brakes?

Whitehawk

Hey all so got a new MTB and have a qustion on this bike the back brake leaver is on my right and ofc front is on my left this is opsite to last bikes i have, but i have to say i actuly like it this way!

Qus. is this something alot of people do now? Is there a down side to it?
And over all any points on the matter would be great thanks

TinyExplosions

It's common in the US and Europe, and by people here who related to the aforementioned europeans. If you like it keep it, if you don't it's a quick change

**Timbuk2**

In my opinion, it's better that way - easier when you want to slow down while signalling to the right, for example.

Holyboy

I think that it is absolutely unforgivable and bloody well dangerous that shops will let a customer leave their shop on a new bike with continental brake set up, my mind boggles at it!!!!!
Bicycles in this country have always had left/rear,right/front brake set up and people who have cycled for a while will be used to that, so off they go down the road on their lovely new bike after leaving the shop and someone steps out in front of them, oh better hit the brakes they think and most people use the rear more so than the front(not the best way to brake, but that's another rant!!) but wait they've just flipped over the bars because it was the front break they pulled, as the shop was too bloody lazy to swap the brakes around, for god sake it takes two minutes to swap cable brakes over and if they were P.D.I.ing them properly they would have the cables out of the levers to lube them any way, as for hydraulics well they take a whole ten minutes to do.
If the shop points it out before the customer leaves the shop, fair enough if they don't mind, but to not even mention it is just dangerous.
But enough of my giving out (again) some people prefer that kind of brake set up, if it doesn't bother you leave it, but if it does bring it to a decent shop and have them change the brakes over, if they're cable brakes they may not even charge you, I know I wouldn't.

Whitehawk

cheers for the feedback, and ya Holyboy i do get what your saying, heads up with i guess be good!

ROK ON

Holyboy wrote: »

I think that it is absolutely unforgivable and bloody well dangerous that shops will let a customer leave their shop on a new bike with continental brake set up, my mind boggles at it!!!!!
Bicycles in this country have always had left/rear,right/front brake set up and people who have cycled for a while will be used to that, so off they go down the road on their lovely new bike after leaving the shop and someone steps out in front of them, oh better hit the brakes they think and most people use the rear more so than the front(not the best way to brake, but that's another rant!!) but wait they've just flipped over the bars because it was the front break they pulled, as the shop was too bloody lazy to swap the brakes around, for god sake it takes two minutes to swap cable brakes over and if they were P.D.I.ing them properly they would have the cables out of the levers to lube them any way, as for hydraulics well they take a whole ten minutes to do.
If the shop points it out before the customer leaves the shop, fair enough if they don't mind, but to not even mention it is just dangerous.
But enough of my giving out (again) some people prefer that kind of brake set up, if it doesn't bother you leave it, but if it does bring it to a decent shop and have them change the brakes over, if they're cable brakes they may not even charge you, I know I wouldn't.

Every road bike that I have ever both have Left/front, Right/rear. Strangely enough I bought one cross bike that was set up as you describe - and I couldnt get used to it.

It makes absolute sense to me when one considers the side of the road that we travel on.
Imagine descending to a right hand turn. IMHO, it is far safer to apply the front brake (in the aforementioned case, the left hand brake), while signaling the turn with your right hand.
I simply cant understand why one would set up a braking system the other way.

Finally, a prospective purchaser of a bike should in fairness test the brakes out before they NEED to.

Whitehawk

i did test the brakes! however it was a small shock as i was on the bike out side the shop - however i was just thinking about getting some feedback on what other cycling peeps have as there set up!

Whitehawk

ROK ON wrote: »

....Imagine descending to a right hand turn. IMHO, it is far safer to apply the front brake ... while signaling the turn with your right hand....

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

....when you want to slow down while signalling to the right, for example.

Hmm one thing maby this is cos i have diskbrakes but if i was to pull left(front) brake first i would go flying off the damm thing as there is so much stopping power in them! so are your posts in more of the mind set of the caliper brakes?

ROK ON

Whitehawk wrote: »

Hmm one thing maby this is cos i have diskbrakes but if i was to pull left(front) brake first i would go flying off the damm thing as there is so much stopping power in them! so are your posts in more of the mind set of the caliper brakes?

I know absolutely nothing about disk brakes - so could be.
Mine are caliper brakes.

tomasrojo

The dublinbikes are set up left-front right-rear. I guess because they're a French design.

Whitehawk

Ya the disks have a crazy stopping power i was shocked to feel the diff, next time you going by a bike shop hop up on a MTb and try it for the "LOL" so to speek!

Alkers

Always right for the front for me, same with motorbikes. Also when MTBing I have more fine control with my right hand and don't mind if the rear locks up on a steep decent. Another point is if you don't have discs then most people's right hand is their strong one so for MTBing anyway you need the extra strength to be going to the front wheel. That said I can manage if its swapped around.

Holyboy

ROK ON wrote: »

Every road bike that I have ever both have Left/front, Right/rear. Strangely enough I bought one cross bike that was set up as you describe - and I couldnt get used to it.

It makes absolute sense to me when one considers the side of the road that we travel on.
Imagine descending to a right hand turn. IMHO, it is far safer to apply the front brake (in the aforementioned case, the left hand brake), while signaling the turn with your right hand.
I simply cant understand why one would set up a braking system the other way.

Finally, a prospective purchaser of a bike should in fairness test the brakes out before they NEED to.

I'm not saying the way brakes are set in this country makes the most sense but I'm saying it's been like that since bikes were introduced so a lot of people have gotten used to it,as for trying the brakes before they need to use them, I think theres a lot more in someones mind than which lever activates which brake when most would presume it's the same as the last bike they had, as for road bikes, well that is super laziness because a lot of the time bar tape has to be removed and then re-wrapped and mechanics just can't be bothered, maybe we should change over to continental brake set up, I'm not against it at all, it's just a lot of people are used to the old style set up and I feel it's dangerous to send them out on the road on a bike with switched over brakes without telling them, imagine getting into a car where the pedals were not the usual, even if you know they are, habit will dictate what your body does!!!