| 202 | Italian componentry manufacturer Zipp's very successful range of very highly regarded bicycle wheels. | Zipp.com |
| 404 | Italian componentry manufacturer Zipp's most successful range of very highly regarded bicycle wheels. | Zipp.com |
| 531 | Pronounced as "five-three-one”. A steel-alloy made by Reynolds, which was the uncontested leader in frame materials until the late1960's. | Sheldon Brown |
| 600 | Shimano's second-from the top "road" series used to be called "600", which evolved into "600 Ultegra", and later "Ultegra" | Sheldon Brown |
| 753 | Pronounced as "seven-five-three”. A steel-alloy made by Reynolds, used in frame building. | Sheldon Brown |
| 853 | Pronounced as "eight-five-three”. A steel-alloy made by Reynolds, used in frame building. | Sheldon Brown |
| 1030 | “High tensile” (ordinary) steel used in lower-end bicycle frames. | Sheldon Brown |
| 4130 | Metallurgical designation for chrome-moly steel, used in bicycle frames. | Sheldon Brown |
| 4130 | Steels used in bicycle construction are commonly alloyed with chromium or manganese and molybdenum. Chromium/molybdenum or "cromoly" (CrMo) steel, also known by the numerical designation 4130 is particularly popular for high-quality bicycles | Sheldon Brown |
| 7005 | An aluminium alloy used in frame production. Pronounced 'seven oh oh five'. | Sheldon Brown |
| # 51 | A “lucky” number within the TdF which has talismanic status as Eddy Merckx, Luis Ocana, Bernard Thevenet and Bernard Hinault all won the Tour wearing it during 1969 to 1978. (No 1 has - however- won 29 times; No 2 has won 5 times). | Bicycling Magazine |
| 10 speed | A "10-speed" bicycle was originally one with five sprockets in back and two in front, making ten gear combinations possible. In the 1980’s, 6-sprocket cassettes became an industry standard and the “10-speed” became a “12-speed”. As time went on sprocket clusters with more and more gears were introduced, and gradually the usage changed to refer to just the number of sprockets (rear), disregarding the number of chainwheels (front). | Sheldon Brown |
| 180/360/540/720 - | A BMX term. Rotating / spinning the bike the number of degrees indicated, either left or right. | Wikipedia.com |
| 29er | A MTBiking term. The so-called "29 inch" tyre size is not actually a new size, it is just a new marketing term for 622 mm (700C) wheels with fat tyres. This size is probably a good option for taller riders for off-road use, compared with 559 mm (26 inch decimal) wheels. Larger diameter wheels don't sink as far into holes so they will give a better ride in rough conditions. For shorter riders, wheels this large will cause unfortunate compromises in frame geometry, so they're probably not a good option for riders of short or medium height. | Sheldon Brown |
| 3rd hand | A clamping tool to hold the brake shoes tight against the rim, used to make brake cable adjustments. | Sheldon Brown |
| 4bar | A multi-link suspension with lower rear pivots on the chain stays mamed after Horst Leitner (of Amp Bicycles) who patented a chain stay pivot location, sold to Specialized. | Mundobiker.es |
| 4th hand | A clamping tool to grab the cable when making brake adjustments. | Sheldon Brown |
| 650c | Small diameter road wheels used for very small frames and triathlon specific bikes. | Shimano.com |
| 700c | The standard diameter for road wheels. | Shimano.com |
| a bloc | A French cycling term. Riding or going "à bloc" means giving it all you've got, going all out, riding as hard as one possibly can (which can be dangerous for it leaves one in a state where recovery is needed, and therefore vulnerable to being attacked). Example: "I really gave it all in the last kilometres - I just went 'à bloc' ". | Wikipedia.com |
| Abubaca | A BMX term. Similar to a fufanu, but returning into the ramp backwards, or fakie. | Wikipedia.com |
| acorn nut | A knurled, conical nut, designed to be tightened by the fingers, which refers to the nut on the inactive end of a quick-release skewer. | Sheldon Brown |
| adaptor claw | A claw-shaped metal stamping for attaching a rear derailleur to a frame without a built-in derailleur hanger. It is secured to the dropout by a small bolt with a special-shaped nut. | Sheldon Brown |
| adjustable cup | In a conventional threaded bottom bracket the left cup is adjustable, and its position secured by a lock ring. The right cup is not adjustable (being fixed by a shoulder which presses against the side of the bottom-bracket shell). The fixed cup is screwed all the way into the bottom bracket. The bearings of a cup-and-cone bottom bracket are adjusted by screwing the adjustable cup in or out of the bottom bracket shell, and the lock ring secures its adjustment. | Sheldon Brown |
