Gimme a Brake . . .

[Barabus]

Purchased a Cinelli Hobo Bootleg recently, Halfords honoured a price match, saving me £350 as Wiggle was selling the bike at £998 ! Great saving on a great bike. Ticks all the boxes regarding front and rear racks, Deore gears, bar end shifters and mudguards.
Only concern is the brakes, rear brake operated from the right hand lever !
Halfords 'mechanic' assured me this was the norm for a GERMAN bike !

 

[DCLane]

The brakes are in 'European' style.

Any LBS (or you) can switch brake the cables round.

 

[Milkfloat]

I think Halfords could be 'braking' the law. http://www.ctc.org.uk/cyclists-library/regulations/safety-regulations

 

[byegad]

Yes normal for a bike on European roads. The reason is that it is deemed safer to have the rear brake to hand when signalling a turn across traffic. So if riding on the right of the road that's a left turn and the rear brake is on the right. It's simple enough to re-jig the bike by swapping the brake cables over, but you may find you need a somewhat longer cable for the front as front brakes are usually activated from the left, making the run for the cable from the right brake longer.

If you are only riding one bike I'd be inclined to leave well alone and re-learn braking responses, but if you ride more than one bike a change to make them both/all the same is probably wise.

 

[Milkfloat]

Oh and as the OP made clear - Halford's 'mechanic' needs a geography lesson too.