levarg wrote:So the most sensible explanation is because of hand signals.
Personally I think it makes more sense for right-handed riders to use the right hand for the front brake. The dominant hand provides more control for the dominant brake. How often do people use hand signals compared to using the brake anyway?
I descended a long steep hill today and had to come close to a stop at the bottom to give way, and my left hand controlled the front brake as impeccably as it always does. I didn't even think about it. It makes no real difference.
levarg wrote:So the most sensible explanation is because of hand signals.
Personally I think it makes more sense for right-handed riders to use the right hand for the front brake. The dominant hand provides more control for the dominant brake. How often do people use hand signals compared to using the brake anyway?
I descended a long steep hill today and had to come close to a stop at the bottom to give way, and my left hand controlled the front brake as impeccably as it always does. I didn't even think about it. It makes no real difference.
Why is your front brake on the left?
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.” ― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
levarg wrote:So the most sensible explanation is because of hand signals.
Personally I think it makes more sense for right-handed riders to use the right hand for the front brake. The dominant hand provides more control for the dominant brake. How often do people use hand signals compared to using the brake anyway?
I descended a long steep hill today and had to come close to a stop at the bottom to give way, and my left hand controlled the front brake as impeccably as it always does. I didn't even think about it. It makes no real difference.
Why is your front brake on the left?
Nowadays it is just habit, what I'm used to. But when I first switched over I was young and knew very little, so I imagined that the back brake was the important one and I thought that my dominant hand should have the dominant brake. I now know that doesn't matter, just as I now know the front brake is dominant. But I would now prefer the front brake to be on the left hand anyway because of the two (polite) hand signals right is most important, and going down a steep hill, wanting to turn right from the centre of the road, I want my right hand free to signal and my left hand on the brake I cannot do without. If push comes to shove I can do without a left signal, though I prefer not to. On UK roads left signals don't matter quite as much as right signals that explain you don't want to be overtaken.
pwa wrote:But I would now prefer the front brake to be on the left hand anyway because of the two (polite) hand signals right is most important, and going down a steep hill, wanting to turn right from the centre of the road, I want my right hand free to signal and my left hand on the brake I cannot do without. If push comes to shove I can do without a left signal, though I prefer not to. On UK roads left signals don't matter quite as much as right signals that explain you don't want to be overtaken.
That seems to be the complete opposite of the reasoning for having the back brake on the nearside. Most people cannot hold the bike on a sufficiently steep downhill with the front brake alone as easily as the back - either they slip forwards or the rear wheel lifts. Either you have excellent brake modulation or arm strength (congratulations) or maybe your bike's geometry is more forgiving or the hill isn't steep enough to cause such problems.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
pwa wrote:But I would now prefer the front brake to be on the left hand anyway because of the two (polite) hand signals right is most important, and going down a steep hill, wanting to turn right from the centre of the road, I want my right hand free to signal and my left hand on the brake I cannot do without. If push comes to shove I can do without a left signal, though I prefer not to. On UK roads left signals don't matter quite as much as right signals that explain you don't want to be overtaken.
That seems to be the complete opposite of the reasoning for having the back brake on the nearside. Most people cannot hold the bike on a sufficiently steep downhill with the front brake alone as easily as the back - either they slip forwards or the rear wheel lifts. Either you have excellent brake modulation or arm strength (congratulations) or maybe your bike's geometry is more forgiving or the hill isn't steep enough to cause such problems.
Not super-steep. Maybe 1 in 8 or something like that. Trying to slow a lot on a 1 in 4 I'd want both hands for the brakes. Hand signals would be a luxury. But I rarely if ever get my rear wheel lifting.
pwa wrote:But I would now prefer the front brake to be on the left hand anyway because of the two (polite) hand signals right is most important, and going down a steep hill, wanting to turn right from the centre of the road, I want my right hand free to signal and my left hand on the brake I cannot do without. If push comes to shove I can do without a left signal, though I prefer not to. On UK roads left signals don't matter quite as much as right signals that explain you don't want to be overtaken.
That seems to be the complete opposite of the reasoning for having the back brake on the nearside. Most people cannot hold the bike on a sufficiently steep downhill with the front brake alone as easily as the back - either they slip forwards or the rear wheel lifts. Either you have excellent brake modulation or arm strength (congratulations) or maybe your bike's geometry is more forgiving or the hill isn't steep enough to cause such problems.
Maybe he just has the right brakes, properly adjusted
Entertainer, juvenile, curmudgeon, PoB, 30120 Cycling-of course, but it is far better on a Gillott We love safety cameras, we hate bullies
I've had my rear brake lever on the left ever since I joined a club in 1959, and everyone else did it that way - for some of the reasons stated above. I never nowadays consider doing it otherwise.
Isn't it also the case that most, if not all, caliper brakes are made with the lever arms on the left (as you face them), giving a smoother cable line, and thus possibly better braking - as well as better aesthetics?
Ray The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt - Bertrand Russell I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that - Ben Goldacre
Ray The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt - Bertrand Russell I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that - Ben Goldacre
When I ordered a frame from a bespoke frame maker they asked which side I had the rear brake so that they could optimise the stops and guides. But surely if mass produced frames are set up one particular way it will be in the continental style, not the less common UK style.
pwa wrote:When I ordered a frame from a bespoke frame maker they asked which side I had the rear brake so that they could optimise the stops and guides. But surely if mass produced frames are set up one particular way it will be in the continental style, not the less common UK style.
Bikes in China have the front brake on the right.
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.” ― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
Does it really matter. Use of brakes is a learnt ability you just learn to use them the other way around. Any perceived advantages are likely to be insignificant because you learn to get the best performance out of the bike and its brakes. Cable runs and brakes to suit downhill right turns may give performance advantages, but without them you would still make that turn. Cyclists are an adaptable species I find.
PS I've been is road and traffic situations that you can't get any hands free to signal safely for one reason or more likely a combination of reasons. One such location had just so much going on and crammed into one tight space that the main criteria is controlling your bike precisely than signalling with one hand off your bars. At the end of the day getting to your destination safely is more important than signalling intention to a driver who is probably going to ignore you anyway.
levarg wrote:So the most sensible explanation is because of hand signals.
Personally I think it makes more sense for right-handed riders to use the right hand for the front brake. The dominant hand provides more control for the dominant brake. How often do people use hand signals compared to using the brake anyway?
The "hand signal" thing is just made-up-after-the-fact for an arrangement of the brake levers that was probably a random choice by someone long ago that became established as a convention or tradition. It's different where there are different traditions.
Humans love inventing "rationales after the fact" for all sorts of things that have become extant for no reason at all. We like to see intent and agency in everything, even the stars, cloud-shapes and the entrails of chickens.
Cugel.
“Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence are usually the slaves of some defunct economist”.
John Maynard Keynes
Yes I can invent a rational that after the introduction of motorbikes people needed as much grip as possible to try and get some braking power, so the mostly stronger right hand was given the most important brake. Then in the interests of standardisation the cycles fell in line with that, eventually. That fits with me changing my wife's bike over to UK format when we bought it over from Germany and she was learning on my motorbikes.
The fact that millions of foreigners manage to ride motorcycles and then push cycles with brakes the opposite way around, without wholesale slaughter, implies my fears about needing consistency are not fully justified. Or that your average foreigner is smarter than me.
