Riding steep tech on the edge of traction I’d much rather have that fine control on the front.

My logic in switching to right-rear was the opposite: on steep tech you’re not using the front at all unless you’re stopped and balancing (ie it’s locked) whereas the rear is critical for control.

But then my idea of steep tech—certainly at that time—was borderline trials riding on a rigid bike (or 2″ of front suspension at most); others’ idea of it may be blasting through rock gardens on a however-much-travel-bikes-have-these-days full sus.

My YT came setup the Euro way. I got used to it being like that before I got around to swapping the levers. As above I like having my right hand on the back brake now. I reckon if I got a UK bike now I’d swap the levers to keep it Euro.

My logic in switching to right-rear was the opposite: on steep tech you’re not using the front at all

I bloody well am, otherwise I’d be accelerating away with a locked back wheel!

It’s all so long ago now 😀 anyway, I definitely found right-rear gave me better control; enough to persist with the adaptation required for it to become fully ingrained.

My Motorcycle head would never let me adapt.

I bloody well am, otherwise I’d be accelerating away with a locked back wheel!

This totally. When there’s little weight on the rear it’s not going to slow you down much.

In one of his recent video Yoann Barelli talks about using the front brake as it gets steeper as that’s where the weight and traction is.

There is also the fact that consequences of messing up the fine braking control on the front is usually worse than messing it up on the rear.

On my big bike I swapped from a shimano 2 pot front caliper to a 4 pot for more modulation, and a bit of extra power is nice too. Still running the 2 pot on the rear and feeling no need to change.

The same as on a motorbike, most of your braking is done with the front brake.

Yeah, I was talking absolute horse shit there, not sure why. Spent too long on tarmac 😀

Anyway, more control over the rear brake at the expense of the front worked out better for me. For some presumably non horse shit reasons.

I do ,ever since a I hired a bike in chamonix,many years ago. (pre disc brakes!) My right hand was stronger on the rear and gave me better control and less panic.

I had completely forgotten this was a thing until I was riding at Finale a few years ago and was offered a go on a Merida 96 carbon prototype, only a couple in existence at the time.
I remembered when arriving at the first tight corner much too fast and found that I really wasn’t slowing down at all…
They were very understanding but my turn on it did seem shorter than others