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