Just spotted that, though I’m in the UK, the rear brake is controlled by the right handle, and the front by the rleft - the opposite way around for bikes in the UK. Weird.
Gave me quite a shock as I’ve been careful to use the left handle first (thinking this was the rear brake), so that I wouldn’t go over the handlebars if stopping sharply.
I’m guessing that in Taiwan (and the Netherlands, presentably) it’s normal to have rear brake on right and front on left? I’m changing mine around to suit my hand memory ;}
Every bike I’ve ever had had the rear brake lever on the right handle (in Canada and in Germany). Is there some advantage to having the levers the other way round if you’re driving on the left-hand side of the road?
In left-hand traffic, the slowing down signal is given by the right arm of the rider when he/she is riding on the left-hand side of the road. While he/she is giving out the signal by his/her right arm, he/she has to use his/her left hand to control the rear brake of the bicycle, too. td.gov.hk/road_safety/cyclin … /index.htm
However, in the case of a motorcycle, the right hand brake lever operates the front brake wherever in countries with left-hand traffic or right-hand traffic.
It is because the throttle of a motorcycle is operated by the right handgrip so the clutch has to be operated by the left hand lever on a machine with manual transmission. However, scooters with CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) in all countries also follow this way by using the right hand brake lever to operate the front brake and the left hand brake lever to operate the rear brake.
Well. I’ve just found that it’s not possible to change this on as Strida without also changing the cables for longer ones. I’ve just changed it around and now the cables cross over the handlebar clamp quite tightly so that I can’t now fold the handlebars down. Doh!
I’ll have to change it back for now, and maybe try to get longer cables another time. In the meantime I’m going to have to learn to override the cycling habits of a lifetime by braking with my right hand first. Should be interesting ;}
All Stridas selling by the local distributor here in Hong Kong follow the way of left-hand traffic by using the left hand levers to control the rear brakes and the right hand levers to control the front brakes.
I think it is relatively easy to reverse the mechanical disc brakes used on Strida. In the case of hydraulic disc brakes used on some mountain bikes, it is terrible to reverse the brakes.
Unfortunately, most of the high-priced imported bikes selling in local bike shops in Hong Kong follow the way of right-hand traffic but the low-priced bikes selling here follow the way of left-hand traffic. A lot of people here don’t know the true meaning of the difference and think it is a way to differentiate the grades of bicycles.
