My wife and I had a long discussion about this over the pork chops. Can you imagine? She also mentioned the coaster-brake theory. And opined that it might actually be preferable to have the "strong" hand on the weaker brake to compensate (front = 70% / back = 30% is what I've heard).
An office friend also offered that, in the 70s, criterium riders in the States liked to have left = rear so that they could brake while shifting with their right hand. Pretty clever, if it works.
Bill Snyder Lake Balboa, CA
-----Original Message----- From: Jan Heine [mailto:heine@mindspring.com] Sent: Monday, August 26, 2002 7:00 PM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR]Rear brake left - right?
I have a different theory: In Germany and Italy, coaster-braked bikes were the norm. On those, you have one brake lever only. So you put it on the right. If you add a second lever (for a rear brake), you put it on the left.
In France, coaster brakes never were populer. So they have the inverse set-up - probably for no good reason, except they may have started with rear brakes only! So the rear goes on the right. Don't know about the U.S... Probably adapted the French model.
For riding, it really doesn't matter. No good brake requires more strength than a left hand can provide, and anyhow, the variation in hand strength from rider to rider is greater than between hands of the same rider.
The funniest thing I've ever heard is that cyclocross might have something to do with it - you want to feather the rear brake when you have only one hand on the bars. If you do that, you probably won't stay upright!
What do you think?
Jan Heine, Seattle