Orientation of brakes

I notice that my rear brake is controlled by my right hand. I am right
handed. If a person is left handed should that be switched since you have
(?) more strength in your dominant hand? I figure you want more strength for
the rear brake than the front. Or does it make any difference?

Tom

My bikes have the front brakes on different sides. It has never bothered me.

"mary" wrote:
I notice that my rear brake is controlled by my right hand. I am right
handed. If a person is left handed should that be switched since you have
(?) more strength in your dominant hand? I figure you want more strength
for
the rear brake than the front. Or does it make any difference?

See Sheldon Brown's article on this:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html

Art Harris

Actually, the front brake does most of the work, so all other things equal,
your stronger hand should control the front break.

Some other things to consider-
Does the traffic in your country drive on the left or right? Assuming
cyclists stay to the "slow" side of the traffic, they will want to use the
hand that is usually the rear brake to signal to traffic, leaving their
strong hand covering the front brake when they do so. So in the US, that
means Right brake front.

Are you a motorcyclist? Motorcycles have the front brake on the right (left
side is the clutch). Might be simpler to stick to that system to avaid
confusion.

Where are the shifters located on your bike? If they are STI type
(integrated with the brake levers), it matters less, but if you have to move
your hand away from the brake to use the shifters, you might want to be able
to cover the front brake with one hand while shifting with the other. Since
most shifting is done using the rear derailler rather than the front, if the
left hand controls the front brake, you'll have more stopping power if you
have to use it while shifting. This is especially noticable in stop and go
city riding. Of course I suppose you could change the orientation of your
shifters instead...

Well, I hope that answers your question ;-). It's really a matter of
personal preference. On my MTB with brifters (sti) and motorcycle I have the
front brake on the right, on my commuting/touring bike which has bar end
shifters I have the front controlled by the left. I'm about to buy a road
bike and will probably set it up with the front on the right.

A+

"mary" a écrit dans le message de
...
I notice that my rear brake is controlled by my right hand. I am right
handed. If a person is left handed should that be switched since you have
(?) more strength in your dominant hand? I figure you want more strength
for
the rear brake than the front. Or does it make any difference?

Tom




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Tom- I notice that my rear brake is controlled by my right hand. I am right
handed. If a person is left handed should that be switched since you have
(?) more strength in your dominant hand? BRBR

Most braking power comes from the front brake, not the rear. Ideally your
strongest hand should be attached to the strongest brake for best/fastest
braking.

Peter Chisholm
Vecchio's Bicicletteria
1833 Pearl St.
Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535
http://www.vecchios.com
"Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"

"mary" wrote in message
...
I notice that my rear brake is controlled by my right hand. I am right
handed. If a person is left handed should that be switched since you have
(?) more strength in your dominant hand? I figure you want more strength
for
the rear brake than the front. Or does it make any difference?


What does hand strength have to do with it? If it takes that much effort
you must have awful brakes. Also, if you really needed the strongest hand
on the most important brake, it'd be the front.



--
Robin Hubert

(trg) Wrote:

Actually, the front brake does most of the
work, so all other things equal, your
stronger hand should control the front break.
Some other things to consider-
Does the traffic in your country drive on
the left or right? Assuming cyclists stay
to the "slow" side of the traffic, they will
want to use the hand that is usually the
rear brake to signal to traffic, leaving
their strong hand covering the front
brake when they do so. So in the
US, that means Right brake front.

I always wondered about this. I agree that 90% (if not more) of your
braking power is from the front, I agree that, logically, the strongest
hand should be the one to control this brake, but, in a country that
drives on the right, a bicyclist, signaling his or her intent to traffic
that he/she wishes to turn (some of us actually do this), that means
that the left hand must be removed from the bars.

Would you really want powerful braking when you have only one hand on
the bars?

Think about it.

May you have the wind at your back.
And a really low gear for the hills!
Chris

Chris'Z Corner
"The Website for the Common Bicyclist":
http://www.geocities.com/czcorner

In article , "mary" tombates@cit
y-net.com writes:
I notice that my rear brake is controlled by my right hand. I am right
handed. If a person is left handed should that be switched since you have
(?) more strength in your dominant hand? I figure you want more strength for
the rear brake than the front. Or does it make any difference?

Some threads are eternal.... There is no law saying which brake lever controls
which brake. Some prefer one way, others the other. There are lots of
rationales for choosing one over the other. But you do not need more strength
for the rear brake. The front brake is far more important than the rear. But
you don't need more strength than your left hand (usually) can apply on the
front, either. Most people have enough strength in either hand to lift the
rear wheel when braking the front, which is as much braking as you can have.

In the old days, of downtube shifters, right-handed riders would have some
advantage with the front brake on the left, since the right hand usually did
the shifting of both levers, and it is good to have the important brake
available even when shifting. Now that is not an issue, either.

David L. Johnson
Department of Mathematics
Lehigh University

(Qui si parla Campagnolo) writes:

Tom- I notice that my rear brake is controlled by my right hand. I am right
handed. If a person is left handed should that be switched since you have
(?) more strength in your dominant hand? BRBR

Most braking power comes from the front brake, not the rear. Ideally your
strongest hand should be attached to the strongest brake for best/fastest
braking.

Sheldon posted about this a while back, with an anecdote that I though
exemplified why one should _not_ switch the brakes. In theory, yes, it makes
sense to have your strongest hand on the most powerful brake.

But his example was that he took a bike out for a test ride that did not have
its brakes switched. Because he was used to right-hand/front-brake, he was
nearly unable to stop in an emergency.

Even if it's less than ideal, it seems to me it's probably best to have one's
brakes set up the same as everyone else's to avoid this type of situation,
lest one's initial reaction when braking in an emergency be the incorrect one.

Sam

On 9 Aug 2003 21:40:51 -0400, wrote:
In the old days, of downtube shifters, right-handed riders would have
some
advantage with the front brake on the left, since the right hand usually
did
the shifting of both levers, and it is good to have the important brake
available even when shifting. Now that is not an issue, either.

It's still easier to shift the more common rear
derailleur with the more skilled right hand while
leaving the more important front brake available
to the clumsy but still-strong-enough left hand.

So, for me, it's better with the left-hand front
brake. I've never wished I had more strength or
dexterity for my braking.

David L. Johnson
Department of Mathematics
Lehigh University
--
Rick Onanian