Re: [CR] Brake Levers

(Example: Framebuilding:Tubing:Columbus:SLX)

From: "Michael Schmid" <schmidi@gaponline.de>
To: 'Jan Heine' <heine94@earthlink.net>, 'Sean Flores' <seaneee175@gmail.com>, <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2009 00:27:20 +0100
In-Reply-To: <a06230902c598070b9a7a@[192.168.1.33]>
Subject: Re: [CR] Brake Levers


Jan an List, Just to set this right, although there is a regulation in the german DIN (Deutsch Industrie Norm)that the front brake is attached to he right brake lever, which came from the tradition of a coster brake as a main brake, today almost all race bikes in germany are set up attaching the right lever to the rear brake. The explanation given to me alway was that as a righthander your right hand is the stronger one and this setup minimizes the risk of going over the bars in case of an emergency brake. Only coaster brake bikes or very cheap bikes are set up the other way round. Regards

Michael Schmid Oberammergau Germany Tel.: +49 8821 798790 Fax.:+49 8821 798791 mail: schmid@zunterer.com http://www.zunterer.com

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] Im Auftrag von Jan Heine Gesendet: Samstag, 17. Januar 2009 23:16 An: Sean Flores; classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Betreff: Re: [CR] Brake Levers

At 11:46 AM -0800 1/17/09, Sean Flores wrote:
>All my road bikes are set up "continental" as Mr. Laing refers to
>them (a term I quite like). I also still use my front brake as the
>dominate one, so basically switch to left dominate when I am on a
>geared bike.

"Continental" should be "French." Italians use the "British" setup, and so do Germans, despite living on the same Continent. I suspect the Dutch use it as well, and I would not be surprised if the Chinese were braking right-front, too.

From Britain, it may seem like France is all there is to the European subcontinent, but the world continues beyond the horizon (or the Alps). ;-)

The French cyclists are unique in that they rarely use coaster brakes. Even utility bikes have rim brakes front and rear. That explains their "reversed" brake preference (see my previous post, rear brake came first, was wired to the right, left hand was left over to control the left brake).

Thus, we should use the name "Universal" for the setup that only a very small minority of list-members use, and "French" for the setup used by all Americans and most members of this list. ;-)

Jan Heine
Editor
Bicycle Quarterly
140 Lakeside Ave #C
Seattle WA 98122
http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com