USA - Front brake = left hand?

[Jon_C]

Well I just bought a bike after moving to the US and to my surprise,
half way down a steep gravel driveway, discover that squeezing the
left lever applies the front brake.
Is this the way for all US bicycles? How do you cope if you ride a
motorbike with the front brake on the right??

 

[A Muzi]

Jon_C wrote:
> Well I just bought a bike after moving to the US and to my surprise,
> half way down a steep gravel driveway, discover that squeezing the
> left lever applies the front brake.
> Is this the way for all US bicycles? How do you cope if you ride a
> motorbike with the front brake on the right??

If it annoys you, change it. Neither side is 'correct'.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

 

[DougC]

Jon_C wrote:
> Well I just bought a bike after moving to the US and to my surprise,
> half way down a steep gravel driveway, discover that squeezing the
> left lever applies the front brake.
> Is this the way for all US bicycles? How do you cope if you ride a
> motorbike with the front brake on the right??
>

People who own both motorcycles and bicycles often switch the bicycle
brake levers/cables, so they work the same as the motorcycles.
~

 

[vey]

Jon_C wrote:
> Well I just bought a bike after moving to the US and to my surprise,
> half way down a steep gravel driveway, discover that squeezing the
> left lever applies the front brake.
> Is this the way for all US bicycles? How do you cope if you ride a
> motorbike with the front brake on the right??
>

'Bout flipped over the handlebars? My Italian and Japanese "motorbikes"
both had the front brake on the left in the US, too. Just something to
get used to.

I seem to recall have trouble looking long enough in the correct
direction when pulling out into traffic in a few countries that will
remain nameless. That and 60 MPH through downtown was a bit unnerving in
more than one. Oh, yes, and if you did 50, they toodled the horn as they
passed.

So there you are driving much faster than you think you ought to be
driving and being toodled at constantly. Makes for a wonderful drive!

 

[[email protected]]

On Sep 24, 5:39 pm, Jon_C <[email protected]> wrote:
> Well I just bought a bike after moving to the US and to my surprise,
> half way down a steep gravel driveway, discover that squeezing the
> left lever applies the front brake.
> Is this the way for all US bicycles? How do you cope if you ride a
> motorbike with the front brake on the right??

I ride both bicycles with front brakes on the left and motorcycles
with front brakes on the right. It's never been a problem for me,
guess I just got used to it. As another poster has stated, the bicycle
brakes can usually be reversed if there is confusion.

Smokey

 

[Mark]

Jon_C wrote:
> Well I just bought a bike after moving to the US and to my surprise,
> half way down a steep gravel driveway, discover that squeezing the
> left lever applies the front brake.
> Is this the way for all US bicycles? How do you cope if you ride a
> motorbike with the front brake on the right??
>
Dunno about *all*, but this is the predominant arrangement on bicycles
available for sale in the US.

Mark J.

 

[Qui si parla Campagnolo-www.vecchios.com]

On Sep 24, 4:39 pm, Jon_C <[email protected]> wrote:
> Well I just bought a bike after moving to the US and to my surprise,
> half way down a steep gravel driveway, discover that squeezing the
> left lever applies the front brake.
> Is this the way for all US bicycles? How do you cope if you ride a
> motorbike with the front brake on the right??

If ya want, just change it. If you do most stuff onna bike with your
right hand, like reach for the water bottle, make the left brake for
the rear.

Coupla reasons to have right-front/left rear-all having to do with
mashing one brake in an emergency-grabbing the musette bag with right
hand, shifting the downtube shifter while braking, cyclocross and
getting off the left side of the bike and braking with the left
hand..other reasons as well...but I do prefer right-front for these
reasons.

 

[Aeek]

On Tue, 25 Sep 2007 06:30:37 -0700, "Qui si parla
Campagnolo-www.vecchios.com" <[email protected]> wrote:

>Coupla reasons to have right-front/left rear-all having to do with
>mashing one brake in an emergency-grabbing the musette bag with right
>hand, shifting the downtube shifter while braking, cyclocross and
>getting off the left side of the bike and braking with the left
>hand..other reasons as well...but I do prefer right-front for these
>reasons.

The reason for the worldwide setup is so we can signal to turn across
traffic and operate our rear brake. Maybe that made sense years ago
with early brakes but it makes no sense to me now.

I want my hand covering my front brake if I'm concerned about an
intersection. Lucky for me I'm in Oz so its my dominant right hand.

 

[Tim McNamara]

In article <[email protected]>,
Jon_C <[email protected]> wrote:

> Well I just bought a bike after moving to the US and to my surprise,
> half way down a steep gravel driveway, discover that squeezing the
> left lever applies the front brake.

Yup. We also drive on the right hand side of the road. The two things
are related. However, there are quite a few US cyclists who use the
right lever for the front brake.

> Is this the way for all US bicycles? How do you cope if you ride a
> motorbike with the front brake on the right??

Most of us don't ride motorbikes. However, for those that do, the
transition is easy enough.

