MTB brakes: left or right?

Sports and Hobbies
21
It's historical and pragmatic; you ride a horse or sail a yacht with your left being the 'safe' zone, using your left to hold the reins / rail and leaving your right to wield your sword or take the tiller. Off Topic, but hence Britain - and elsewhere - drives on the left. It became the first place in the world to make a rule on which side to drive when traffic on a London bridge was becoming unmanageable.

Anthropologists will also attest that men when passing each other do so face to face, in order to keep order: left leads, the right primed for trouble behind. Women, on the other hand, tend to face away when passing others. Which encourages men to pinch their bottoms. Off Topic again, but people walk on the side they drive. Approach Swiss people from the left and it'll cause all manner of confusion

If you're right handed you're more likely to keep a grip with your left, freeing your right. As it's preferable to brake suddenly on the rear to minimise going over the top, left it is.

I'll leave it to you to decide which part of that I just made up.

22
I'm surprised none of you know the answer.

India, U.K, Australia- rear brake is on the left handle-grip

Europe, U.S - rear brake is on the right handle grip.

This is because of the side of the road you're riding on.

In India,(where we use the left side of the road) for instance,this enables you to stick your right arm out(as a turn-signal), while taking a right-hand turn, keeping your left hand firmly on the handle, ready to be able to use the rear brake.

When it comes to left-turns,I do not use my left arm(as a turn-signal) , as I'm already on the left side of the road.

Obviously, it's the other way around in Europe, U.S etc.

My advice is to stick to the brake-arrangement prevalent in the country you are presently in, and slowly get used to it. This way, you will comfortably and SAFELY be able to ride your friend's cycle, for instance,when he needs your help to ride it somewhere.

I don't know why, but it's a good thing they don't make this change on motorcycles, probably coz they have indicators?

hmmm, just read one of the posts up here,which mentions Australia has the rear brake on the right? strange!!!

IMHO, strength of right/left hand will not make a difference when it comes to cycle-brakes.

23
Aaah !!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving...right#Bicycles

As with horse riding, wherein riders tend to prefer mounting from the left,pedal cycles have evolved to be mounted from the same side. The common chain-based transmission system of a bicycle is usually on the right-hand side. A rider can thus walk along with the cycle held out to the right without legs or clothes striking or being soiled by the transmission system on the far side of the frame. This configuration suits the use of a cycle in left-hand traffic; the cyclist can walk alongside the road with the bike on the road. From this position the cyclist can mount the bike by elevating and extending the right leg. Cycles produced for countries with right traffic generally have the front brake operating lever on the left; the opposite is done for countries with left traffic

24
As far as I know the original logic is to do with signalling and turning across oncoming traffic and not skidding the front wheel or going over the handlebars if braking.

So riding/driving on the left you indicate right across traffic and have your rear brake on the left.

Riding/driving on the right you turn left across traffic so have the rear brake on the right.

25
I know that the more expensive brake handles are built to be placed left and right, by just inverting them. Avid specifically comments on this for their Juicy Seven handles, because the handle adjustment need to be taken into account when assembling them inverted.

For me it is really a personal thing. I use a throttle for my 40mph 4kW electric MTB on the right hand side. When decelerating, I first use the inherent regeneration of the motor, which is activated by my left hand. This allows me to quickly apply throttle with my right hand after braking, and accelerate like crazy.

Now if I need to come to a gentle standstill, I continue braking with my left hand, and not only the regen will activate, but also the rear brake. And I will aid that with my right hand, to modulate the front brakes.

Long story short, I want the front brake to be handled by my right hand, because I can modulate it best with my right hand.

26
Dunno if I've got the right bit, but it's certainly a bit that's not correct. If you brake suddenly with just the rear all you'll do is lock the wheel and skid the tyre. This is fine if you're doing 10kph on a flat paved road but if you're doing 70 downhill (on- or off-road) it will do nothing at all for your speed, as all the weight will be over, or by the act of braking transfer to, the front wheel.

It's why sports motorbikes have two huge disks on the front wheel and just a little one on the rear - rear braking is helpful for stability and at low speeds, but completely useless when going fast. I know some racers who never use the rear brakes at all.

27
It's not about strength, but control.

Here's a little gem - a large majority of right-handed people actually have much more strength in their left hand, which in evolutionary terms would have been the one holding the heavy object while the right was used to wield the axe, knife or other tool working on it. Still pretty much the same today with most tool usage.

28
Mountain bike convention is to have rear brake lever on the left. I think this has something to do with the motorbike convention. On road bikes the convention is the other way around. I can't be sure, but think it may have something to do with the caliper. At the end of the day you shouldn't change because of 'convention' Brakes should be instinctive and after years of doing it one way, you should stick to it. Performance is not affected either way.

