Brakes

[simongt]

Hired some bikes in Corfu a few years back.
Took a while to get used to the 'opposite braking' - !

 

[Alex321]

Whereas if you'd snatched too much back brake, you would have skidded the back and slid over instead. There is no escape from mechanical insensitivity!

You can often control a rear wheel skid, while it is much harder to control if the front wheel starts to slide.

 

[Profpointy]

Think it’s something to do with indicating (arm out) to cross oncoming traffic and which you can use with the remaining hand. Think that’s why U.K. is opposite to other countries as we cycle on the left so are free to indicate to turn right.

However it really doesn't work for us in the UK given the back brake doesn't do that much, so trying to signal right whilst braking is very tricky.

That said, I'm too old to swap em round, especially as i am also used to a motorcycle

 

[rogerzilla]

I can verify the risk, in the UK , of having a front brake lever on the left.

As a youngster I had this setup, indicating right and braking with my left hand. Braked too quickly and went over the handlebars.

In my defence, I had been riding a fixed gear bike for several years. For these bikes, with only one brake, the convention is to have the lever on the left and had kept the preference on my first geared bike. I very soon afterwards switched the front brake to the right.

All my fixies only have front brakes. I've never come across one with the lever on the left, although I can see the usefulness for right turns on steep downhills. Unless you're capable of superhuman leg braking, it can be a case of signal-brake-signal-brake and hope the following car gets the idea.

 

[mjr]

However it really doesn't work for us in the UK given the back brake doesn't do that much, so trying to signal right whilst braking is very tricky.

It is a legal requirement in the UK to have two effective brakes, so while it may not be as good as the front because physics, the back brake should still be capable of stopping the bike easily.

 

[Profpointy]

It is a legal requirement in the UK to have two effective brakes, so while it may not be as good as the front because physics, the back brake should still be capable of stopping the bike easily.

An effective back brake can lock the wheel easily enough but a sliding wheel really will not stop the bike easily. One might say the laws of physics take precedence over the laws of the land

 

[Alex321]

However it really doesn't work for us in the UK given the back brake doesn't do that much, so trying to signal right whilst braking is very tricky.

That said, I'm too old to swap em round, especially as i am also used to a motorcycle

If your back brake doesn't do much, then there is something wrong with it.

I can easily lock the back wheel. Slightly trickier to do what I want to, which is slowing it as much as possible without quite locking.

Because of the physics, that will never be as much braking force as the front wheel, but it is still enough to slow you significantly as you approach a junction.

 

[Binky]

It does pay to be aware of which brake is which, especially if you cycle in Europe as they have the brakes switched, that is the left lever controls the front brake and right lever the back.

This came rapidly to mind last year in Mallorca going down a fast, twisty descent and I had a front puncture. Fortunately I was able to get speed safely reduced before I hit the hairpins but it was a twitchy moment or two! If I'd grabbed the front brake by mistake could have been nasty.

 

[Sharky]

All my fixies only have front brakes. I've never come across one with the lever on the left, although I can see the usefulness for right turns on steep downhills. Unless you're capable of superhuman leg braking, it can be a case of signal-brake-signal-brake and hope the following car gets the idea.

In days gone by, when fixed gear bikes were the majority, it was the convention to have the front brake lever on the left.

BB can't be wrong.

 

[Alex321]

In days gone by, when fixed gear bikes were the majority, it was the convention to have the front brake lever on the left.

View attachment 777007

BB can't be wrong.

That may just have been international racers though, even in Beryl's day.

I expect almost all the riders in the recent Women's Tour of Britain will have had the front brake on the left, because that is the standard in most of the countries they race in, and where most will have been brought up and learned to ride.

And I don't expect teams to have some set up the British way and some the continental way, that would cause too many potential issues with bike swaps.

 

[MontyVeda]

this talk of the rear brake not being effective is nonsense.

 

[Tigerbiten]

this talk of the rear brake not being effective is nonsense.

It all depends on bike and setup.
The percentage of my weight on the back wheel of my recumbent trike is a lot lower vs an upright bike.
So it's a lot easier to skid it vs the fronts, especially if the going is slightly iffy.
While I'm happy to use it as a parking/drag brake.
If I use it as my only stopping brake, I have to plan on giving myself 10x the distance vs if I just the the twin fronts.

 

[mjr]

It all depends on bike and setup.
The percentage of my weight on the back wheel of my recumbent trike is a lot lower vs an upright bike.

Aye, maybe then, but strictly speaking, you still only have to have two wheels braked even if there's three, if I remember correctly.

 

[Sharky]

Aye, maybe then, but strictly speaking, you still only have to have two wheels braked even if there's three, if I remember correctly.

Strictly, you have to have two methods of braking. A fixed gear counts as one.
For trikes, they can be on the same wheel.

 

[Sharky]

That may just have been international racers though, even in Beryl's day.

My dad wasn't an international rider ....

From circa 1954