Reviews

I have several dozen rides now with my Ox Brake on my ’15 Husky TE300, and I love it, I will not own another bike without a LHRB, they work that well.

This is the second LHRB I have used. My first LHRB is on my KTM and is a Rekluse hydraulic unit, which is a slightly modified (with two thick gaskets to provide more fluid capacity) Hayes mountain bike brake. That unit is an excellent LHRB when it is working correctly, but it can occasionally get an air bubble in the line (from laying the bike over, or just from brake wear together with micro fluid capacity and normal bouncing down the trail) and loose effectiveness until the bubble works itself out, or until you bleed it again. And bleeding it is a chore and can be frustrating. Bottom line is, as good as it works, it can be a little unreliable as failing once in the wrong situation can be bad when you are expecting it to work.

I’ve read reviews on both brands of LHRB, and it seems that most people tout its effectiveness for holding on a hill, engine off, with an auto clutch, or using it on right hand switchbacks, bulldogging, etcetera, and they are right. They work extremely well in all those situations, but they have more advantages than just those. If you are a mountain rider with an auto clutch and a LHRB, you’ll wonder how you got along without them all these years. I use the LHRB nearly 100% of the time, for the simple reason that with two fingers always on the lever, it is much quicker to actuate than lifting your foot up to stab the foot pedal. Much quicker! When riding down rough trails my foot is just not able to constantly hover over the brake pedal due to changing foot positions, paddling, or dabbing a foot, while my fingers are always on the lever. Either brand of LHRB is about equally effective, -as long as the hydraulic one is working correctly.

While a left hand rear brake would work on a stock bike, I don’t think you can take full advantage of it without having an auto clutch, as grabbing the clutch lever and the LHRB lever would require way more dexterity than I have. Here is my very strongly held opinion; You will never be able to take full advantage of an auto clutch without a LHRB, and vise versa. If your clutch is stock, it is easily worth installing an auto clutch (even if you really don’t need one) simply so you can install and take advantage of a left hand rear brake. If you’ve never had or used either, then you will be amazed at how much easier it is to ride everywhere with them, especially in the mountains on black diamond trails. Your overall control will improve, and your friends will think you are a much improved rider, and wonder how you can stand the bike up on an inclined switchback and take your time pivoting around the turn. ( Just be careful with that one, and practice first on flat ground! )

One caution; there is a cable bracket held to your brake slave cylinder using a hose clamp. If placed inboard of the slave cylinder, the hose clamp screw will be hit by the swing arm when the suspension compresses, so make sure to orient it so that it will clear, then safety wire it in place.

Considering that the price is about half of the Rekluse LHRB, it’s simplicity and reliable effectiveness, I strongly recommend the Ox Brake. When set up according to instructions (start by setting up your brake pedal to have 5/8 ” free play), the Ox will easily lock up the rear wheel (using two fingers), even in the best traction conditions. The cable actuated Ox is just as easy to pull as the hydraulic unit, but with a much more positive feel to it.

Happy riding.