Road bike brakes

thekidfrom69

Might sound like a stupid question but what side should your front brake be on a road bike, on my two previous bikes Felt & Lapierre the front brake was on the left hand side, just received a new bike ordered from the internet and the front brake is on the right hand side, what is the standard in Ireland or is there one ?

Chips Lovell

There's no standard as such. British bikes traditionally had front brake on the right, continental bikes the other way around. What side is chosen really depends on the manufacturer or the shop. Usually people just pick one set-up and stick to it.

thekidfrom69

Cheers, is it a big job to change it, any ideas how much roughly would a LBS charge?

Chips Lovell

Don't know how much a shop would charge. It's about half an hour's work and you'd probably be able to reuse the existing cables and housing provided they're not cut too short or kinked.

stecleary

I asked this question a few weeks ago after going the opposite way as yourself and tbh I don't even think about it now, I just know what brake is where

omri

I have it on the left. Cant remember if it was the other way around when I first got my bike but I just pair it front derailler/front brake and rear derailler/rear brake. Im pretty sure Ive read somewhere about scientific explanation as to why UK bikes have different setup than the rest of europe - but I cant remember what it was..

The set up works for me though. Im using both brakes at the same time anyway. There probably is some advantage of using front first and following with the rear - again something I might have read about in the past.

stecleary

omri wrote: »

Im pretty sure Ive read somewhere about scientific explanation as to why UK bikes have different setup than the rest of europe - but I cant remember what it was..

Surely its as simple as hand signals? turning right on leaves the front brake in Ireland and the UK with a "euro" setup.

thekidfrom69

Thanks everyone have decided to change it, so just dropped it down to the LBS, think its best as I have visions of coming down the Wicklow gap or similar and pulling the wrong brake

joxerjohn

I think you are right to change it to what you are used to, its a straight forward job and shouldn't cost too much.

Lumen

thekidfrom69 wrote: »

Thanks everyone have decided to change it, so just dropped it down to the LBS, think its best as I have visions of coming down the Wicklow gap or similar and pulling the wrong brake

Just pull both brakes.