_ForceD_

“I did not know that!” I just learned something new. As long as I’ve been riding (and working on) bikes…I never knew that the brake handles on bikes from “down under” (probably includes NZ bikes too) are opposite from bikes in North America (and Europe I guess). I’m currently in my home state (Indiana) visiting a niece who, during the early 2010s, lived and worked in Australia for few years in a government employee exchange program. When I got here, she asked me to take a look at a minor mechanical issue with the brakes on one of her bikes. As I’m looking at it, I realize, and say “Whoa, the brake handles are on the opposite sides.” Then she mentions…”That’s one of the bikes we got in Australia. They’re all like that down there.” She pointed it out on the other bike too. I know we drive on opposite sides of the road. And actually, when visiting Australia myself, discovered that “circle swimming” in the pool is in the opposite direction too. But I never knew about the bike brakes.

Dan

Barry2 

UK has front brake on the right too.

The Holdsworth Special I brought with me to the US 32 years ago is still configured that way.

Barry

SurferRosa

Are the levers mounted "on opposite sides," or are their cables simply routed to the opposite brake?

dedhed

A lot of motorcycle guys switch their front to right side like their MC is

Barry2 

Why on earth would you switch the levers... just the cables.
Oh and we (UK) don't switch the cables... you (US)guys do !!!



Barry

EDIT: and to be even more clear... your light switches are upside-down.

SurferRosa

Why on earth did you quote me? Ask the op.

wheelreason

To match the toilet spin...

Barry2 

That's why

PeteHski

First time I’ve ever heard them called “brake handles”. Is that a common US thing?

tomato coupe

Our switches are for turning on the darkness.

RCMoeur 

You also need to use a left side drive BMX crank and freewheel when set up this way.

_ForceD_

She actually has two bikes like this…one is mountain bike, one is a road bike…and nothing on either bike was “switched.” Both bikes are Malvern Star brand…an Australian bike…and she tells me that is how bikes down there are assembled.

Dan

indyfabz

As noted above, that’s common in the UK. And Australia was once a British penal colony, so….

SoSmellyAir

I like the ROW (rest of the world) default setup better, especially for Shimano mechanical groupsets: left hand for braking, right hand for shifting.

Didn't Rose Bikes stop selling to the UK a year ago to so after UK mandated the opposite setup?

Rick

I always set up motorcycle style.

gringomojado

On a faucet with hot and cold valves, which side is which down under?

gm

Paul_P

Because of my motorcyling years (long ago) I'm still never sure which lever does what, which can be a problem when I have to decide quickly.

rollagain

Yeah, you don't want to be grabbing the brake lever every time you want to shift gears.

RCMoeur 

What could possibly go wrong?

It's interesting that in my personal unconscious conditioned behavior that there must be a subroutine that goes something like this:

IF ("rotation-rightgrip" = "yes") THEN ("lever-left" = "clutch") ELSE ("lever-left" = "brake-front")

Kindly forgive any syntax errors. As a coder, I make a rather good traffic engineer.

easyupbug 

In the UK, market standards and laws dictate that bikes sold must have the front brake operated by a lever on the right hand side of the bars and the rear brake by a lever on the left hand side of the bars. I have found this convention common in former commonwealth countries such as Australia.

PeteHski

Rose did stop selling to the UK, but I think the reason was Brexit complexity. The UK has always mandated an opposite brake setup. It’s not a new thing.

trailangel

This has been going on for years. Setup your bike how you feel comfortable.

_ForceD_

At first I thought you were just posting a humorous picture. But then I noticed the difference of the front brakes with the center and RIGHT bikes. And, as someone, presumably from Australia, has repeatedly indicated that opposite from North America is standard down there. — Dan

Barry2 

I love the photobomb between the left and middle.

Barry

Rick

I have ben riding a Rohloff equipped bicycle since 2013 and put a left hand Rohloff shifter. I have posted before about the CPSC being misinterpreted on the position of the front brake. I would seem some bicycle shops don't know how to read on this subject. I never had any confusion on shifting and using the brakes.