Hello from Australia

[austke]

It looks like you did a fine job routing the cables! I see you have the front brake on the right. If I remember correctly Cadel Evans does the same. Is this an Australian thing?

Yes it is an ozzy thing. Our motorbikes are setup the same. My understanding is that left handed fronts are a Europian thing?
I think you can run slightly/lighter cabling that (left front). But I have ridden right front for too long to change now.

Austke

[Mike K.]

Our motorbikes are setup the same. My understanding is that left handed fronts are a Europian thing?

I raced motocross as a teenager here in the US for 5 yrs and had not given a thought to the fact that the front brake of a motorcycle was on the right until now-strange. Although it makes sense as it would not be possible to rotate the throttle and work the clutch simultaneously.

Not sure about Euro influence.

[Fibre-Lyte]

Left handed fronts aren't a European thing, at least not a UK thing. My front brake lever is on the right, as are our motorbike levers.I don't think I could get used to a front brake lever n the left?

[badboyberty]

Yay first post... In any country the default for the rear brake is the side of the road you travel on. The reason being that most important hand signals are made with the hand that points into traffic. In Australia it is generally compulsory to signal a right hand turn (across traffic), but not a left hand turn. The theory is you can control your speed better as you make the turn by leaving your right hand on the rear brake.

Yes, this is the sort of thing thought up by the sort of people who think that it's ok for K-Mart to sell bikes in boxes, yet can dish out business crippling fines to shops that sell dedicated off-road bikes without orange reflectors in their wheels so I'm not going to enter a debate whether it makes sense or works, all I know is when I sell a bike, unless it's explicitly asked for otherwise, left brake lever operates rear brake. This also applies to hire bikes so be warned when travelling.

[austke]

Badboyberty,
I believe what you say about the side of road that you drive on influences front brake positioning. I have never travelled outside of Australia. It is just something I have observed through pictures and television. :/ Mainly looking at thousands of various bike pictures from various members around the world. )
Cheers
Austke

[aliasforme]

I've managed to get a 17 degree off a friend to try it out. It's one of those specialized mtb stems with variable drop and it seems that my spacers (which need to go soon... hopefully ) don't sit nicely on top of it. Everything feels secure when tightened, but there is a gap between the spacer and the stem. It seems as though this is caused by the variable drop shim thingy, as it puts it on an angle... any suggestions as to what I could do?

[Ypsylon]

The spacer is on top of them stem, right? In that case after the headset is adjusted and the stem is tightened it doesn't really do anything anymore. I'd just keep checking the headset before every right.

Edit: Thinking about it, IIRC, you need to use the Specialized top cap with the + and - pointing the right direction, but what I said above is still true.

[aliasforme]

yeah, spacers on top of stem...

anyhow, that gap was annoying me so I decided to sand the spacer down so that it fits snugly inside...