Brake flipping

[Spats]

I swap my brake cables so that the front brake is on the right, like a motorcycle.

Who else does this?

[Big Hit77]

I thought about it once, but then i realized that I would probably kill myself in the breaking in period when I would have to retrain myself as to which side is which.

[altagirl]

I keep meaning to do it, but haven't gotten around to it yet...

[Bzzzt]

Everyone in the UK.

[ak_powder_monkey]

Note to self: Remeber brakes on motor cycles are backwards, especially when going 60 mph

[altagirl]

Originally posted by ak_powder_monkey
Note to self: Remeber brakes on motor cycles are backwards, especially when going 60 mph

Not just backwards - on a dirt bike your rear brake is a foot lever. Front brake is on the bars where your rear brake typically is on a bicycle. Don't go grabbing a handful of clutch, thinking that's going to help either.

[bagtagley]

There are a few pro DH riders who do this (maybe only ones from the UK). It definitely seems to make sense for rightys, smoother acutation and all. Only problem is making it work. I made the switch last year and did the parking lot test, it was like I was learning to drive a standard. I just don't have the patience to learn something that drastically different.

[Grange]

Good prank to play on someone. Probably could make a video for that damn funniest home videos show.

[phUnk]

I moto-ed for years before I went to college in Boston, but I keep my mtb brakes on their stock sides because I like to be able to get a handful of front brake to ditch a bunch of speed with my left hand, while downshifting with my right hand so I'm ready to accelerate as soon as I'm off the brakes.

Also, I make MX sounds as I pedal up technical climbs, especially as I'm passing people.

[shirk]

I flipped them over last spring when I got my Honda XR400. It worked well because I was in a dual learning mode, both the mtb and mx. Its funny watching people that don't really bike and have never used hayes disks grab on of my bikes for a little teat ride. More than one has eatten gravel grabbing a handful of right hand brake lever. After 9 years of solid mtb'ing before the switch it only took a week or so to get fully used to it.

[homerjay]

I'm still trying to get used to my rapid rise shifting...

[fez]

Back in the day, i used to be a partner in a little frame building company in massachusetts. I liked to run my XT thumb shifters flipped over so they were under bar. this also required swapping front to right hand and rear to left. like phunk, i liked to be able to grab a bunch of front brake and downshift at the same time so i swapped brake levers too. Since we were building frames, and were one of the first companies to build frames specifically for susp forks (yeah, that long ago) lots of people were trying my bike out.

I only forgot to warn a couple of them, but it led to at least one crash and quite a few people confused as hell about the shifting.

[ak_powder_monkey]

Originally posted by altagirl
Not just backwards - on a dirt bike your rear brake is a foot lever. Front brake is on the bars where your rear brake typically is on a bicycle. Don't go grabbing a handful of clutch, thinking that's going to help either.

Secondary not to self: Don't try a dirt bike

[schuss]

strangely enough, I never have a problem switching between bike and motorbike. Just completely different sections of my brain I guess.