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Brake Setup: Give your brakes the (single) finger
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Want to get more control and comfort while riding? Give your brakes the finger. Disk brakes are powerful enough to stop you with one finger, but most riders have the levers set up so that they need to use two fingers to grab the lever. It’s not necessarily the riders’ fault, though; many braking and shifting systems are set up for two-finger braking.
How can braking with one finger give you more control? Grab a marker or a highlighter out of your desk drawer. No marker? Grab a pencil or even make a fist. Hold on to the marker in the same position as if it were one side of your handlebars. Clench all of your fingers together about as tight as you generally grab your bars. No problem, right? Now extend your index finger so that it's almost straight. Still OK, right? Now extend your middle finger, too, as if you’re reaching for your brakes with two fingers. You’ll probably feel some tension in your hand, and perhaps in your forearms, as well. Try to squeeze hard with your ring and little fingers. Imagine holding that for 30 minutes. That’s what you’re doing when you’re using two fingers on the brakes. Having one more finger wrapped around the bar will give you a more secure yet relaxed grip, resulting in greater control and comfort.
Typical two-finger brake setup
Look at some pictures of pro riders in your favorite mountain biking magazine. If you look closely you may notice quite a bit of room between the inside edge of the grips and the brake lever body. That’s because many pro riders have their brake levers set up for 1-finger braking.
Lets see what it takes to set your bike up for single-finger braking. Take a look at the first picture. It shows how most bikes come, directly from the shop. It’s set up so that shifting is convenient and so you can grab the brake lever with two fingers. In order to get set up one-finger braking you’ll either need to move both the shifter and the brake lever towards the stem, or re-arrange your gear so that the brake levers are on the other side (also called inboard) of your shifters, as shown in the second photo.
Avid Juicy brakes inboard of SRAM X-7 shifters
Shifters with non-removable gear indicators such Shimano Deore LX models may make it difficult to set the brakes up in the proper position and still allow for convenient access to the shifters. Shifters with removable gear indicators such as Shimano’s Deore XT or SRAM shifters with the indicator built in to the clamp make it easier. SRAM’s X-9 and X-0 shifters have an adjustment that allows the shifter levers to be moved in or out. SRAM also makes an adapter called Matchmaker that allows shifters and brake levers to share the same clamp.
Adjusting the reach on an Avid Juicy lever
The idea is to set up the brake levers so that your extended index finger falls right in the hook at the end of the brake lever. You may have to adjust the reach on your levers so that you don’t have to reach out in order to grab the lever. This adjusts how far the brake lever is from the handlebar. Most levers can be adjusted so that smaller hands don’t have to reach for the levers. Older Avid levers require a 2mm allen key to adjust the reach, as shown. Newer Avids and some other brands allow for too-free reach adjustment. Check your brake manufacturer’s website for more info. Adjust the lever so that you can wrap the tip of your finger around lever without reaching too much.
Levers adjusted for good reach; it's easy to grab the lever.
You can further customize the brakes if your levers have contact-point adjusters as found on higher-end Avid and Magura brakes. Magura calls the adjuster BAT or Bite-point Adjustment Technology. These allow you to fine-tune how far back you need to pull the lever before the pads make contact with the rotor.
Braking with one finger does take some getting used to. Take small rides around your neighborhood and take time to dial in the position of the levers before going on a big ride. Once you have the levers positioned properly you’ll find that you’ll have a more powerful, but relaxed grip on the bar and have better braking control without the dreaded arm pump or cramping on long downhill runs.
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