Brake lever position

[TrialsMan Dan]

Brake lever position - a completely individual thing and all down to personal preference however I have notice amongst many street riders they tend to run brake levers in a near vertical position.

Can anyone explain to me if there are any reasons/advantages to doing so? I think i first noticed this when Mr Macaskill kindly let me have a hop on his brown Fourplay a long time ago, but have noticed this set up among other street riders. Always thought it would make it more difficult to reach the lever particularly for manuals etc.

Something to do with where it places your wrists when holding the bars? I tend to run mine at a roughly 45 degree angle and that stems from my mtb background.

Weird one to ask about but just wondered what (if any) advantages it gives?

[TomWood]

I would imagine it has a lot to do with a much shorter reach on the street bikes (which brings your shoulders forward relative to the cockpit when your hips are still "centered") combined with a tendency to want to shift weight much farther over the front end than you would on a mountain bike (for front wheel moves). This would shift your shoulders over the cockpit more and you would need to rotate the levers down to maintain a comfortable position for your wrists/hands. 

[gage-mann]

Also think it’s for not smashing the levers in to bad from going over the handlebars but yea short reach will be a reason too

[Ali C]

I honestly don’t know how Danny (and others) can ride with vertical levers... it puts my entire body weight on my thumb area on my hand and when on the front wheel it’s very uncomfortable.

 

i run mine closer to 45 degrees or maybe even flatter, it changes my weight to be fully supported by my hand which feels much better for impacts etc

[TrialsMan Dan]

2 hours ago, Ali C said:

I honestly don’t know how Danny (and others) can ride with vertical levers... it puts my entire body weight on my thumb area on my hand and when on the front wheel it’s very uncomfortable.

 

i run mine closer to 45 degrees or maybe even flatter, it changes my weight to be fully supported by my hand which feels much better for impacts etc

My thoughts exactly. I think I tried it a very long time ago and just found that any time I put my weight backwards I could no longer reach the lever safely. Always noticed Martyn Ashton ran his almost horizontal (maybe due to his moto trials background).

The reason I bring this up is down to potential unwanted pressure that I'm placing on my wrists. I broke my left wrist mountain biking about 12 years ago and although fully healed I do get an occasional irritation from time to time (I mean its probably just my imagination!) and wondered if running my brake levers in a more vertical position might take some pressure off somewhat. 

Edited January 6, 2021 by TrialsMan Dan
spelling

[Rip]

The bottom half of this page gets pretty scientific about ideal lever position:

http://www.magura.com/en/components/customize/setup-guide/

Edited January 6, 2021 by Rip

[AndyT]

I guess what position are you mostly in the bike... on the back wheel? front wheel? Pogoing? Bunnyhopping? Then figure your arm/shoulder/trunk/legs into a trials fit calculator app... and you’ll get your angle !

Try em all.. I’ve done vertical, and almost parallel to ground, and everything in between. For years in the early 2000s in Colorado people would run the front brake closer to parallel w ground. and the rear brake closer to vertical- giving a better feeling on the wrists when pointed downhill for front brake, and better position for wrist when on rear wheel. It wasn’t as much front break as todays riders use, and different techniques I don’t think it would still be nice.