Just been talking about ideal brake lever angles with a mate, I have mine pointing almost straight down, to fit my fingers as I extend them to brake, to avoid bending my wrist.

What are the different schools of thought on what is the best position and angle and why?

Just want to hear some view points, as the web has a few different opinions.

i always though they were supposed to be in line with your arms

For obvious reasons my right wrist is quite a lot stronger than my left. Therefore I angle it 43 degrees down (vs. 41 deg. LHS)

In line with the angle as your arms or a tad lower i always go for. 🙂

45deg down for me

If you stand on the pedals in your normal attack position, rest your hands with fingers straight and extended on the bars, your fingers should touch the brake levers.

OK, yeah that makes sense, mine are in line with my arms when I am stood up, feel totally natural when riding. Have ridden some mates bikes with the levers flater, ie rotated back towards the rider and it feels totally cack, like I am going to brake my wrists!

I always ran them angled down a fair bit. Then I saw something that suggested to lift them so that the wrist drops which helps the front roll over obstacles. Only just tried it but it really does seem to make your wrists adopt a better dropped position and makes the bike roll over stuff instead of stalling on obstacles.

OK, neninja that is interesting, similar to what my mate suggests, doesn’t it put lots of pressure on your wrists?

no, it keeps you behind the bars and under rotated. helps body and foot position too

I set them by sitting on the bike, (lean against a wall). Assume the furthest leant back position you use on that bike. Hold your arms and hands as one straight line. Set the brake levers so the sit under your fingers with your hand straight. This will result in the brake levers being fairly level.

On a DH bike you’ll want them near to level than an out and out xc racer. Depends on the kind of terrain you’ll be riding. They should always still be set with the rider leaning back behind the saddle.

It’s on steep terrain where level position is most important and allows for keeping rider weight far back much easier while controlling the brakes. Most people set their brakes up to be comfortable for most of their riding. I setup my brakes to allow me to control the bike when it is least comfortable ;o)

watch the latest Campbellcoaching video it has a good explanation of it all.

i’ve heard this ‘work out where your wrists are and then position brake levers accordingly’ nonsense theory before – as far as i am concerned, the angle of your brake levers dictates wrist position, not the other way around.

There’s a bit on this vid about lever position

1 finger braking too yes 🙂

I too can now one finger brake 😀

You definitely want to be ‘behind the bars’ but I find if the levers are too high they get in the way. Your position on the bike dictates where the levers should be, but then bad lever position can lead to bad body positioning. So MrK mkII is right, but so is everybody else!

I moved mine to not far below the horizontal, maybe 20 degrees, when setting up my bars, following watching a coaching video on IMB about under-rotation. And I have them inboard of the shifters so my index finger is right on the end of the lever. I’m in a minority amongst those I ride with, everyone else’s are much more downwards, but it works well for me and I see it’s becoming a more popular view!

i remember back when i used to race dh (a very long time ago) i used to run my levers horizontal just like rob warner – it kinda worked too! i got top 20 out of 120 on my last ever race way back in 1998 🙂

(and if that isn’t all the anecdotal evidence you’ll need then i give up! 😆 )

Fanny around with it til it feels right. Mine are usually around 30 degrees down I reckon, serves as a wee reminder to keep the arm and hand position right as much as anything else. Various mates ride with them almost straight down, which I can’t stand personally but it works for them.

Had slightly contradictory advice on this.

I’ve seen training vids where the levers are turned up a little to encourage dropped elbows/torso so that you feel and can move behind the bars.

But I had other advice that this can encourage a position that is too rearward for a lot of situations, and to turn them down a little so that you stand higher and on top of the bike where your ability to move is maximised.

The difference was perhaps plus or minus 10 degrees, so maybe not a big issue.

Intitial setup is the straight arm/wrist/hand angle then I knock them up about a levers width. This way they the angle when seated and relaxed is comfortable and in an attack position when my body and shoulders are lower they in a near natural position as per the initial setup.

jedi – Member

no, it keeps you behind the bars and under rotated. helps body and foot position too

Off to check mine now before next week………..

Uphilldowndale all will become clear next week 🙂

‘up a bit from comfy’ – is as close as i can get without a protractor…

this reduces arm/wrist pump on long descents*, alpine stuff and the like.

i know i’m only in the alps for a couple of weeks a year, but i guess that it helps if i’m used to it.

(*if your brake levers are in line with your wrists, then your hands will be in line with your wrists when you’re braking. in this position you are only supporting your weight on your thumb – this requires lots of grip = arm/wrist pump.

raising your brake levers a bit will mean you drop the ‘heels’ of your hands to get to the brake levers – you’re now supporting your weight across the full palm of your hand)

i confess i tried this after i heard rob warner mention it, i usually dismiss him as an entertaining pillock, so i was slightly annoyed to find it worked!

Used to set my levers up for “what feels comfortable” when sat on the bike in a head down, pedal hard position, as to be honest that’s most of our time on the bike. To me with my long fingers, this meant running the brake levers in line with the head angle.

And I used to wonder why I went over the front end so much, and landed any jumps very nose heavy.

These days (mainly due to someone on here! 😉 ) my levers are much flatter, probably 25-30 degrees from the horizontal (I do still have pretty long fingers) rather than about 70 degrees. It took a few rides to get used to it as it initially felt less confortable (though I was probably holding onto the brake levers too much when mincing about anyway), but all became apparent on the first technical section I rode, put it that way!

high5 mboy 🙂

I have ridden sport bikes for years and have always set my mountain bike levers at the same angle as say a gsxr750, as jedi puts it behind the bars rather than feeling like your perched on top of them feeling cramped

For obvious reasons my right wrist is quite a lot stronger than my left. Therefore I angle it 43 degrees down (vs. 41 deg. LHS)

Have you considered properly what happens when your fork compresses? I reckon you’ve got them pointed down about half a degree too much.

Mmmmmmmm, all very interesting, mate I was chatting to was robdob, who has just been on a skillllllzzzzzzzzzzzz session with jedi, hence the post.

I will have a fiddle with my levers.

I never get arm pump, and my hands never hurt on a bike, I ride with them inboard for 1 finger braking and set them straight down as I get terrible pains in the tendons on the right hand side of my wrists unless they point down.

But, if this makes everything faster then woo! I will give it a go.

Do you always cover the brakes? I do – always have my 2nd finger on them

bassspine – Member
If you stand on the pedals in your normal attack position

What kind of semantic bull shit is this? Attack position! Ha!

TandemJeremy – Member

Do you always cover the brakes? I do – always have my 2nd finger on them

Even when climbing?

Have been gradually moving them up the last few rides after the campbell coaching vid AJ mentioned, and have noticed a lot less ‘just about hanging on’ moments on the steeper bits which means less braking 😀

cover your brakes and choose wether to use them , don’t be unable to use them 🙂

lifer – all the time. its habit from years of motorcycling. My finger is just resting on the lever.

Just rotated the levers up a bit – lets see how that goes

Fair enough, I get annoyed with myself when I realise I’m grinding up a climb covering the brakes but Jedi makes a good point!