29
As mentioned many times before, there is no official convention. In North America, I have never seen a rear brake on the left. It is very regional

30
I fried my brakes one time on a very loooooooong descent in Wallis and was having this same argument of do I use my left or right foot for a brake.

The commen convention in MTB is, use whatever you like, however you like.

Edit, front brake is used to control speed, rear brake is used to steer or corner in a tight switchback.

31
Funny that, the people I know who like to ride tight switchbacks do so on their front brakes to get the back wheel in the air and hop it around.

A friend (who happens to teach mountain biking) told me that the convention is due to crossing the traffic. You would always have the hand still on the bars when signalling to cross traffic controlling the back brake. This means all countries where you drive on the left side of the road will have the rear brake on the left hand and vica verse on countries where you drive on the right of the road.

32
They are not going fast enough...

33
Haha.

Like most such stories, this is predicated on the idea that using the rear brake is a_good_thing. In fact, the opposite is true; ideally you'd always have access to the front brake, the rear being more or less optional (and potentially useless). So the story is made up after the event (by 100 years or more) by someone who doesn't understand even the basics of riding safety (not meaning your friend, you understand).

As for 'teaching' mountain biking - WTF? I mean, seriously, what's to teach? Pedal to go faster, balance well coming downhill, try not to fall off. 'Bout it, innit?

34
Not quite sure what you are laughing at. I've seen them do it and it's the only technique that will get you around some of the switchbacks they are riding. At that point I'm off the bike and walking.

This kind of technique.

Bear in mind these conventions would have come about a long time ago when bike brakes were not what they are now. No one denies that the front brake provides most of the braking power, but if you are to have to brake with one hand and accidentally put on a bit too much it is better do it with the rear rather than the front brake.

You'd be surprised how many people seem to want to learn the correct technique rather than end up coming off the mountain on a helicopter.

35
Then you're not talking about 'switchbacks', but extreme trials riding. Suggesting that hopping round on the front brake is a normal technique is ridiculous. And you're probably wrong anyway - they're just doing it to show off and could quite probably skid the rear end round which is the more normal approach if there's any speed involved.

So, you state that brakes back then were not so powerful, but still think that sudden use was likely to fling you over the front wheel?

No, as I said, it's just a back-formation that some folk use to try and justify a preference. I just hope they don't ask your friends what the 'correct' technique is.

36
You do realise we live in Switzerland where many trails do have pretty tight, rocky and exposed switchbacks. If you can ride them all by sliding the back wheel then you must be some kind of riding god. (and the destroyer of said trails!)

If it's purely preference why do Australia, UK, India and all countries that drive on the left also sell their bikes with the rear brake on the left, while all countries who drive on the right sell their bikes with the rear brake on the right. If it was preference the shop would be asking you which you prefer just like asking you are you goofy or regular when buying a snowboard.

No offence, but I'll believe someone I know and who's credentials I've seen rather than some apparently bitter internet know it all who thinks riding normal Swiss singletrack is extreme trials riding.

37
First time I used a demo bike here I nearly wrecked it because of this. I don't understand but it seems the Euros love to have the front brake on the left. It doesn't make sense to me as all motorbikes still have the front brake on the right. I'm in the process of getting a new Super Enduro MTB and I have asked them to change the brakes over, they told me no, that's the way it is! If I want to swap them over I'd have to do it myself. Got to love that for sales service

38
In France I've found them happy to swap them over. They did this for one Focus MTB I bought about four years ago that could simply change the left and right levers over, and would have done so for my wife's that we got last year, although in that case it would have needed the hydraulics disconnecting and re-bleeding and we wanted to take it away that afternoon so we didn't bother at the time. They did say they'd do it on the first (free) service if she still wanted it, but in practice she's quite a tentative rider downhill so has not really noticed the difference so far.

Although the idea of taking a bike back to the shop for a 'service isn't' something that I'd ever think about doing. Bizarre idea.

39
It doesn't matter very much does it? But for convenience I would think the rear brake should be the same side as the gear change selector.

Now which side should the bell be on? What does your UK friend say?

40
Yes! For mountain biking in particular, you really, _really_ , need good brake control, and quite different front from rear, so it's vital that you instinctively go for the correct one. Grabbing the rear if you want the front will possibly cause loss of control by skidding the rear, and certainly will not give much in the way of retardation if you're on a steep descent. Doing it the other way round will easily flip you straight over the bars.

Eh? First, are you not aware that most bikes, particularly mountain bikes, have gearchanges on both sides; secondly, they're mostly thumb operated, so can be used while braking; third, why, even if you only had one gear changer, would it matter which brake it was closest to?