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I switch them to moto style on my mountain bikes and leave it regular on my road bike.
The reason we put the rear brake on the right hand in the US is so you can use your left hand to signal turns or stops while using you right hand to brake with the rear safely.
Its funny I was talking about this the other day with a friend of mine. We were both saying how its just automatic. Jump onto a bicycle and it just feels right with them as is ( Right hand Rear).
I was telling him how it was still automatic even after not riding a motocross bike for years, and having been riding an EMTB for a few months almost everyday. I had the chance to try a Stark Varg when they had just come out and I didn't even have to think about the brakes being different.
It had a foot rear brake though. I did keep catching myself feeling around for a clutch lever . I think I would still be fine if the Varg had a rear hand brake. I just may grab it thinking its a clutch by mistake.
It's interesting how its so simple to jump back and forth and I never had a problem with it. Excavator and backhoe style controls or Cat and Deere, SAE and ISO . Years ago when I was running a machine everyday for 8 to 12 hours a day, I had trouble going from one pattern to the other. And my buddy was saying he's been having that same problem. All of the machines they have are all setup different. Some do not have a way to change the pattern so he's stuck running it as is. The strange thing is that now that I'm not running something everyday, I can jump in and be comfortable running whatever pattern the machine is setup to run. And I'm able to adapt so much quicker now after not doing it as much. We thought it was strange that we both had no problems jumping back and forth with the brake setups. But our brains just didn't work when it came to different machines and the control patterns. And in my case, the machines were very different from one to the other, one having backhoe style sticks and the other joysticks.
Or other differences that stuck out more than a bike VS bike setup. Jumping from one style skid steer control to another was similar to the bike brakes for me, same with different dozers' and loaders when the interface felt similar I only had the confusion with the excavator control patterns. I think it may be because I ran the Deere/backhoe pattern 98% of the time that it was just too automatic when I was doing it all the time. But strange that now that I do not run machine that often. I can jump in once or 4 times a year and be at home comfortable in 5 minutes no matter which pattern I'm running.
I'm like Sumdood. I leave my MTB brakes "American style" and never had a single issue with it. It wasn't until recently that I learned we are the only country that does it that way!
I think if I ever get a Stark Varg, I'll get the kind with a brake pedal, because if both brakes are on the bars, that's when I'll have brain fade and grab a big grip of front brake thinking it's the rear.
I had to switch mine. The muscle memory was part of it but the biggest issue was just feeling like having the front brake in my dominant right hand just felt way more natural to me, even though on a MTB you are using both brakes a similar amount your front brake is obviously still doing most of the work.
FYI for anyone wanting to try it most of the Sram brakes you can just flip them on the bars but Shimano and other brakes you can just switch the hoses, 9/10 times the olive barb is fine to be reused and just a quick lever bleed is all that's needed.
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I tried to get used to the US Style doing cross country never could get the muscle memory I've always had to switch them to Moto Style. Damn near died at Greer on a demo intense carbine that didn't have them switched made for a short trip lol
Hey guys, it's not a US thing, right side rear brake for bicycles makes sense when you drive on the right side of the road (so you can signal a left turn, crossing the opposite way, still having your hand on the rear brake which is the safest to use).
It's like that in Europe, and most countries, really.
Of course the UK, Australia (and probably Japan and a few others) doing their own thing (that is, riding on the wrong side of the road 🤡) do the opposite.
SRAM using the same lever for right/left and just being able to flip them is such an underrated design ethos. Also makes having spares on hand simpler if you're racing and want a backup lever body
What size are the square drives on your ratchets(or whatever you call them in AUS)?
I always assumed the rear brake was on the right because many bikes back in the day had only one brake (rear), and you'd want to use your dominant hand to pull it.
If you had a front brake, you'd want to use your non-dominant hand to pull it.
I don't switch them. Bicycles and Motorcycles are different animals.
Btw: Metric is better. The reason the U.S. hasn't switched is that the vast majority of our machines were not metric. That's less of a problem today. We should switch.
