I was chatting to an acquaintance (from the UK) last week about MTBing in general and he was insistent that the rear brake should ALWAYS be on the left. My set up is with the rear brake on the right (I am right-handed). He was trying to convince me to change, but couldn't give a reasonable reason why.
Is he right? If so, why? Surely it is a case of personal preference and handedness, oder? .
I need to check my other bike, but I'm sure it is set up the same way, I've not come a cropper braking with the wrong hand (yet). Thinking about it though, I always use my right hand to drink, fetch stuff from my pockets etc, so safety-wise, having the rear brake on the left would make sense in that respect.
If I change, is it easy enough to switch over the cables, I have Avid Elixir 1 disc brakes?
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The logic is that the front brake is the one doing most of the work, particularly on steeper descents, so the stronger hand should operate it. But it basically just comes down to convention - UK bikes have always been this way round, and are consistent with motorbikes, whereas everyone else in the world puts the front on the left (expcet, oddly, when coaster brakes are used, notably in the US, when a front brake, if fitted, will use the right hand).
Not cables on those brakes, I think. And it may depend on exactly the shape of your brake/gearchange mechanisms. I have AVID Juicy 3 brakes on my newest bike, and it wasn't too much of a problem to change, by completely removing the levers and swapping them left to right. Just one upside-down screw shows the difference now. Otherwise it's a difficult process of disconnecting the hydraulics and bleeding the brakes when reconnected, which I've never done on a pushbike, but is a right PITA sometimes.
I've been through 12-15 bikes in my life and they ALWAYS have the rear break on the right side, as well as the rear changes. What a mess it would be to have it the other way around. I guess this is a british thing, just as the roads etc. Keep your bike as it is!
The realistic logic should be: if you are riding hard enough, or brakes are weak enough such that your arm strength difference is going to be the deciding factor. You need new brakes or ride something a bit easier.
I brake front left, and the rule of thumb should always be: whatever you are most comfortable and used to. There is nothing more dangerous then having a sudden split-second braking decision and confusion over non-accustomed braking causing a potentially serious bail.
If you are brand new at the sport (I assume most people on this forum have been riding bikes for decades), then choose the set up based on where you will ride, and what's available for purchase, and future purchase. That's my 2 cents.
It's not about where the bike's made, but which market it's built for. They have to be that way round for UK sale, just as all (road) bikes sold in France have to have lights and mudguards fitted.
Contrary to one of the previous replies, the gear shift side does not change from one country to the other, just the brakes. I see no reason why I'd want to associate the front and rear shift mechanisms with the front and rear brake levers.
So it's not done. The reason for the right-hand operation for the rear derailleur is that in some cases this is/was the only one, and in nearly all cases it's the most used, so it makes sense to operate it with the right hand (for most normally-dextrous people). It goes back way before indexed shifting and was already the case forty years ago, with friction shifters mounted on the downtube with the same L/R split we see today.
Actually just noticed my mistype which completely ruined the point I was making...what I meant to say was that my colnago road bike, bought in the uk, has the rear brake on the right, although maybe the fact it was exported to me here from Chain Reaction meant that they changed the setup?
Can't remember the answer - but I found hard the hard way when I went a**se over t*t coming down the mountain near Tignes. The bruises were ... interesting.
Advice - check before you go downhill fast in scree