• I don't polo, but I used to run my brakes American style before realising that was wrong. Switched to the proper way round after cycling for thirty years (so I could use the RD and front brake with one hand, not to mention shift and brake with one move on STIs), and my bike handling went to shit.

    Then I built this old rat rod thing with a bit of a hipster vibe to it, modern parts on an old frame, left it without a rear brake for a while. That got my neurons wired up right... Realised that I barely need the rear brake, but there was the odd occasion when I really missed it.

    It's good to know just how much you can push it regarding the grip on the front tyre.

  • Disagree with the British way of cabling though, left front frees up the right hand to downshift into a lower gear while slowing down.

    Back to front brake only, get a lot of 'Do you not flip forward when you brake?'. Nope!

  • I have seen several people borrow your polo bike and go over the bars!

  • Disagree with the British way of cabling though, left front frees up the right hand to downshift into a lower gear while slowing down.

    As I said, you can do both in one movement pretty nicely with STIs, which might have been the point of the swinging brake lever? But in practice it's not a huge advantage, unless you're racing crits, and even then it's not a big deal I bet... I'd rather be able to shift and (meaningfully) brake with one hand in case I'm using the other at the time - maybe I'm having a drink or a bite, or carrying something home from the shop or maybe something I found on the side of the road.

    The one-handed simultaneous brake and downshift is actually possible with Ergo and even Doubletap, although perhaps too fiddly to bother... electronic stuff opens up the possibilities.

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