Brakes Brakes around the wrong way?!

Anton

Administrator
Staff member
Local time
7:30 PM
Joined
Feb 28, 2012
Messages
761
Location
Australia
I just spoke to my friend who is travelling in Canada (he is from Australia) and he went for a ride on a mountain bike only to find out that the brakes are setup around the wrong way when compared to back home.

He went over the handlebars in front of a car but was lucky enough not to get hit.

In Australia:
Right Hand Operates Front Breaks
Left Hand Operates Rear Breaks

I honestly didn't know that there were different setups for brakes. Something to watch out for when you go for a ride on someone else's bike!
 
Funny you mention that, I had an argument with a friend of mine about which controls which. I'm American, he's a Kiwi, and he lives in Southern California. I noticed he had his RH lever controlling the front and I asked him why. He said "that's how it's supposed to be!". I had actually never seen them reversed that way. Of course it's all about preference in the end, but every bicycle I've built/worked on since the '80s, LH is front and RH is rear.

The bike your friend was riding must have had some really good brakes!
 
You learn something new everyday!

So what side is the front brake on a motorbike over there? Over here we use our right hand for the front brake and left hand for the clutch to change gears.
 
I have my front brake set-up on the right side. I don't have any rear brakes. I have one clutch lever and one brake lever. Simple Simon says keep it simple Simon. Don't worry, Mom, I keep it under 30mph.
 
In America on a motorcycle: Right-hand controls front brake, right foot controls back brake. On bicycles the rear brake is typically controlled by the right hand but that's because lots of bikes only had one brake, and it was mounted on the rear wheel. I only have a front brake and it's controlled by my right hand because that's what I'm familiar with on a motorcycle.
 
im in canada and its true left hand= FRONT right hand= BACK i figured that this set up was world wide hmmm learn something new everyday!
 
oops forgot to mention our motorcycles leftfoot shifts gears lefthand is clutch righthand is front brake and rightfoot is rear brake here
 
oops forgot to mention our motorcycles leftfoot shifts gears lefthand is clutch righthand is front brake and rightfoot is rear brake here

na ah.
left hand front,right hand rear.three mountain bikes all untouched from assembler all the same.came from three different places.
typically i would see this as a safer setup,on a biker standpoint,this would avoid locking the front brake.
 
Back
Top