Europeans put their brakes on the opposite side. You're not crazy. Seems like you have it correct. I switched my tri bike, and just got used to it that way.

Different countries have different conventions for which brake lever (left/right) actuates which brake (front/back). Note: there is no "right" answer, it's convention/preference. You can build it up either way.

Boardman is a UK brand so the bike is shown UK style.

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You guys are quick. I had convinced myself that those crazy Europeans might do that, but just couldn't bring myself to cut the housing without verifying.

Thanks and I am sure this is just the first of many posts during my build.

I grew up racing motocross so right hand was front brake and left was the clutch. All three of my bikes are setup with the front brake on the right out of habit.

Unless your left handed I can't see any reason why you would want the front brake on the left. The front brake is your most important brake, it is the one you want the most control over. Move your front brake lever to the right.

The most important thing is remembering which brake is which in a panic situation.

Just pull on the hand brake...... oh, no, wait, that's just a whole lot of spacers ;)

*erm

Its just personal preference. I'm used to the front on my left. There's no right or wrong way for brake preferences.

Perhaps. But isn't it fair to say that we tend to have finer motor control with our dominant hand?

My question would be, have you ridden a bike before?

I'm assuming you have, so route it the same way all of your previous bikes have been. It is probably muscle memory now.

Thanks, Sharkbait...my over under on how how long it would take for someone to mention the spacers was 4 hours. Over wins.

Thanks again, guys. Wasn't really looking for advice on which side my front brake goes on. Just making sure I was running the cable/housing correctly.

But isn't it fair to say that we tend to have finer motor control with our dominant hand?

In that case you want the rear brake on your right hand. It's the one you need to feather to keep from skidding.

Unless you are at the very limit... then you need to modulate the front to keep from doing an endo.

No probs. Nice looking setup, I got me a Boardman too.

That makes some sense, until your try to stop on loose surface, and you lock the front and face plant. I don't give two hoots if the back locks, only concern is I might have to buy a new tire slightly sooner. I would rather pay a bike shop than a doctor. I'm actually same school as sdbanker, lots of motorbikes, so in that sense I also consider wrong to have the front on the left.

YMMV. Always had it on my left. Had no problems. My bikes have always been built Euro/Brit style with the front brake on the left.
Its more muscle memory and skill anyhow after riding for so long......

For your first build you picked, to me, a hard front to get set up correctly. I've built lots of bike before and also the Boardman you have. That Boardman front brake has to be by far the one I found the most difficult to get right.

Because you might tend to use you dominant right have to grab your water bottle and food, so i can grab a drink while coasting and put my bottle away and still cover my primary brake.

Because Right and Rear both start with the letter "R".

because I rode motorcycle for a long time, between my 4 bikes, I have them set-up both ways. I adapt pretty quickly and am equally comfortable with each. Riding a motorcycle, you dominant hand because less of an issue and you need to learn to have good coordination on both. Though being right handed could be why learning the hand clutch takes longer than it should.

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I was taught that it's all about hand signals

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_signals

Coxy

I have no reference point, but I am struggling with this brake so far. Can't seem to get both sides to pull and spring back evenly. Any tips?

They are a world of pain !!! A right pain in the arse to set up - plus you need to leave enough space to get the rim out without having to bugger about with the barrel adjuster or deflate the tyre to clear the brakes.

You need to adjust the tension on each individual brake arm using the tensioning nut / spring. Best to back them both off to start and then tension equally in steps. Best done with 2 people - 1 to hold the spanner and 1 to nip the lock screw.

I'm also now using the Jagwire Elite Link cables which bend better and seem to have much less friction allowing the brakes to centre better.

Plus if you're using "fat" wheels you will almost definitely need to remove washers and / or shave the brake pads down to get sufficient clearance.

I've owned / built 2 of them and they are a superb bike but take a bit of fine tuning.

Good Luck !

Gazelle.

That was a huge help, Gazelle. Thanks for that. I found that once I slowed everything down and really looked at how the brakes work, I was able to get them all sorted out. The tension springs are a bit tricky, but I think I got it.

So here's my next question...with the front brake cable coming straight down from the left and the rear brake crossing over the head tube from the right, how do they cross each other? After trying each over the other, I settled on this:



But this doesn't seem right. The pics make it look tighter than it is. I can easily turn the bars all the way both directions and the front cable is a good inch from the fork. I don't know what the hell I'm doing.

Here is how she looks so far:


Please fight the urge to comment on my garage. I'll have my wife sign up here if I want to hear shit about my messiness.

Any advice is appreciated.

Just watch that the cables dont rub. Have you got one of those little plastic swivel connectors ?? Or put the front brake on the outside and use a small cable tie.

It actually looks better cabled up the UK / wrong way :-)

Cheers