Out of curiosity, what industries, if any are metric in the US- has space, military, aviation, electrical, chemical, automotive made the switch? Presumably anything needing input from the US and ROW is metric? I can remember in NZ back in the 70's having to double up tools depending on whether you were working on Japanese or UK cars or bikes, total (expensive) pain, but at least you weren't trying to interconnect systems too much.
As said above, UK is moto style, but whenever we hire mtb's in say France, get the brakes swapped over- the brain adapts pretty quickly, but in this 'oh shit' moments when you revert to muscle memory, it's best to be on a familiar setup...
Ratchet drives are imperial globally. They still have 1/4, 3/8, 1/2 etc. They have no need for imperial sockets though, those would be all metric
I don't know today without researching it. In the 80's, when I was a Precision Sheet Metal Mechanic (like a Machinist, but dealing with sheet metal), all of our machines were Imperial. Almost 100% of blueprints were in Inches. I remember that the U.S. was attempting to transition, but that it was going to be too difficult and expensive.
The automotive industry in the U.S. is partially metric because they source parts and even transmissions and engines from other automotive companies.
I've been a software developer for the last 35 years. I'm about to start designing my own physical products. They'll be almost entirely metric. For what I'm doing, there's no reason not to. It's time.
Always run the rear brake on the right. Hang over from BMX and Jump bikes,
Sockets drives use imperial sizes - 1/4, 3/8, 1/2 in. There are still enough imperial sized bolts & nuts, and American made stuff, that I keep a set of metric and imperial sockets and spanners.
Not arguing the reason (which according to Claude is debated) but for decent riders I feel the front brake is always safer. Especially on bicycles, which have a low amount of weight on the rear, the front brake can stop you more quickly. But I fully appreciate novice riders do not have the thought not to reef on the front brake and OTB. When I ride or need to be one handed I always choose the front brake on my MTB.
My main bicycle for almost ten years has been a road bike with rim brakes, so not a huge issue for me. I just hit both and try not to think about which is which.
I have started to get into MTB. The MTB I've been using doesn't really have good enough disk brakes for it to become an issue. If I upgrade them I'll probably flip them moto.
I switch my motorcycle brakes to match my MTB 😜
Pit Row
File this under completely pointless, but must own. Had to have it. Full suspension 20" BMX bike. Highly recommend for non-motorized pits. It's so fun and pegs the "WTF Factor"
I thought about it. Which made me think about it. Thinking about it is never good. So I gave up thinking about it. Don’t over think it.
I rode a lot of moto over my years and been into MTBng for ever. I always had my brakes on my emtbs like they usually come...front brake left, rear brake right. My Intense MX-Pro emtb came with moto style brakes and I had to reverse them...hated the front brake right for some reason on a bicycle.
My brakes are hydraulic so I can’t easily swap them but after a while muscle memory takes over.
Now if I could just remember which lever shifts it up or down 😂
A short trip to Endonesia?
Never mind 3/8ths drive; wait until we tell him about the 25/32nds wrenches we have out there.
I can't imagine using only the front brake on a mountain bike while riding one handed. It seems like asking for a trip over the bars. The rear brake on a bicycle is forgiving, the front brake is not.
You can swap hydro brakes easily.
When I was 8 years old, my father swapped the brakes on my 16 inch Haro and never told me (or maybe I just forgot). I got home from school committed to riding to the top of the huge hill next to my house, going as fast as I can, and setting a new world record for the longest skid mark ever made on a bicycle. I came screaming down the hill full speed, put my nuts up on the handlebars, and mashed the right brake (now the front to my surprise) with all 4 fingers. Never cartwheeled like that in my entire life. Needless to say, I never swap brakes on bicycles now and I will never get confused.
Metric isn't much better from a hardware perspective except it's mildly annoying to find metric hardware in the states and almost impossible to find imperial hardware in foreign countries. Alot of industrial equipment still has imperial hardware spec'd.
Some calculations are a little easier in metric some measuring and tolerancing is a little easier in imperial.
LOL yep on the tower side one of the rock drops I believe it was Enduro 215 Trail🤪
I swapped my MTB to Moto style and still goof it up. Too lazy to swap back, LOL. But when I hop on my kids' bicycles, it must be muscle memory that I like the MTB's as designed and the Moto as designed.
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