Want better performance from your brakes? Want a lighter more aero bike that looks better and is also safer for free? Then watch this video. Velofil • Top notch Gravel / Cyc...
I have been told by bike shops over the years that i have my brake set up wrong so i dont need them to tell me what side i should have my break setup and been riding for 25 years with the french setup and no problems its what makes your ride comfortable their is no wrong or wright with brake set up and he makes sense in the video.
It very much depends on where you live. There is a wrong and right, simply because if you look at UK road law it actually says what side the bike should have it’s cables by Law. 🙂
😄 Tell me you were joking at the history bit. Riding on the right-hand side of the road has nothing to do with Napoleon or French in general. Every country decided to ride left or right for different reasons/culture. And yes, Romans did ride on the right-hand side in different regions. You British people really hate French. First time in my life I heard referring to the right-hand driving as the “French way”. By the way, I just discovered your channel and I like it. Good job.
Interesting comment, no I was dead serious. I have put the evidence below for why I am totally correct. Please note I looked this up just now so I was right even before I checked. We don’t hate the French, ok that’s a lie we totally do… but in a loving sort of friendly way. Let’s face it, not even the French like the French. 😅 From Britannica.com: “Driving on the right became synonymous with democracy and Napoleon's conquests throughout Europe. The Netherlands, Switzerland, Russia, Poland and Germany have all been firm supporters of right-hand traffic ever since. Left-hand traffic only managed to keep its stronghold in the British colonies.” From business insider.com “The practice is believed to date back to ancient Rome. Romans steered their carts and chariots with the left hand, to free up the right so they could use weapons to defend against enemy attacks. This carried over into medieval Europe and in 1773, the British government passed measures to make left-hand traffic the law.”
@@reginaldscot165 😂Of course you were right! I wasn’t going to reply to your evidence but I couldn’t help myself. The Napoleon thing is a long-standing myth. There is no law during Napoleon’s reign that makes right-handed driving mandatory. Not even in France. Most of the countries that belonged to Napoleon’s empire, voted for right-handed driving in the 20th century. Russians and US voted before Napoleon’s era. And from a case study - Rutgers University: “In 1919, 104 of the world’s territories drove on the left side of the road and 104 on the right. By 1986, 34 of the keep-left territories had changed to keep-right. No territories changed in the opposite direction.” Just saw the video about winspace wheels. Impressive! (Like French driving😀)
Some really interesting points you've made here, particularly wrt the idea that with the "French method" if one uses the right hand for drinking, signaling, etc, that leaves the left hand with the front brake for any emergency braking. And while I can attest that it IS quite possible (and maybe even preferable) to brake with the front only without swerving or going over the bars, it is a little more challenging than braking with rear only. HOWEVER: your analysis ignores two important factors. First, and perhaps the most important, is that most people are right handed, and in a panic braking situation, the stronger right hand is much more likely to lock up the wheel it is controlling. FAR better to lock up the rear than the front, especially if your health (or worse, your life) depends on it. Aside from one-handed braking, which is the exception, not the rule, a rider is far better off with the weaker left hand modulating the front brake, and the stronger right locking up the rear rather than the front. Keep in mind, the moment that any wheel stops turning and starts skidding, all steering/control is lost. Second, cable friction is the enemy of control/modulation. Sharper bends in the housing mean more cable friction, and the "British method" further exacerbates the friction issue once the bars are turned, with sharper turns being worse yet. This could even cause premature unintended lockup in a combined turning/braking situation, which is often the case where trying to avoid another bike/vehicle/road hazard/crash. Larger radius bends in the cable housing mean less cable friction, smoother actuation, better modulation, and less likelihood of predictable response from the caliper in exactly the situations where predictable response is most critical. Yes, there's some aero and aesthetics tradeoff. And cyclists are notoriously vain, myself definitely included! But when it comes to braking, and avoiding an unwelcome vacation from walking/biking or worse (much worse), that's a tradeoff I'm willing to take. BTW, Japanese bikes tend to use the "French" routing as well, and I think the opposite-side cabling may have been intentional to allow for gentler bends in the housing up front. No proof, but it certainly follows the conventional wisdom that cabling should always maximize the radius of all bends.
