that Davis Finney set up his bike as right front
for some goofy reason, I can't remember for sure, but I think it was
because the kid in "Breaking Away" had his Masi set up that way.

-Eric

Sheldon Brown wrote:
Quoth Joe LoBuglio:

For fun I am rebuilding a circa 1985 Peugeot road bike. It has
single-pivot Dia-Compe side-pull brakes. When installed on the bicycle,
the part of the front brake on which the cable pulls is on the left
from the perspective of someone sitting on the bike. This is opposite
to my other bicycles and requires a longer cable that changes
directions if the front brake lever is on the left and the cables are
routed beneath the handlebar tape. I've read most of the discussion on
this group concerning mounting the front brake lever on the right and
would consider this except that my other bikes are not this way and I
think consistency is a good idea.

It most certainly is. I once nearly crashed on a recently purchased
used bike when I accidentally applied the rear brake, and was only
barely able to stop in time to avoid cross traffic.

Do most folks with these brakes have the front brake lever on the right
or do they stay with convention? Any reason related to braking
performance to do one or the other?

Generally, most folks run the front brake on the left in countries where
they drive on the right, and on the right in countries where they drive
on the left.*

Japan and Great Britain drive on the left, so traditionally Japanese and
British brake calipers used to be set up that way.

The British don't make stuff anyore, and the Japanese have yielded to
the demands of the world market, so most calipers in current production
have the opposit "handedness" of your older Japanese ones.

*Many of us consider this custom to be an error, and use the opposite
setup. See: http://sheldonbrown.com/brakturn for a detailed discussion
of this issue.

Sheldon "Right Front" Brown
+---------------------------------------------------+
| If you oppose making marriage legally available |
| to all adults, you are promoting promiscuity. |
+---------------------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

E Goforth wrote:
By the way, Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche both had left front brakes.
(Don't they drive on the left in Ireland?)

Yeah but how much time did they spend in Ireland? ;-)

...............
Regarding "cable pull side": Doesn't seem to matter on *large* frames
(and high stems) when the cable curvature is gentle enough to deal with
the cable coming from the "wrong" side. Campag brakes haven't been a
problem for me here in the UK.

For those who want the cable coming from the left, and deep drop as well,
check out Alhonga dual-pivot calipers.

~PB

On Fri, 20 Jan 2006 09:06:38 -0800, Joe LoBuglio wrote:

I recall that the Weinmann 500 brakes I used at one time had the cable on
that side; I was still able to use left-front brake lever. I think it is
a bad idea to not have all your bikes have the front brake on the same
side, whichever side you prefer. In a panic, you will not think through
which bike you are riding, you will simply grab the lever. Don't grab the
wrong one.

Get a new cable sheath, and cable.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | "It doesn't get any easier, you just go faster." --Greg LeMond
_`\(,_ |
(_)/ (_) |

Joe LoBuglio wrote:
For fun I am rebuilding a circa 1985 Peugeot road bike. It has
single-pivot Dia-Compe side-pull brakes. When installed on the bicycle,
the part of the front brake on which the cable pulls is on the left
from the perspective of someone sitting on the bike. This is opposite
to my other bicycles and requires a longer cable that changes
directions if the front brake lever is on the left and the cables are
routed beneath the handlebar tape. I've read most of the discussion on
this group concerning mounting the front brake lever on the right and
would consider this except that my other bikes are not this way and I
think consistency is a good idea.

Do most folks with these brakes have the front brake lever on the right
or do they stay with convention? Any reason related to braking
performance to do one or the other?

Thanks.

Joe LoBuglio

You shpuld always use both brakes with the understanding that the front
sstops you better than the rear, but use both. Right side to front
often was used in the peloton because
-left handed braking when getting a musette
-left handed braking when shifting the rear der with your right hand

and not going over tha handlebars. Also left-rear fr those that cross
race as getting off the bike, you don't want to flip the bike over

BUT, route the brakes like your other bicycles, with a wee b\it more
housing and new inner wire.
Having the housing going from the left to the left side of the caliper
is no big deal.

Joe LoBuglio wrote:

For fun I am rebuilding a circa 1985 Peugeot road bike. It has
single-pivot Dia-Compe side-pull brakes. When installed on the bicycle,
the part of the front brake on which the cable pulls is on the left
from the perspective of someone sitting on the bike. This is opposite
to my other bicycles and requires a longer cable that changes
directions if the front brake lever is on the left and the cables are
routed beneath the handlebar tape. I've read most of the discussion on
this group concerning mounting the front brake lever on the right and
would consider this except that my other bikes are not this way and I
think consistency is a good idea.

Do most folks with these brakes have the front brake lever on the right
or do they stay with convention? Any reason related to braking
performance to do one or the other?

Not only is there no functional difference, some makers
(DIaCompe, Weinmann) switched sides across models. Set it up
as you wish, there's no problem either way.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Sheldon Brown wrote:

The British don't make stuff anyore

Fighting talk ;-)

Royce, Hope, Goldtec, Pace, Brooks plus any number of framebuilders
would disagree (but OK, none of them make brakes).

A Muzi wrote:

Do most folks with these brakes have the front brake lever on the right
or do they stay with convention? Any reason related to braking
performance to do one or the other?

Not only is there no functional difference, some makers
(DIaCompe, Weinmann) switched sides across models. Set it up
as you wish, there's no problem either way.


Yup. 'Way back when, we had Dia Compe "G" and Dia Compe "Gran Compe"
brakesets in the display case. The G's had the arm on the right, the
Gran Compes had the arm on the left. No huge difference, except that
the Gran Compes had beefier arms. This was before the original Suntour
Superbes: http://www.yellowjersey.org/sup_brk.html

Jeff