Right hand controls front brakes now on RANS Rocket.

[Alpha Beta]

The front brake on my Rocket provides the best braking force and never skids. The rear brake uses
causes a skids quite easily. This is probably because of my weight distribution due to my size.
Sometime if I am braking the rear only on a turn and the wheel skids, I feel the bike slipping from
underneath me.

I swapped the brake levers so that the right hand brakes the front wheels and the left hand brakes
the rear wheel. Now I am free to brake with a lot of force and signal with my left hand with out
fear of skidding. I rarely have to use the rear brake.

 

[Morgan Jones]

"Alpha Beta" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> The front brake on my Rocket provides the best braking force and never skids. The rear brake uses
> causes a skids quite easily. This is probably because of my weight distribution due to my size.
> Sometime if I am braking the rear only on a turn and the wheel skids, I feel the bike slipping
> from underneath me.
>
> I swapped the brake levers so that the right hand brakes the front wheels and the left hand brakes
> the rear wheel. Now I am free to brake with a lot of force and signal with my left hand with out
> fear of skidding. I rarely have to use the rear brake.

That brings up an interesting point. Upright bikes are (arguably wrongly) designed with the front
brake on the left (supposedly weaker) hand so that you don't slam on the brake and go over the front
wheel. That, of course, doesn't make sense on a recumbent where you couldn't go over the front wheel
it you tried.

Perhaps we should all be re-routing our brakes.

OTOH, it is nice to fiddle with a map or water bottle knowing that my left hand is on the
front brake.

Morgan.

 

[Dom]

Never had a problem with the brake setup the usual way (left/front and right/rear) on my DFs or
recumbent. I can signal with my left and still use my right to slow the bike down for the turn/stop.
If I need to jam the barkes on forget signaling, both hands are on the brakes. I also think that at
some point the amount of pressure you apply doesn't matter. Once the pads have made the appropriate
contact the pressure shouldn't matter. The argument I always heard for switching was that it
followed motorcycle setups for those who drive motorcycles.

"Alpha Beta" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> The front brake on my Rocket provides the best braking force and never skids. The rear brake uses
> causes a skids quite easily. This is probably because of my weight distribution due to my size.
> Sometime if I am braking the rear only on a turn and the wheel skids, I feel the bike slipping
> from underneath me.
>
> I swapped the brake levers so that the right hand brakes the front wheels and the left hand brakes
> the rear wheel. Now I am free to brake with a lot of force and signal with my left hand with out
> fear of skidding. I rarely have to use the rear brake.

 

[Dave Larrington]

Morgan Jones wrote:

> That brings up an interesting point. Upright bikes are (arguably wrongly) designed with the front
> brake on the left (supposedly weaker) hand so that you don't slam on the brake and go over the
> front wheel.

Not here they're not. In fact, it is technically illegal for a British bike shop to sell, or even
display, a bike set up thus, a fact which apparently has escaped certain US-based manufacturers,
especially the one beginning with "S" and ending in "d". The theory which I have heard is that you
want to be able to signal a turn which takes you across the oncoming traffic while braking the
*rear* wheel, as if the rear wheel locks, the bike is still controllable, whereas a mishap to the
front wheel is more likely to land you on your head in the middle of the road and get run over by an
oncoming bus. Ergo in the UK, the left hand operates the rear brake while in continental Europe and
the US, it's the right hand.

Oddly enough, Japanese[1] component manufacturers have the cable entering the *right* side of their
front linear pull brakes, requiring a much more torturous cable route from a right-side lever...

1 - where they also drive on the left

Dave Larrington - http://legslarry.crosswinds.net/
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Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/
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