Great comment, I appreciate your view/take on this subject. In reply I’d say that when you brake 1 handed if you are right handed (as I mentioned in the video) you will find it considerably more difficult to stay upright if you are using the French system. Because as you press the front brake with your left hand the bar will start to turn. I put myself in bed for a week doing just that. 🤭 you mentioned panicking and say that you can apply more pressure with the right hand and thusly more likely to lock up the front brake… but when you panic don’t you grab both brakes? And when you panic you tend to use max strength, more than enough to lock up a wheel with left or right hand? My right hand is still more skilled and therefore it makes more sense to me to have it doing the most important job. (Like trying to stop your car with your left foot is just a bad idea, panic or not. 🤭) As for smoothness of cables, the curve of the cables is also determined by length, if British style is too curved for some reason just increasing the length should reduce the angle. However, in my experience (with customers) the shorter length of British is always smoother for longer because less length = less friction. Thank you for your comment and all the best! 🙂🙏🏻
Hello Scott: I'm fascinated with this subject of English vs French cable routing. Been cycling 30 years never noticing how the cables were set up as French or English. I never saw an English set up until your video...BRAVO ..... Seeing that the English routing is more pleasant to the eye, do you have any videos or recommendations on which BRAND of exterior cables to use that have better endurance and or more flexibility. @@reginaldscot165
Thank you Reginald 👍 Really glad that you like my Videos and thanks for the honorable mention ☺️! I'm even more glad to see that you upload again! You don't need to improve your videos because you're so much more eloquent than me and you know what you are talking about! There are a lot of positive things going on in your life 😁 congratulations. 🚴🏻♀️👰🏻🏡🛠!!! (Great Video BTW) Cheers!
I love Velofil videos also……so professionally shot and edited and definitely in my top 5 RU-vidrs. Good to see you making another video Reginald……..don’t leave the next one so long please 🙏🏻🙏🏻
Always wanted to go wireless electric shifting largely cuz of aesthetics but now that I see if you route it this way.. The bike really seems cleaner and neater without the cables crossing each other.. Thanks so much for this!!
Thankyou so much, been searching for this stuff about crossing housings but here it is a very complex video about the advantages of not crossing the cable housings. This saves a lot to me
The right way to set up the front vs rear brake is simply a matter of what one prefers. I'm left-handed, which has absolutely nothing to do with it, and I grew up and live in the US, where the right hand brake is the rear. I grab my bottle with my left hand, so if I need to brake while getting a sip I will be using the rear brake with my right hand. Braking with only the front is a recipe for disaster, especially with hydraulic disks (though my road bikes all have rim brakes). Why would I switch after 50+ years of riding?
The correct way is determined by whatever side of the road you ride on for the majority of people who are right hand dominated. But I can see an argument for someone who is left handed doing it differently. 👍🏻
I ordered a Ribble from UK and they set it up the French way before sending it across the pond to me. Ultimately it all depends if you drive on the right or wrong side of the road 😅😅
Well this is interesting, I'm looking for ways to tidy my cabling and this is very tempting. I used the "french" system for over 14 years so my concern is that I developed muscle memory of which brake is which. Wouldn't wanna get in trouble by pulling too hard on the front brake thinking that it's the rear one... Hurts so bad that I can't do a fully internal routing on my bike :P Will definitely give this a thorough think though. Cheers!
Very insightful and makes sense! It does looks much more beautiful this way. Thank you! Now I have more confidence to drill into my tube! *I'm converting Fixed gear bike to Road bike. So, I had to drill some of them manually. And this helps a lot!
I'm from Italy and here almost every bike has front brake on the left. This way is my 1983 Colnago Victory, same way my current road bike, the same my mid son MTB and also my six year old child. So, UK way is also Italian way. 😉
Ok…this addresses something I have wondered about for decades. Especially during my racing days. Being right handed I tend to grab a bottle with my right hand out of the cage, leaving braking in the care of my left hand which is on the (here in U.S.A.) the front brake. Which has always seemed like a bad idea if the two actions had to occur simultaneously. Retraining myself to grab a bottle with my left hand has failed. Hahaha given that you have convinced me that British cabling is way more clean and efficient I wonder if retraining myself to brake differently would be possible.😬 In decades of riding this is the first time I have ever seen this and it makes perfect sense. Thanks!
