Bike came with left front brakes? Grr

Coopz

Coopz

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Ordered a new mtb online from a bike shop in Melbourne. It arrived OK today, put it together but the brakes are like an American setup. Right lever is the back and left is the front. I messaged the shop and they were like 'you didn't stipulated on what brake setup you wanted'. Told me to ring them tomorrow and they will 'discuss it'.

I've riden mtbs for 30 years and have never ever seen anyone in Australia use left front braking (as it's shit). Including motorcross and motorcycle riding. Even when did some riding in the USA half of them were using right front braking as well.

This ever happened to anyone? This is going to be a major pita to fix as the brakes are all threaded through the frame and I currently don't have a brake rebuild kit to swap them over with.
 
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Coopz said:
Ordered a new mtb online from a bike shop in Melbourne. It arrived OK today, put it together but the brakes are like an American setup. Right lever is the back and left is the front. I messaged the shop and they were like 'you didn't stipulated on what brake setup you wanted'. Told me to ring them tomorrow and they will 'discuss it'.

I've riden mtbs for 30 years and have never ever seen anyone in Australia use left front braking (as it's shit). Including motorcross and motorcycle riding. Even when did some riding in the USA half of them were using right front braking as well.

This ever happened to anyone? This is going to be a major pita to fix as the brakes are all threaded through the frame and I currently don't have a brake rebuild kit to swap them over with.
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Why would you have to worry about internal routing? Just undo the hoses at the levers and swap them around. Will be a good chance to shorten the hoses to fit neatly, which is what I do with all new bikes anyway.
 
I know guys from bmx background that run front/rear as that’s what they were used to from racing. Have seen bikes for sale online setup that way, I assume that’s the way they’re coming in to the country setup.

Not a simple swap?
 
Like teK said, hose swap and opportunity to optimise hose lengths and routing. A good shop would sort that for you without charge, if it was me doing presale check/assembly I would have done it then or at least asked the question. Online purchase at a sharp price will tend to cut some corners with customer service.
The bikes that turned up in my workstand with the brakes wrong way round were almost all brought to Straya by people who had relocated from OS.
 
As Tek said ^^^

Even if you don't have new olives and barbs, just undo the hose one at a time, keep them upright and swap them over. You can get away with this at least once before a bleed is needed. I've even shortened brake hoses without a bleed required.

Then hit the shop up for 2 x needle/barb sets to shorten them if required or stick in spares.

I can tell you its a pretty faarked thing to ride a bike with a yankee brake setup.
 
teK-- said:
Why would you have to worry about internal routing? Just undo the hoses at the levers and swap them around. Will be a good chance to shorten the hoses to fit neatly, which is what I do with all new bikes anyway.
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Yeah that was dumb wording on my part.
 
ozzybmx said:
As Tek said ^^^

Even if you don't have new olives and barbs, just undo the hose one at a time, keep them upright and swap them over. You can get away with this at least once before a bleed is needed. I've even shortened brake hoses without a bleed required.

Then hit the shop up for 2 x needle/barb sets to shorten them if required or stick in spares.

I can tell you its a pretty faarked thing to ride a bike with a yankee brake setup.
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The new loader is US convention rather than ISO which is what I am used to so occasionally the bucket rolls forward instead of back. Could probably swap hoses in the manifold but at this stage will see if I can adapt to it.
 
Dales Cannon said:
The new loader is US convention rather than ISO which is what I am used to so occasionally the bucket rolls forward instead of back. Could probably swap hoses in the manifold but at this stage will see if I can adapt to it.
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Never adapt :oops:

If you remember the Shimano flash-in-the-pan idea of rapid rise derailleurs. I though this was a great idea and went rapid rise on my MTB. It took me months to get used to it and months to get un-used to it when it failed to catch on and was discontinued after that year.
 
ozzybmx said:
Never adapt :oops:

If you remember the Shimano flash-in-the-pan idea of rapid rise derailleurs. I though this was a great idea and went rapid rise on my MTB. It took me months to get used to it and months to get un-used to it when it failed to catch on and was discontinued after that year.
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Problem is hard lines run to the quick connects. Hoses are well hidden. Will have to see.
 
I swapped them over, OK now but still think it was dumb from the bike shop seen it has this sticker on the frame. Apparently it's a legal requirement as well.
 

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Coopz said:
I swapped them over, OK now but still think it was dumb from the bike shop seen it has this sticker on the frame. Apparently it's a legal requirement as well.
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Didn’t realise it was a legal requirement but that sticker makes it pretty clear who’s to blame 😂

What bike out of curiosity?
 
I don't think any formal technical qualification is required to call yourself a 'qualified bike mechanic'.

That's just stupidity on their side. What company was it?
 
Coopz said:
Ordered a new mtb online from a bike shop in Melbourne. It arrived OK today, put it together but the brakes are like an American setup. Right lever is the back and left is the front. I messaged the shop and they were like 'you didn't stipulated on what brake setup you wanted'. Told me to ring them tomorrow and they will 'discuss it'.
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I'm intrigued. Does the shop just have the bikes in a box that they never work on or would they assemble it, check it over etc etc then send it? Is it even a bike shop or just a dealer that doesn't actually have people on the tools? In either case, I'd be terrified to ride that thing without pulling it apart to make sure everything is greased and assembled correctly.
 
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