Where's my text???

Great question...

Industry standard is front brake = left hand. However, some racers, particularly on short, tight criterium circuits prefer the front bake to be controlled by their dominant hand, which would be the right hand for many riders.

I changed front brake to right hand side on my bicycle.

It would end badly, if slowing down from high speed you would press the "clutch" lever hard...

Cyclocross riders, and I think some other european have their brakes switched. CX riders do it because they're jumping off their bikes so much, and the brakes need to be lined up differently so they're not putting too much pressure on the left left when they jump off to that side, and flip the bike while they're not even riding it.

I wondered a bit about this a year or two ago because I do a lot of cycling, but then when I was getting back into motorcycles again I didn't know if having my brake on the right side would mess with me. Even further, my wife got me a moped to fix up, and if I remember correctly that has the front brake on the right hand, and the back brake on the left hand. I was pretty concerned about getting confused and grabbing the wrong lever and having something bad happen. Hasn't happened though, and even when I'm riding I don't think anything of it. They're all different enough that it's not hard for your head to shift and use different hands.

Likewise - once I started riding motorcycles, I moved the front brake to the right hand side on every bicycle I've had since; I'm not going to confuse my muscles about which hand to squeeze to get the most effective stopping when riding, regardless of what I'm riding, and I'm not moving the brake on the motorcycle, it's too complicated.

As far as I'm concerned, that's where it should be on bicycles regardless, as it would help kids growing up to make the correct set of responses for moving on to motorcycles, rather than have this need to switch sides. If you have kids, consider switching them over to the right front brake now...

I first thought it was odd that the right was the back brake.

Then I realized the right had was the dominant one so the dominant brake would be the right.

If you're used to using the right hand to do hard braking  it makes sense. Right hand does front brake on a motorcycle - the most braking power.
On a bicycle, right hand does the rear which is the most braking power. If you were to hit the front brake hard, you'd flip over.

So most braking is done with the right hand, even though one is front brake and other is back brake. Easy habit to have.

Yeah I've never had a problem with this. I grew up riding and racing bicycles. One thing though is that the front brake is dominant on bicycles same as everything else. When you're riding or racing on 18mm road tires the rear is more useless than on a motorcycle. You just have to know how to ride so you don't flip over or lose traction, once again same as motorcycles.

Quote from: adidasguy on December 31, 2010, 01:03:14 PM

On a bicycle, right hand does the rear which is the most braking power. If you were to hit the front brake hard, you'd flip over.

I've flipped over the front of a bicycle with left hand front break. Motorcycles do stoppies - and gone wrong stoppies = flip. I think it's more about getting Used to correct breaking then figuring which is the weakest hand, cause the weak hand can still flip a bicycle.

Michael

Quote from: adidasguy on December 31, 2010, 01:03:14 PM

On a bicycle, right hand does the rear which is the most braking power. If you were to hit the front brake hard, you'd flip over.

I think front is dominant on bicycles too. The rear is more for poor traction situations and some instances while turning.
 
I just switched my bicycle to front = right. I haven't had a chance to ride it yet.  I think US (right hand side of the road) bicyclists should be able to use right hand for braking and left hand for signalling.  My biggest concern was reaching for the wrong brake or clutch lever though.

I think I just don't notice because I've ridden so many different setups. Between my own bicycles which have had a combo of both brakes, just a front brake, or just a back brake, and having just one lever on the right side or left, I've just learned to adapt. After working as a bike mechanic in college and test riding soooo many bikes, I can't even tell the difference anymore, just hop on and make it work.

I did notice some problems going back and forth between bicycles and motorcycles, but that's mostly just my habit of running redlights and blowing through stopped traffic on my bicycle. Sometime I catch myself almost running through a redlight. I also caught myself almost pulling an 60mph, 100 yard long stopping up to a redlight, but then I remembered that I don't know how to do stoppies, and should stop goofing around when I play motorcycle video games.

As from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_brake_systems)
When referring to bicycles;

"It is customary to place the front brake lever on the left in right-side-driving countries, and vice versa,[44] because the hand on the side nearer the centre of the road is more commonly used for hand signals, and the rear brake can not pitch the bicyclist forward. However, a skillful bicyclist does better with the front brake on the side that is less often used for hand signals. In an emergency situation, operation of the brake has to be second nature; an unskilled bicyclist could find reversed brake levers confusing. Fortunately, it is usually easy to switch brake cables."

I found this to be true coming from Australia to Canada.

Scrumpy

A bicycle is exactly like a motorcycle, i.e., the front brake provides most of the stopping power. Those who got pitched over the handlebar on a bicycle is due to either poor braking technique (grabbing the front brake), or from poorly made, low-cost front brakes that are grabby.

I rode mountain bikes (left front brake) long before starting riding motorcycles. I've had no problem switching between my mountain bike and motorcycles. However, when I took a dirt bike lesson - the dirt bike felt a lot like a mountain bike, and I was busy trying to figure out which brake to use in the dirt in different situations - I was confused by the left/right front brake thing...

Quote from: Gary856 on January 01, 2011, 09:14:40 PM
Those who got pitched over the handlebar on a bicycle is due to either poor braking technique (grabbing the front brake), or from poorly made, low-cost front brakes that are grabby.

Or, they were playing about and experimenting with maximum stopping with one brake only.

Michael

After a test ride on the bicycle today with the new right= front setup, I'm wondering about the definition of "dominant".  Sure the front has more stopping power; but most of the time I want to use the rear.  Particularly while I'm reaching off to signal and dragging my milder rear brake to slow down or just be ready to brake. It does feel like there's less danger of digging in or torque steering while one hand is off the bar.  
I switched back.  
Perhaps if I had spent less time bicycling and more time on the motorcycle I would feel differently.  Thanks for the discussion.  For me... I'm going to stick with the US customary setup.  God bless America.  

Quote from: karatechop5000 on January 03, 2011, 12:19:29 AM
For me... I'm going to stick with the US customary setup.  God bless America. 

What makes you think a left front brake on a bicycle is a US only thing? You think a right front brake on a motorcycle is a US only thing too?

Michael

I thought Everything was invented in America, even Japan!  

Quote from: mister on January 03, 2011, 12:34:12 AM

Quote from: karatechop5000 on January 03, 2011, 12:19:29 AM
For me... I'm going to stick with the US customary setup.  God bless America. 

What makes you think a left front brake on a bicycle is a US only thing? You think a right front brake on a motorcycle is a US only thing too?

Michael

God bless America and others who observe same customs.  And other places too.

Recently i reversed mine. front on right, rear on left. when i had motorised teh race bike ( 1996 scott waimea) got it to 54.9 ( mph) i did this, cause engine clutch was on left

there is a back brake?