Steve Peat, Sam Hill & Brian Lopes all seem to use index finger braking

I'm not a professional downhill or 4Xer. Are you then?

Err no, just highlighting the fact that some of the best riders use index finger braking so if it's good enough for them then………

I also stated whatever "whatever works for you and your setup"

Although I did once show them all how to freewheel backwards with your eyes closed down Fort bill.

They were very impressed

Middle finger one finger braking here – using hope minis. If your minis aren't powerful enough they aren't working properly. Easy lock of eithere wheel with one finger on teh brakes

Buzzlightyear – Member
So Imagine I point the levers down a bit too much. I'm in a friendly upright position i.e. pedalling or pootling along. So to reach them I'm arching my wrists down which feels nasty on wrists and tendons in hands.

no. they're angled down so that they are comfortable and within easy reach.

Now imagine the attack position – I drop my chest/shoulders low, stick my elbows out, stand on pedals and maybe shuffle back a bit when needed – more like how I'm positioned when downhilling and will need my brakes. Again, I'm arching my wrists a bit to reach the levers. So I angle the levers up a bit more making my wrists straight again.

wrong again. a correctly wound in brake at the right angle completely quashes this argument. if the bite point is just a bit off the bar it's and pointing more down than horizontal when you are in the 'attack' position it will be perfectly placed for great fingertip precision.

I played around with lever angles and this approach is comfortable for me.

i guess your brakes aren't as near horizontal as some of the ones i am talking about.

Hope DH4 front – single finger actually pulls (middle) but both rest on lever. Not sure why. But I can lock up the front with 1 on most surfaces and in the worse situations (with most traction) I can switch to the power of two rapidly. Rear I have a mini – I dont find it anywhere near as powerful as the DH4, but don't tend to brake much with the rear anyway so 1 finger there too.

I think index/middle braking depends on your hand. My middle finger is significantly longer than my index.

I do it all the time, no idea what the 85 posts in between are about cos I CBA reading them.

I'm amazed by the person stating that hope 4 pots are not powerful enough. Have the Monos gone downhill since the DH4s? My DH4 is like a boat anchor – I often worry that I'm going to snap my stanchions with the amount they flex under the loads I can generate when braking. I weigh 105kg and even with my weight way forward I can still lock the front wheel with 1 finger, and they have an instantaneous bite followed by good modulation. I've never found that on other discs, most other discs seem to come in wimpily and not get much better.

i do except in the wet when i'm partial to a bit of 2 or maybe three action… 😉

Great thread, actualy makes realise that disc brakes are an ugrade

Every other disc brake thread seems to be about problems

I'm using 2 fingers on v-brakes

I must move on….

Having webbed hands, threads like this make me feel uncomfortable

I try and use 1 finger but mostly I use my face against the ground to slow down! 8)

"run my mini's like this for them to feel comfy with one finger braking"
Even running the shifter (window removed) just outside of the brake lever (coincidentally also blue LX and hope mono mini) I found the shifter got in the way of my thumb. I've compromised by running brake lever outside, but only running it about 35mm away from the grip instead of 50mm away

"I don't see how it affects control"
On really rough/longer rough descents I found that my little finger plus the next finger simply wansn't enough to hold on. Having my strongest fingers covering the brake lever just doesn't make sense. Having 3 on the bar to hold on and the index finger to cover the brake is far better. You can modulate and pull the brake on/off far easier with just one free finger. With 2 I found they were trying to hold on as well control the braking

"If your minis aren't powerful enough they aren't working properly. "
I've suspected this for a long time. I've just never bothered trying to sort them

"wrong again"

Subtle as a brick 😆

"if the bite point is just a bit off the bar "

Now this doesn't work for me at all. When the lever is close to the grip, my finger lacks power and control. For me the optimal bite point is lever (main bit) horizontal to the bar, getting slightly closer for full power. Further from the bar and again it feels weaker.

It just goes to show that lever angle and bit point is very body dependant. I've spend quite a lot of time optimising mine and recommend that everyone plays around with theirs, wherever they end up positioned.

Buzz – I have my levers set up a long way from the bar – so when braking with the middle finger only the first knuckle is bent at full power – and the index finger remains round the bar and is not pinched. I find this much easier to get power thru the lever.