 

[Jon_C]

On Sep 25, 10:38 am, Tim McNamara <[email protected]> wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
>
> Jon_C <[email protected]> wrote:
> > Well I just bought a bike after moving to the US and to my surprise,
> > half way down a steep gravel driveway, discover that squeezing the
> > left lever applies the front brake.
>
> Yup. We also drive on the right hand side of the road. The two things
> are related. However, there are quite a few US cyclists who use the
> right lever for the front brake.
>
> > Is this the way for all US bicycles? How do you cope if you ride a
> > motorbike with the front brake on the right??
>
> Most of us don't ride motorbikes. However, for those that do, the
> transition is easy enough.

So the idea is to keep a hand on the back brake while signalling?

 

[[email protected]]

I believe the front-left came about in the early days of my bicycling
when the old saw that the front brake was dangerous was paramount,
Americans being mostly used to New Departure and Bendix rear wheel hub
brakes. For that reason the right handed folk decided that the front
brake should be banished to the weaker, less skilled hand and there it
stayed.

Being a motorcyclist, I chose to have the front brake on the right
because my British motorcycle was out of service often enough that I
had to bicycle to the parts store and elsewhere. Switching back and
forth, left and right, was not logical to me at the time.

In countries where front and rear hand brakes were always the norm,
where people rode in the mountains, the front-right was more popular.

Jobst Brandt

 

[Tom Nakashima]

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> Being a motorcyclist, I chose to have the front brake on the right
> because my British motorcycle was out of service often enough that I
> had to bicycle to the parts store and elsewhere. Switching back and
> forth, left and right, was not logical to me at the time.
>
> In countries where front and rear hand brakes were always the norm,
> where people rode in the mountains, the front-right was more popular.
>
> Jobst Brandt

When I rode my 1970 BMW R75/5 years ago, I had the front brake on the
right side, as many motorcyclist here in the U.S. referred to it as the
European
brake set-up, and the front brake on the left side, the American Brake
set-up or
short; European brakes / American Brakes.

I always thought for braking in the mountains, using the engine's
compression
the better choice? As far as confusing, I would say British shifting on a
motorcycle.

For a bicycle, I like the left side front brake because of a longer cable.
Guess for tall frames it doesn't matter.
-tom

 

[Alan Hoyle]

On Mon, 24 Sep 2007 19:12:04, [email protected] wrote:

> I ride both bicycles with front brakes on the left and motorcycles
> with front brakes on the right. It's never been a problem for me,
> guess I just got used to it. As another poster has stated, the
> bicycle brakes can usually be reversed if there is confusion.

If you're running linear-pull "V-brakes", you might need a replacement
noodle to make it work with the right-hand lever.

-alan



--
Alan Hoyle - [email protected] - http://www.alanhoyle.com/
"I don't want the world, I just want your half." -TMBG
Get Horizontal, Play Ultimate.

 

[[email protected]]

On Sep 24, 4:39 pm, Jon_C <[email protected]> wrote:
> Well I just bought a bike after moving to the US and to my surprise,
> half way down a steep gravel driveway, discover that squeezing the
> left lever applies the front brake.
> Is this the way for all US bicycles? How do you cope if you ride a
> motorbike with the front brake on the right??

Dear Jon,

Front brake on the left for bicycles is pretty much standard in the
U.S.

I never had any trouble shifting back and forth between a road bicycle
and an off-road motorcycle. In fact, the real problem was changing
between motorcycles that had the gearshift and rear brake reversed, or
with reversed gearshift patterns.

All sorts of theories abound concerning why one side would be better
than the other for the front brake, but old bicycles mounted their
front spoon brake lever on the right:

An 1886 right-hand front spoon brake:

http://www.eriding.net/media/photos/transport/vintage_bikes/040930_cbr_mp_his_trans_vb_531.jpg

Ditto:

http://www.eriding.net/media/photos/transport/vintage_bikes/040930_amoore_mp_his_trans_vb_013.jpg

New-fangled 1889 safety:

http://www.eriding.net/media/photos/transport/vintage_bikes/040930_cbr_mp_his_trans_vb_576.jpg

Four new-fangled 1893 bicycles, all right-hand brakes:

http://woment.mur.at/images/GrazerDamenBicycleClub.jpg

The spoon front brakes on the hard-tired bikes in this gallery all use
right-hand levers:

http://www.thewheelmen.org/sections/photographs/hardtired/hardtired1.asp

Even this one:

http://www.thewheelmen.org/sections/photographs/hardtired/regviews/hardtired15v.jpg

At first glance, it looks as if the front spoon brake lever is on the
left! But so is the chain, and so are the buttons on the fronts of the
men's coats, so it's probably a reversed photograph--even the bell on
the tall fellow's handlebar is on the wrong side.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

 

[vey]

Tom Nakashima wrote:
As far as confusing, I would say British shifting on a
> motorcycle.

Try working the shift lever in a car with your left hand. That can be
harder to get used to than driving on the other side of the road.

