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I bought a bike from the UK. The brakes and shifters are on the opposite sides. I want to change it so the front brake is on the left and the rear is on the right, Same thing for the shifters.

I have Drop bars and Ultegra Shifters. Is this a difficult project?

Thanks,

John

John
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    Why??? (The brakes are no problem. The shifters --- BIG problem.) – Daniel R Hicks May 31 '13 at 23:06
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    FWIW Many people right-handed folks prefer their dominant right hand on the front brake, myself included. Do whatever is most comfortable, but try it out for a bit (you may like it.) – WTHarper May 31 '13 at 23:29
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    Yeah, just my two cents, I always move my front brake to the right because that's where it is on my motorcycle, and confusing the front brake for the rear brake on a motorcycle could be a fatal mistake when switching between my bicycle and my motorcycle. – Scott Hillson Jun 01 '13 at 04:22
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    Are American shifters the other way around? I've never come across a left/rear right/front setup. – alex Jun 01 '13 at 09:53
  • I would rather focus on using the road sides correctly as US is for right-hand drive. If you change your shifters, there is a risk that you would get the shifting wrong and cause problem to yourself as well as the other road users. Have you ever heard of changing steering wheels for cars when going to US from the UK? Make your life easy. To support the comment by @DanielRHicks No need to change brakes. I strongly suggest you get the roads right rather than changing shifter positions. – ha9u63a7 Jun 05 '13 at 20:22
  • Back when I rode a motorcycle and a bicycle (USA), I swapped the levers on the bike to match the motorcycle, trying to remember that the right-hand controlled the front brake on the motorcycle but the rear brake on the bicycle was too confusing. Unless you regularly ride other people's bikes, you may as well leave the levers as-is, as there's no inherent advantage to the USA standard that I'm aware of (aside from the right=rear mnemonic) – Johnny Jun 05 '13 at 21:26
  • @Johnny - Actually, it's right=main, left=jib. – Daniel R Hicks Jun 05 '13 at 22:30
  • I once had a bike serviced and they swapped the brakes for me. I didn't notice until the first junction, flew straight through with the rear wheel locked wondering why I wasn't slowing down. – alex Jun 06 '13 at 01:37
  • Don't think this has a lot to do with US/UK. I have had road bikes from US manufacturers (Giant and Trek) and from a UK manufacturer (Dawes). Every one of them has been set up identically. – PeteH Jun 06 '13 at 06:18

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Kind of what Daniel said, brakes are easy. Sit down and think about it for a minute, all you have to do is switch the cables. Run the front cable to the left and run the rear cable to the right.

If you want to switch the shifters you will probably run into some trouble. You won't be able to just switch the cables, you would have to get shifters that work on the opposite side. I would just forego that goal if I were you.

Scott Hillson
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    Yeah, the problem is that front and rear shifters are different -- different # of stops, different cable motion per stop -- and "brifters" are designed to be pressed inward, so they can't be swapped left for right. You'd need new ones. – Daniel R Hicks Jun 01 '13 at 04:12
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Before going further, ask your self this:

You need to drive your UK-purchased car in the US now. OMG, US is right-hand drive but the UK is left-hand. you now need to change the position of my gear and streering wheels to the other side.

Does this sound logical to you? Does it make your life comfortable? Are you gonna buy a new car now?

Same logic my friend. As @DanielRHicks and hillsons said, brakes are not needed to change. I would rather focus on using the road sides correctly as US is for right-hand drive. Unless there is any law about changing the shifter positions, don't do it. Just ride as you would ride, but try to get the road side correct.

ha9u63a7
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