[Closed] Adapting to euro/us style brakes

You'll die

That's my greatest fear

What would happen if you ran the levers flipped and upside down?

No way I would ride with US style brakes on anything more technical than a fireroad!

Anywhere nearby that rents bikes?
Personally it's a massive no for me, even if you could get used to it 1 day isn't going to get you there

Currently in Colorado, doing some riding. It takes about 10 minutes max to adapt. Just avoid blatting down a cliff in the first 10 mins and you'll be fine.

There's two places nearby I've tried who said they won't switch them over, and a third getting back to me. To be honest I think I knew the answer to the original question, just really fancied a ride! I may also just try turning up on the day and attempt to convince someone to do it.

I took a quick look and the hire fleet is Trek which all look to have gone SRAM, they can be flipped so anything running that should be fine, might be a bit of a pain with matchmaker clamps though but nothing more than 10 mins in the car park, failing that take a small spanner and allen key with you

Mike +1

It's a no from me. Live in Canada so almost all people run the brakes opposite to me and I find it hard to adapt.

However even Shimano can be swapped and it's not that hard. With practice it only takes minutes. Take allen keys and an 8mm spanner for shimano.

I have one bike UK, one bike Euro style and often hire then that way when abroad. Never been an issue.

I've used bikes with brakes on the 'wrong' way and it's terrible. I could barely hold a line on singletrack. Turns out I use different brakes for balance without any conscious thought. Then I went over the bars after inadvertently grabbing a load of front brake.

I've had hire places swap levers for me, though they did grumble about it - I can see why they wouldn't bother for day hire if it's a case of swapping hoses etc.

It's a two minute job to swap hoses. We do it for every one of our hires. Tske an 8mm spanner with you and a cheap shimano bleed kit. You won't need the bleed kit but just in case.

There is no way one of our hire bikes goes out with the brakes on the wrong way!

I keep meaning to teach myself to ride with the brakes the other way round. I think it would be time well spent.

Did it once in Morzine. Was ok just cruising but first time I went down Pleny I had a massive otb 'just feathering back brake' which was of course the front.
Took bike straight back to rental place & found somewhere with easily swappable levers.

just remember one thing

RIGHT = REAR

R = R

you'll be reet

It takes about 10 minutes max to adapt

Stuff and nonsense. Did you actually take it off-road?

Poison spider in Moab swapped ours round no problems, butvthey were Hayes. In tignes last month we just swapped them ourselves ( Avid)

If you're doing anything interesting enough to warrant the effort getting there then you need the brakes set up right.

have done rentals in Europe and US with brakes wrong way round and ended dragging back brake for the first couple of descents to remind myself that's where it was, then it was OK, even when having to grab a handful quickly

You will be fine. Done several days in us with the brakes the wrong way round. Moab, crested bite and fruita. Takes a max of 1/2 to get used to go it.

Top of the chairlift I thought I would die but by the bottom you have it sorted.

I run my brakes that way round anyway - rear on the right. I am very right-handed so in any 'moment of panic' it will be the right that I grab, so I'd rather that not be the front brake.

Cruising XC, no problem.
5 bikes here, 3 set up one way, 2 set up the other, but only cos I've not got round to swapping and chopping hoses yet.
Road bike (that I've not ridden for years) is one of those the wrong way around. No idea why. Must have been like it since 1989.

Only embarrassment so far is grabbing a handful of [strike]front[/strike] erm rear 😉 when coming up behind OAPs out for a sunday afternoon stroll on the local bike path thru the forest, and doing skids long enough to challenge those that fixie hipsters do in their posing competitions.

And maybe a couple of times when braking round corners.

It's the unexpected that grows you where you just react rather than have time to think.
I got away with it for a day on holiday and I found while you have time to think it's all fine though a bit of a reset every time... but when the unexpected happens instinct makes you grab the brakes as you are used to... probably everyone has slightly different experiences depending how they brake... and its not necessarily which brake but where you naturally adjust your weight as you do...

In other words if your body thinks your grabbing a handful of front that's on thing but if it thinks your grabbing a handful of rear and some front it's a different matter.

Chatting to the owner of the hotel I was staying in on a ski
holiday, and he relayed an anecdote about a summer guest who had really, really hurt himself. Not even half an hour in he had grabbed the wrong brake on a rented bike and went OTB. Hospitalised with multiple fractures kind of hurt.

Just get your brain working !

At worst you should grab lots of rear brake and do big skids

As Turnef - I ride with them that way too and always have done.
I'm right handed so rear brake for that hand.
If you actually think about it it's the right way to do it - dominant hand takes precedence.
One to many OTB as a 7yr old on a Raleigh Stiker solved that one!

I've done it 4 time's with day hire bikes, took about half hour to get used to it, but still had to keep reminding myself through each day and there was the odd 'Oop's! Wrong brake!' moment. Most of those were at times where I was pushing it a bit. Only once did it really go wrong with a big OTB's, that resulted in me breaking two fingers and fracturing my eye socket.

