3 ms·
Right Hand == Back Brakes, Left Hand == Front Brakes. Set your firmware to apply the back brakes first when suddenly encountering the unexpected. My inner pro
by edw519 12y ago
Right Hand == Back Brakes, Left Hand == Front Brakes.
Set your firmware to apply the back brakes first when suddenly encountering the unexpected.
My inner program had me subconsciously apply the front brakes first, so I flew over the handle bars and lost most of this year recovering from a serious bicycle accident.
Take care of yourself or not much else matters.
- robotresearcher 12y agoReversed in the UK. A painful lesson to learn.
- k-mcgrady 12y agoI thought the op had just mistakenly put things the wrong way around. Why the heck are the brakes on a bicycle on opposite sides in the US (or UK depending on your perspective)?
- bastijn 12y agoIs this a serious question? Start driving on the right (pun intended) side of the road first! For the cookie: the reason is that the hand signals used to indicate braking generally involve using your 'road side' hand. In countries that drive on the left, this is your right hand and vice versa. The back brake was considered the 'safer' brake to use during this pre-braking time when you're indicating that you will brake but haven't necessarily started braking yet.
- petercooper 12y agoBecause the hand signal for braking in both countries (which, admittedly, I've never seen a cyclist bother doing) relies on the traffic facing arm and if doing controlled braking, you want to focus on the rear brakes, so the non traffic facing side is the rear brake.
- k-mcgrady 12y agoAh, ok makes sense. I don' cycle much so I didn't think of the hand signals.
- kaybe 12y agoI've never even heard of a hand signal for braking, and we were taught the rules by the police in grade school. Maybe it's very country-specific.
- petercooper 12y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_signals#Stopping.2Fbraking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_signals#Stopping.2Fbraking Which, intriguingly, has a section saying how these signals interrupt with people using the front brake :-) In UK law, these cycling hand signals are considered a "should" rather than a "must" (terms with legal weight in the Highway Code) which is probably why they're rarely used.
- k-mcgrady 12y ago>> "In UK law, these cycling hand signals are considered a "should" rather than a "must" (terms with legal weight in the Highway Code) which is probably why they're rarely used." I rarely saw people use them when cycling in the small town I used to live in. Now that I'm in a city where I see hundreds of cyclists commuting they all use hand signals. I'm in my mid-twenties and we actually had to do a class in school when we were about 10 years old about cycling on the road, signally, safety etc. I can't remember the name of it but it was an official government thing I believe and we got some sort of certificate for completing it.
- clarry 12y agoLeft Hand: the brake that makes me slip and crash on ice. Right Hand: the brake that doesn't work.
- cantcode 12y agoI want my strongest most dexterous hand dealing with the front brakes.