If only you had stayed under the benevolent rule of British Royalty you would have had all this benefit and you wouldn’t be driving on the wrong side of the road today. I’m joking of course 😂 Or am I? 😏 But joking aside, it’s worth a try! Hopefully you find a solution? All the best and safe riding! ❤️👍🏻🙂
You should practice braking with your front only. It is possible and obviously more of your stopping power is up front so you'll stop quicker if you're comfortable and controlled. If you only have one hand on the brakes, it should be your front. The rear will not stop you in time to avoid a collision. You will just slide into the obstacle. You can however stop very quickly one handed with your front if you have trained yourself to do so. It doesn't take much. Just focus on your braking and you will see that you are already using the front mostly.
hello from Canada, does it matter which shifters can be used front derailleur and rear derailleur? What I mean is can either one be used as a front shifter. I have a Campagnolo Chorus 12 speed group set. Thank you for your repy.
No they have a Different number of ratchet teeth. One will have say 10 clicks for the cassette and the other will have 3 clicks for the chain rings. Sorry.
The British are wrong about most things including which side of the road to drive, and most definitely about the imperial (imperial... even the name is just stupid) vs the metric system. Now they have even got that Brexit mess. British football, snooker, darts and fish & chips is all top notch however ;-)
There is nothing "wrong" with the French ( lets call it the European 🤷🏻♂️ ) Style .. Like you said.. it depends where you live. For me , here in Germany its absolutely normal to ride Right Hand rear Brake , Left Hand front Brake.. And i personally would say that is the correct way.. because ☝️ most people ( like you said ) are Right hand dominant.. And the Rear Brake don't let you go over the Bar ! So When you're in a Traffic Situation where its important to slow down for safety then your dominant Hand should activate the "safer" Brake 🤷🏻♂️ ( Safer depends definitely on the situation. 😜 But going over the Bar when you just had to slow down wouldn't be optimal 😉 )
You made a good attempt to justify the French but you made 1 major error. Nothing French is ever correct. 😂 But joking aside even in Europe you would be better off with British style, recently Mario Cipollini (the best pro sprinter in history) said he believed many of the accidents in professional cycling are a result of the fact they changed the braking system to right hand rear brake. He made an entire video all about it on his Instagram, he said that previously Cyclist in the Pro tour had been using British style and that this was safer. Now that everyone had switched to disc brakes the cabling was automatically on the French side. So even professional European Cyclists riding in Europe agree with me that British style is better. Finally, you give an analogy of an emergency situation. In that situation the rear brake becomes even less useful, because as you break hard the back wheel will lift. So the back brake becomes less and less useful. This is why the right hand must be on the most important break, the front brake. Your right hand is more sensitive and so you are less likely to go over the bars with that hand on your front brake. 🙂 I’m only looking out for your safety and wellbeing. ❤️🙏🏻
The cabling don't bother me.. my front brakes remains on the left irrespective of the system. I always change any road bike i get ... front brakes i use left.
Just saw this - some really interesting comments. It's not really the 'French' way though as all of Europe, N & S America, China, etc. have the rear brake on the right side.
Ok is this what you are showing us? . Looking from front to bck ...... RIGHT has Rear brake & Front derailleur LEFT ... has rear derailleur & front brake .
I you are a little confused, it’s right hand front brake and RD is also on the right of the bike and so the cable goes down the right side of the bike. The cable for the FD actually goes down the left, that’s why the cable stop is designed the way it is. 👍🏻🙂
Reginald, are you sure the French never conquered Britain ? What about William the Conqueror and his norman-speaking (french dialect) army 😊 ? Just kidding, I disagree with you on this one, though. I agree with Red Shift comment. To me, the british style is only suited to countries driving on the left side of the road.
I don’t count the Normans as French. They were a more Viking than frog. 🤭 Well, British style works best in places that drive on the left… all we need to do is admit that that’s the correct place to drive and then everyone in the world can enjoy both superior driving standards and safer cycling! 😂😉
You may be right on the distance and length of cable and what not but the explanation of why at the beginning with the history and all is the biggest load of rubbish I’ve ever heard. Skip the history lesson and stick with the logic.
So what’s the reason and the history behind it? Are you telling me that Vietnam 🇻🇳 being a French colony is incorrect? Did Napoleon successfully invade Britain? We are waiting for you to tell us? 🙂
