Rear brake lever positioning

[patrick_777]

Guys, I think you're missing an important piece of information in Sarris' picture. He's using FLOORBOARDS. With floorboards on a bike, it's perfectly acceptable to have the brake pedal sitting above your toes. It would in fact, be impossible to have it below your toes and successfully USE the floorboards for their built purpose.

If you're riding with PEGS though (like the GZ and a most other bikes) then you have a pivot point right in the middle of your foot. This is why a brake pedal on a pegged bike needs to be BELOW your toe, and why you can adjust it up and down with ease. The peg allows you to pivot your foot down onto the pedal, something you couldn't do on a floorboard. If on a pegged bike, you find yourself riding the rear brake, then adjust the pedal down to where you're not.

[patrick_777]

And it appears that I inadvertently stated the exact same thing Easy said earlier.

Crazy how this works.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by alantf

I thought that's what I'd just done, by quoting an independent source. How about you putting up an INDEPENDENT source for your point of view. :mad:

Down boys.....DOWN. :skull:

What you quoted wasn't QUITE what I had in mind.....this is berating the basic design of a bike with floor boards. If you think about it for just a bit......and look at the picture that Sarris posted......I think you will see that there just isn't any other practical choice.

I fully agree that it isn't the BEST setup but, under the circumstances, it is the ONLY one that works.

What I was interested in is an opinion about which is best when you actually have a choice in the matter.......without completely re-designing the bike. I'm pretty sure that I know the answer; it was the first part of what you quoted.

[Sarris]

Originally Posted by Water Warrior

There is only one position!! The one that fits your leg/foot for maximum comfort and ease of operation. Adjust the pedal for your fit and ride knowing the pedal is right where you can find it at a moments notice. The factory picks a standard position for ease of assembly to save time. Each rider fits a little different. The better the bike fits the better you can ride and enjoy the bike.

:plus1: :plus1: :plus1: :plus1:

[ArizonaKev]

Wow, I hate to jump into such a fray (well, not really, otherwise I wouldn't right?) but I thought I would put my 2 cents in.

I personally believe that whatever a person is most comfortable with, whatever "feels" right to them and comes most naturally, is what should dictate where the lever is positioned. I really don't care what one site says or what another says about the "right" positioning of it : fact is, in a panic situation, every person is going to go with what they know, their gut instinct, and do that before their brain really has time to process what they are doing.

I, for example, have my brake pedal positioned a little above my toe, and whenever I think to apply my rear brake, I instinctively lift my foot a little - that's just what I do. If I were to change the positioning because of what somebody else thought was the correct way, and to get in a panic braking situation, I am sure that I would instinctively lift my foot a little, thereby losing valuable braking time, and probably eating it hard.

By the same token, if someone is much more comfortable with the pedal just below their foot, and their instinct is to push their foot immediately down upon braking, by all means, they should keep it that way. We have to remember that the front brake SHOULD be the same for every bike (of course, there are probably some old 'suicide brakes' out there too), and as has been said, that is the primary stopping brake anyway.

It's just like driving a car in my opinion : all the books say that driving with your hands in the 10 and 2 position is THE correct way to hold the wheel when you drive - but how many of us can honestly say we do that? We do what is comfortable and instinctive for us, right? I think it should be the same with a bike : as long as what the person is doing does not fall completely out of the range of sensibility, I think the best advice is to do what "feels right". Again, just my opinion, and I won't defend it, because personally, I don't care where people position their brake levers as long is it works for them.

:2tup:

AZ Kev