Personal preference

Unless you're riding more with your feet than you realise

particularly if you're clipped in, your feet are highly constrained to a small circle, and necessarily the point of application of the force they exert (barring the propulsive torque) is concentrated on the bottom bracket, an even smaller space. Imagine keeping your torso still, what limited freedom your feet would have to act.

glenp – he speak truth. check out article's here:

under rotation and braking

two for me (mtbs and motorbikes)- i broke my hand years ago and it just feel more comfortable that way.

particularly if you're clipped in, your feet are highly constrained to a small circle

That's why you should learn to ride with flats. 😉

SFB – moving your body around affect how the weight acts on the bike – regardless of where your feet are. Your weight acts thru your hands and your feet and you can mover the COG up, down, forward back and side to side without moving your feet.

one finger locks Vs or even cantis (if you're not too inept to set them up properly in the first place).

Here's one of me not braking one-fingered but ready to when it all goes T1Ts up 😳

I just find it gives you much more control over the bars but also more importantly keeps your hands and arms much more realaxed allowing quicker steering inputs. No problem with power using the Formulas, fantastic brakes.

Ok, so which is mounted to the "outside" on the bar? Shifter or brake lever? Imagining this is index finger braking?

web_toed_marsdener – Member

Ok, so which is mounted to the "outside" on the bar? Shifter or brake lever? Imagining this is index finger braking?

Gear shifters, so you can get the end of the brake levers further inboard, allowing your index finger to sit in the angled end of the lever.

Thought so. Getting the correct shifter angle with my Oros and X9 shifters is tricky. The master cylinder kind of fouls the shifter.

web_toed_marsdener – Member

Thought so. Getting the correct shifter angle with my Oros and X9 shifters is tricky. The master cylinder kind of fouls the shifter.

Yep, got that problem on my Inbred just had to move levers a little too far over to accomodate the mastercyclinder, not ideal but better than using two fingers 😳 for me anyway!

I learnt a lot about this from other riders and my arm pump during the mega. I have always been an index finger braker but got bad arm pump. Then on advice I moved my levers further away from the grips, it really works, then due to arm pump started alternating middle finger and index finger braking, in the end had no problem either way. But not two fingers, couldn't hold to the bars if I did that…

TJ – that makes sense if you breaking with the middle finger.

always index finger braked, ever since having discs anyway. levers inboard so your finger hooks into the end of the lever, sorted!

web_toed_marsdener

Thought so. Getting the correct shifter angle with my Oros and X9 shifters is tricky. The master cylinder kind of fouls the shifter.

Get some Avids and the matchmaker 😛

One finger braking here on Hope Mono 4's
Just bring the brake handles inwards about an inch
from your handle grips.
But when its shit shit shit I use two of them.

On really rough/longer rough descents I found that my little finger plus the next finger simply wansn't enough to hold on

It's always been enough for me. Perhaps I have especially mighty pinkies.

One sometimes, two others; the reality is that my brakes only need one finger, I sometimes need two because I have shortcomings, mostly due to many years of riding motorbikes where it feels unnatural to have just one finger on the brakes, thing is when the going gets choppy two fingers on the bars aint enough so I find myself chopping and changing, hey ho.

I always rode with two fingers on the brakes on the motorbike and it took concious effort to only have one on the MTB – but it has helped

Yup had to put them further outboard to force myself to use one finger to brake, mostly so I have more fingers on the bars, better grip.

As a point of interest how many motorcyclists reckon being able to brake properly has helped them with their mountain biking, you know popping a bit of back brake on when a trail tightens up to help you drop into a corner, that sort of thing?

that's called a skid and I'm not sure it's that widely used by motorcyclists to get round tighter bends 😯

particularly if you're clipped in, your feet are highly constrained to a small circle

That's why you should learn to ride with flats.

I've ridden with flats for the past 11 years, but actually it doesn't give you much scope to move your feet while riding, just when you stop.

SFB – moving your body around affect how the weight acts on the bike – regardless of where your feet are. Your weight acts thru your hands and your feet and you can mover the COG up, down, forward back and side to side without moving your feet.

I don't understand why you're reiterating what I already said ?

Hmm, I wonder sometimes.

Why do you neeed to use more than one finger?
Also why would you use the middle finger unless your index was knackered?

The index finger provides the strongest grip and has more ccontrol than your other fingers, unless yours is knackered, so why would use any other finger and why use two when one will do.

I use index finger only, always have and always will, even when I had mechanical brakes.

Middle finger is the strongest finger.

"wrong again"

Subtle as a brick

yeah, sorry buzz!

agreed with your sentiments about personal preference though…to an extent…haha

One finger breaking all the way, felt strange when i first tried it, got told about it on a trip to Whistler and the bike instructor there was adamant we would need as many fingers on the bar for grip and control as we could manage… She was right too!

Since then i have never looked back…