In the very early days of caliper brakes the arms were very flexible. It was possible to transfer the deflection of the rear caliper into the rear stays by making tabs that came very close to the stays. When the brake was used these tabs touched the stays, limiting the flex. In this case the brake needs to be mounted on the rear of the seat stays. Due to this convention it became "the way to do it".
Jim Merz Big Sur CA
On Tue, Jan 18, 2011 at 12:31 PM, <crumpy6204@aol.com> wrote:
> I have received many comments of my comment about rear brake direction.
> Seems we all do it out of habit WHY? In all the years I rode and raced I
> NEVER saw anyone mount them forwards! Goes back to dark ages I guess when
> brakes even had a clamp around the tube to help avoid shudder, Why in the
> drive chain on the RIGHT side? this HAS been discussed before BUT WHY?
> Cheers John Crump OldwantstoknowBrit.Parker,Co USA,