billyk
Guru
After a few hard stops that lifted the rear wheel, I began practicing braking more systematically, straightening and tightening my arms as I brake to hold my body as far back as possible. That helps, but there is no doubt that slamming on the Quest's excellent disk brakes would throw me straightaway over the bars. (That would not be a happy day ...) After this practicing, it is clear that the bike would flip long before the front wheel skidded, even on wet pavement.
I also drew lines on the photo below to check where I stood (sat?) in relation to the EU 60-degree standard: the COG should be behind a 60-degree line from the front tire patch. Well, it appears to be, but not by too much.
I could move the seat to get the COG a little further back; tried that but then my knees hit the handlebars. Since the seatback-to-pedal distance is fixed by my leg-length, there aren't many options except a different set of bars or a longer handlebar stem.
And yes, I could lose a little gut, too, moving the COG back even more ... thanks for not mentioning it.
On the other hand, moving the COG exacerbates the problem of front wheel unweighting on uphills, so there's a tradeoff here.
But you were wondering when I'd get to the left-hand front-brake argument. Americans have the front brake on the left, Brits and Australians on the right. According to Sheldon Brown, this pattern developed because it was - incorrectly - thought that the rear brake was most important, and the free-to-signal hand should be on the road side. This reasoning is written into law in Australia. (Personally, although I always signal my turns, when making a hard stop I've got both hands on the handlebars and am definitely not signaling.) Some argue on the contrary that the truly-more-important front brake should be controlled by the dominant hand.
My experience is that in a non-panic stop I am both braking and down-shifting. That means I want one hand working the shifter and the other the front brake. Since the Quest twist-shifter is inalterably on the right, the front brake should be on the left!
Billy K
I also drew lines on the photo below to check where I stood (sat?) in relation to the EU 60-degree standard: the COG should be behind a 60-degree line from the front tire patch. Well, it appears to be, but not by too much.
I could move the seat to get the COG a little further back; tried that but then my knees hit the handlebars. Since the seatback-to-pedal distance is fixed by my leg-length, there aren't many options except a different set of bars or a longer handlebar stem.
And yes, I could lose a little gut, too, moving the COG back even more ... thanks for not mentioning it.
On the other hand, moving the COG exacerbates the problem of front wheel unweighting on uphills, so there's a tradeoff here.
But you were wondering when I'd get to the left-hand front-brake argument. Americans have the front brake on the left, Brits and Australians on the right. According to Sheldon Brown, this pattern developed because it was - incorrectly - thought that the rear brake was most important, and the free-to-signal hand should be on the road side. This reasoning is written into law in Australia. (Personally, although I always signal my turns, when making a hard stop I've got both hands on the handlebars and am definitely not signaling.) Some argue on the contrary that the truly-more-important front brake should be controlled by the dominant hand.
My experience is that in a non-panic stop I am both braking and down-shifting. That means I want one hand working the shifter and the other the front brake. Since the Quest twist-shifter is inalterably on the right, the front brake should be on the left!
Billy K
I have my Mantis setup the same way my Sofrider (as John set it up). 
