Brake Levers ??

mediwheel

Is there a correct lever that should correspond with each brake ? I have two road bikes on one the right lever operates the back and on the other the front, is there a standard right lever to back brake or viseversa or just a mater of preference ?

Yours Courisly !

kenmc

you can swap them easily. preference or country of manufacture usually dictates how they're set up

Mycroft H

Mines set up left front, right back.

I find its useful as I can signal traffic with my right and break the same time

Beasty

There's a UK/Ireland option - front brake right, back brake left - and a Continental/US option with the brakes reversed

The origins relate to the side of the road you ride on - the theory at least that in Ireland and the UK you could be signalling right and therefore braking with your left hand. I was taught to use my rear brake in priority to the front one, although with modern brakes your chances of locking up the front wheel are much lower than they may have appeared when I was learning to ride a bike

dquirke1

My latest bike came left-front, right-back. I got all of 200 yards from the shop before locking the back wheel and coming down in the middle of a roundabout.
It's now changed to match my other bikes/ motorbikes, with the front brake on the right.

Mycroft H

This reminds me off a time of when I rented a bicycle in France and the breaks were backwards to the way I was used to them. Cycling along a busy road, a pedestrian proceeds to walk out in front of me. I panicked and pulled hard on the break I thought was the front but I just locked the rear.

Scrubbed off enough speed not to hurt the pedestrian luckily

VanhireBoys

BX 19 wrote: »

Mines set up left front, right back.

I find its useful as I can signal traffic with my right and break the same time

Same as that BX... ! Id say that pedestrian had to change his trousers after that !

@Beasty - I never knew that.. Makes sense if you think of it !

tomasrojo

The dublinbikes use the left-front/right-rear set-up.