 

[Chalo]

Jon_C wrote:
>
> Well I just bought a bike after moving to the US and to my surprise,
> half way down a steep gravel driveway, discover that squeezing the
> left lever applies the front brake.
> Is this the way for all US bicycles? How do you cope if you ride a
> motorbike with the front brake on the right??

If my motorbike felt more like a bicycle, I suppose I would find it
confusing. But I've never used the wrong lever in an emergency. The
only thing that changed for me once I began motorcycling was that
afterwards I picked up the habit of using a bicycle's rear brake along
with the front, when I usually only used the front brake before.

Chalo

 

[Tim McNamara]

In article <[email protected]>,
Jon_C <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Sep 25, 10:38 am, Tim McNamara <[email protected]> wrote:
> > In article <[email protected]>,
> >
> > Jon_C <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > Well I just bought a bike after moving to the US and to my
> > > surprise, half way down a steep gravel driveway, discover that
> > > squeezing the left lever applies the front brake.
> >
> > Yup. We also drive on the right hand side of the road. The two
> > things are related. However, there are quite a few US cyclists who
> > use the right lever for the front brake.
> >
> > > Is this the way for all US bicycles? How do you cope if you ride
> > > a motorbike with the front brake on the right??
> >
> > Most of us don't ride motorbikes. However, for those that do, the
> > transition is easy enough.
>
> So the idea is to keep a hand on the back brake while signalling?

Well, the idea is for novices to use the back brake while signaling with
their left hands- and vice versa for places where they drive on the
left. The fear- irrational as it is- is that cyclist will be ass over
teakettle over the bars if the touch the front brake while riding
one-handed. Cyclo-crossers usually have a right-front/left-rear
arrangement because of the dismount technique.

Many experienced cyclists prefer to have the front brake controlled by
their dominant hand. As a guitarist for nearly 30 years, my left hand
is actually slightly larger and easily as strong as my right hand, so
I've never bothered to switch even when I was racing 'cross.

 

[Jon_C]

On Sep 25, 1:04 pm, "Tom Nakashima" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> When I rode my 1970 BMW R75/5 years ago, I had the front brake on the
> right side, as many motorcyclist here in the U.S. referred to it as the
> European
> brake set-up, and the front brake on the left side, the American Brake
> set-up ...

So in the US the clutch and brake/throttle switched sides at some
point? I used to own a Jawa (from Eastern Europe) which had the gear
shift on the right foot and that took some getting used to, but
accidental downshifts must be nothing compared to hitting the clutch
instead of the front brake.


On Sep 25, 5:36 pm, vey <[email protected]> wrote:
> Tom Nakashima wrote:
>
> As far as confusing, I would say British shifting on a
>
> > motorcycle.
>
> Try working the shift lever in a car with your left hand. That can be
> harder to get used to than driving on the other side of the road.

At least the pedals are the same way round.

 

[Jambo]

"vey" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Tom Nakashima wrote:
> As far as confusing, I would say British shifting on a
>> motorcycle.
>
> Try working the shift lever in a car with your left hand. That can be
> harder to get used to than driving on the other side of the road.

It's surprisingly easier than it seems. I can now drive manual shifts in
both American and European sides with ease, and learning to adapt to both
took much less time than I thought. It's almost as easy to learn as
operating your computer's mouse with either hand - the brain seems to be
able to translate mirror actions relatively quickly.

The hard part in driving on the "other" side of the road happens when there
are no other cars to follow - the "feel" of the road becomes strange and
there is an urge to go to the side where one was used to.

 

[Jon_C]

On Sep 25, 5:51 pm, Tim McNamara <[email protected]> wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
>
>
>
>
>
> Jon_C <[email protected]> wrote:
> > On Sep 25, 10:38 am, Tim McNamara <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > In article <[email protected]>,
>
> > > Jon_C <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > > Well I just bought a bike after moving to the US and to my
> > > > surprise, half way down a steep gravel driveway, discover that
> > > > squeezing the left lever applies the front brake.
>
> > > Yup. We also drive on the right hand side of the road. The two
> > > things are related. However, there are quite a few US cyclists who
> > > use the right lever for the front brake.
>
> > > > Is this the way for all US bicycles? How do you cope if you ride
> > > > a motorbike with the front brake on the right??
>
> > > Most of us don't ride motorbikes. However, for those that do, the
> > > transition is easy enough.
>
> > So the idea is to keep a hand on the back brake while signalling?
>
> Well, the idea is for novices to use the back brake while signaling with
> their left hands- and vice versa for places where they drive on the
> left. The fear- irrational as it is- is that cyclist will be ass over
> teakettle over the bars if the touch the front brake while riding
> one-handed.
> - Show quoted text -

I'm not sure that's such a great idea. If your braking gently I'd say
it doesn't matter which brake you use one-handed and hitting either
brake hard while one-handed will likely throw you off unless you can
keep your weight off the bars.
Personally I prefer to keep a hand near the front brake and then if I
have to hit the brakes hard I'll put my other hand on the bars first.