I should have been clear that all my bicycles have the front brake on the right and rear brake on the left.

but on occasion I have ridden my sons' bikes (they don't ride motorcycles, not their thing), and rental bikes and those are standard with front brake on the left.

We used to ride with left hand on throttle when trying to warm right hand on the engine, could be interesting. Not recommending anybody trys this.

the rear brake question was explained to me by a bike instructor who said

,on the road when stopped in traffic you should keep the rear brake applied, and the left foot on the floor to stabilize your self which is safely near the kerb

the rear brake question was explained to me by a bike instructor who said

,on the road when stopped in traffic you should keep the rear brake applied, and the left foot on the floor to stabilize your self which is safely near the kerb

Going back to the original question what if you were on a British bike ?? Your right foot would be on the deck away from the kerb ??

the rear brake question was explained to me by a bike instructor who said

,on the road when stopped in traffic you should keep the rear brake applied, and the left foot on the floor to stabilize your self which is safely near the kerb

Assuming "safely" refers to passing traffic it rather assumes we never stop in a middle or outer lane at the lights? Is there any reason to suppose that one would place one's foot in the path of passing traffic regardless of which side?

Covering the rear brake in traffic went out of fashion a long time ago.

Those in training circles called it the Hendon shuffle.

Remember you also needed to be in neutral when waiting at those new fangled traffic lights.

So into neutral change feet from gear to brake pedal. then when preparing to move off change feet again to select a gear.

Nowedays we sit intraffic in neutral foor ready to select gear and hold the bike on the hand brake.

In certain situations the skilled rider may change this chain of actions for example a hill start or on a tall bike when the camber of the road requires it.

Edited March 21, 201016 yr by bigshineybike

Nothing to do with gear change (left or Right),but did you know that the Indian V twin of the twenties had the throttle on the left handside so the police could shoot at the crims with thier right hands.Never rode a bike with a right foot gear change but tried racing with a race pattern(1 up/5down) done nothing for my lap times,will have to learn to ride with a right foot change when I get the Bantam finished .

cheers the noo Brian

As of January 1st 1974 the US mandated that all of the primary controls on all new motorcycles had to be in the same position on the machine. Since the vast majority of bikes sold in the US then were from Japan, and the majority of those used left side gear shifters (with down for first and up for the rest), that was the standard which was adopted. I suppose that the US market was so huge that the minor manufacturers had no choice but to comply.