Quoted message said:I find that description odd. So what does that say to motorcyclists
who seem to all have the front brake on the right for reasons that
appeal to me. Roughly 90% of people are right handed, according to
researchers, therefore putting the more important front brake under
control of the right hand is reasonable. That the front brake is
primary has been established on motor vehicles as well as bicycles.
Dear Jobst,
Which hand is used for what is a perennial question.
The right hand is usually stronger, but despite most
comments, it's usually less sensitive.
We do write, paint, and bow stringed instruments with our
right hands, but those are all actually a wrist and forearm
movement, not any fine finger control.
Most people use their clumsier but more powerful dominant
hand for whacking things with hammers (or pushing or
pulling), and their weaker but more delicate non-dominant
hand for holding the nail precisely or threading the cable
into the housing.
Surgeons usually fumble around in your innards with their
more sensitive non-dominant hand when they're trying to feel
lumps, but squeeze forceps and slash with their more
powerful dominant hand.
The more sensitive and nimble non-dominant hand is usually
the one that you use to grab the elusive end of the string
between thumb and forefinger when tying or untying knots.
Getting back to two-wheeled vehicle controls . . .
One hand may be needed for the signal to cross oncoming
traffic, which in turn depends on which side of the road you
ride on.
Bicycles usually use the more sensitive left hand for the
important front brake, perhaps because sensitivity matters
more than power for the ordinary rider, who's more likely to
skid the front tire on a dirty or sandy spot on the pavement
than to suffer forearm cramps descending the Alps.
But motorcycles have more controls than bicycles, and they
work differently.
The dominant control on all motorcycles is the right-hand
twist-grip throttle. Like writing, painting, or bowing,
rolling the throttle on and off is a wrist and forearm
movement--as opposed to picking your nose, you can work a
motorcycle throttle just fine while wearing heavy mittens.
If you're working the throttle, you also have to shift
gears, which means that your other hand must be free to pull
the clutch lever. Since your right hand is busy rolling the
throttle back and forth, the left hand is used for the
clutch when shifting.
Now we need a third hand to work the front brake . . .
Well, if you're braking normally, you're not working the
throttle with your right hand, but you may be pulling the
clutch in with your left, so motorcycles put the front brake
on the right.
(If you're doing delicate trials work and descending a nasty
slope, you leave the clutch alone, squeeze the bejesus out
of the front brake with your right hand and simultaneously
work the throttle, giving the rear wheel a little gas to
hook up again whenever engine braking at idle becomes so
great that the rear wheel breaks loose, skids, and loses
traction. Luckily, only tiny motions are needed to adjust
the throttle at this speed.)
The rear brake is worked with one foot, while the gear shift
is worked with the other. Which side was gearshift and which
was brake not standardized until the 1970's. Now pretty much
all gearshifts are on the left.
Standarization is a good idea. Some old machines not only
shifted on the right, but also reversed the normal pattern
so that you pushed down for low.I once roared off on a
Ducati 350 after sitting for quite a while and forgetting
that the gearshift was on the right and that I needed to
push down for second gear. Instead of getting second gear as
I expected on my other motorcycles, I stomped on the rear
brake with the clutch in.
The automatic transmission Honda 90 of the 1960's had no
clutch, so an almost useless left-hand rear brake lever was
added to the normal rear foot brake.
Curiously, most people who ride motorcycles and bicycles
have little trouble reaching for the correct lever to make
the front wheel slow down, probably because the riding
styles are so different, with the throttle on one being your
right hand, while your legs are the throttle on the other.
Carl Fogel