Recipe for disaster! You'll be telling yourself - Right=rear, left=front for ages, but then something will happen which requires tactical braking and muscle memory will kick in. As happened to me on a hire bike in NYC when I suddenly had to grab a handful of rear brake and went massively OTB...

Get them swapped. Or take an 6mm (7,8??) spanner with you and swap when out of sight on the trail... If you're careful, they won't need a bleed.

Stuff and nonsense. Did you actually take it off-road?

I spent a fantastic day mtbing in the Canadian Rockies this summer. The brakes didn't give me much of a problem, and I got used to it quickly, but I'm not prone to grabbing the brakes in a panic.

i have always run my bikes with the back on the right (Old bmx'er) and it usually takes me 2 to 3 mins to swap hoses over, i'd get the bike and do it myself 😉

Stuff and nonsense. Did you actually take it off-road?

i borrowed a spesh epic in canada this summer. thought it might be an issue, decided it was too much hassle to swap around on a bike that wasn't mine.

thought about it for about 100yds and then wasnt an issue at all for the next 60-70 miles of riding.

i did keep riding on the wrong side of the roads though.

If you actually think about it it's the right way to do it - dominant hand takes precedence.

Nah. You need the most powerful brake in the most controllable hand, and for most that's the right hand.

You'll be telling me we should drive on the other side of the road next 🙄

for those who have swopped them over on hire bikes, are hoses always long enough ?

Nah. You need the most powerful brake in the most controllable hand, and for most that's the right hand.

or not, for the reasons quoted.

Didn't bother reading what was written did you....
So STW...

for those who have swopped them over on hire bikes, are hoses always long enough ?

if you're just changing the lever from left to right brake shouldn't ever be an issue.

Just swap the levers over. I used a rental out in the states a few years ago. The bike had Shimano brakes.
Ok, it doesn't look pretty and the shifters need to be positioned so there was a bit of a reach to get there but better that then grabbing a hand full of front brake when you thought it was the rear.
It was fine. I didn't swap them back when I handed the bike back and there were comments but the guys in the shop were more than reasonable.
Mrs Wachowchow had a nasty off in Brazil while trying to get used to the brakes being the wrong way around.

simons_nicolai-uk - Member
for those who have swopped them over on hire bikes, are hoses always long enough ?

if you're just changing the lever from left to right brake shouldn't ever be an issue.

I can see how the rear will be fine moving from right to left side of the bars, but wouldn't the front be a bit short moving from left to right ?

Are you guys swapping over the levers? Or keeping the levers there and swapping over the hoses?

If the latter how are you doing that without spilling fluid? When you take the hose out doesn't liquid come out of the master cylinder? (Unless by taking nit the lid off it's creating a vacuum?)

In the Pyrenees a few years back I was lent a Cannondale for a weekends riding.

The ride to the first trail was about 4 miles on road, and it took me that long to get used to the brakes being the wrong way around. I just spent a bit of time practising, grabbed a hand full a few times.

Had no problems for the rest of the weekends riding, and we did some pretty steep stuff.

One caveat - I did run a BMX with a single rear brake in the right for many years, so that probably helped.

You will die, so swop them.

You need the most powerful brake in the most controllable hand, and for most that's the right hand.

I think the difference depends on what side of the road you ride on and which hand needs to come off the bar signalling a turn. Rear wheel lockups being more controllable one handed than front wheel lockups. So for UK, signal right, left hand has the back brake. Opposite hand in Euroland but the hand on the bar has the back brake.

I asked about swapping Shimano M/C's over on the bars. This would mean the bleed port would be upside down, not that this in itself would be an issue. But... internally, after taking the big M/C cover off, they are definitely made to be one way up, not the other. Upside down they would ingest the small amount of air in the M/C.

Swapping would be a hose change, not a lever change.

If your not sure, swop your current bike and go for a ride. If you end up in A&E you have your answer 🙂

Quote the new directive and get them to swap all the brakes on all bikes: [url= http://enduro-mtb.com/en/new-eu-directive-demands-uk-style-braking/ ]Moto-Style Brakes[/url]

(In all seriousness, and as a motorcyclist myself I can't understand why there is a difference with the rest of the world having bike front brake different to motorbike front brake?)

(In all seriousness, and as a motorcyclist myself I can't understand why there is a difference with the rest of the world having bike front brake different to motorbike front brake?)

as others have said, a hose swap on shimano brakes is the work of less than 5 minutes and if done carefully shouldn't require a bleed. only issue I can see is that the olives are designed to be single us, but shouldn't be an issue with 'second' use as a one off. I can only assume this is why the shops don't want to do it

as others have said, a hose swap on shimano brakes is the work of less than 5 minutes and if done carefully shouldn't require a bleed. only issue I can see is that the olives are designed to be single us, but shouldn't be an issue with 'second' use as a one off. I can only assume this is why the shops don't want to do it

Cock it up though and you either have to return to the shop and explain why the brakes are buggered, or if you cock it up when switching them back (cos you would right?) then the next rider might have a nasty accident when their brakes fail.

Seriously, just MTFU and ride them like they are 😉