| adjusting barrel | A hollow bolt designed so that a cable can run down it’s middle, which allows fine adjustment of cable tension without requiring the use of tools. | Sheldon Brown |
| aerial | A MTBiking term. A branch of freestyle riding, mainly concerned with jumps and off-the-ground tricks. | Sheldon Brown |
| aero | Slang for aerodynamic. | Sheldon Brown |
| aero bars | Handlebars / attachments that allow the rider to assume a lower, more aerodynamic upper body position. | Sheldon Brown |
| aero brake levers | Brake levers made for drop handlebars. Aero brake levers usually have more mechanical advantage but may cause problems when they are used with cantilever or drum brakes that require more cable than conventional callipers | Sheldon Brown |
| aerobic | With oxygen' - the body's normal operating mode - glucose is broken down to form 38 ATP molecules, by burning them with oxygen fuelling muscles. The body's maximum aerobic power is limited by its cardio respatory capacity, measured in terms of the heart's stroke volume - VO2 max. | Wikipedia.com |
| aerodynamic drag | The resistance of air to the movement of an object. | Richard's Bicycle Repair Manual |
| Aheadset ® | The original Dia Compe trademark for threadless headsets. | Sheldon Brown |
| air | A BMX term. Space between the tyres and the ground. (Both tyres must be off the ground or it isn't "air".) Said to be "caught" or "gotten". Simply getting both wheels off of a ramp (and landing!) | Bicyclesource.com |
| airless tyres | Airless tyres are either made of elastomers (rubbery materials) or closed cell foams, which are rubbery materials with lots of tiny air bubbles. The better ones are foam type, because solid elastomers have hardly any shock absorbency. They are heavy, slow, give a harsh ride and poor speed cornering, but work well either where speeds are very slow, or where surfaces are very smooth. Used for indoor application, railroad trains, roller skates, furniture casters, riding toys and / or wagons. | Sheldon Brown |
| airpod | A CO2 'mini pump' - a cyclinder to fill your flat tyre. Handy. Expensive. | Everythingbicycling |
| Alexrimms™ | TheSouth African bicycling industry's standard rim, also associated with' A class 'rimms. | Everythingbicycling |
| alignment | The frame ought to be symmetrically aligned : dropouts must be parrallel, fork blades & stays parrallel to the toptube, toptube centreed between the stays, headtube parallel to the fork blades, fork blades parallel to each other, seat tube parallel to bottom bracket sides. | The Complete Book of Bicycling |
| all rounder | 1) A semi-straight style of handlebar (popular on sportier English 3-speeds). It resembles a mountain-bike bar with a slight rise, but is usually quite a bit narrower than a mountain-bike bar. 2) A person who excels in both climbing, time-trialing as well as sprinting. In stage races, an all-rounder seeks to secure a top10 place in the General Classification. Eddy Merckx, Lance Armstrong were both notable all-rounders; Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso and Alejandro Valverde are more contemporary examples. | Wikipedia.com |
| all show and no go | A not-so-good rider with a state of the art bike, and gear. | Dictionary of Roadie Slang |
| allen wrench | A solid hexagonal bar - "L" shaped for leverage - that fits into the hollow hexagonal hole of an Allen bolt head. This tool is sometimes confusingly called a "hex wrench," "Allen key" or "hex key." Allen wrenches can be easily sharpened very easily, just grind the worn part off with a bench grinder (don't let it get too hot while you are grinding i.!) | Sheldon Brown |
| alloy | A metal resulting from a blend of more than one kind of metal. Often a synonym for aluminium, or "ali". | Sheldon Brown |
| Alpe d’Huez. | Alpe d'Huez is the most famous & legendary mountain climb in the Tour de France. While the tour route varies from year to year, l'Alpe d'Huez has hosted a stage finish almost every year since 1976.The climb up Alpe d'Huez is 13.8 km at an average gradient of 8.1% with 21 hairpin bends marked with panels honouring the winners of each stage that has finished there. The Alpe has been the scene of chaotic crowds in the past 10 years. In 1999 Giuseppe Guerini won the stage despite being knocked off his bike by an over- enthusiastic spectator who stepped into his path to take a photograph (the photographer later apologized). Alpe d'Huez is also known as the "Dutch Mountain", a Dutchman having won there 8 of the first 14 finishes. Approximately one of out every three fans on the mountain is from the Netherlands. | Wikipedia.com |
| alpine gearing | Originally this term applied to any gear system that provided a very low chainring. The term was also used for a shift pattern that had a very low gear that was a big jump down from the main cruising gears. In the early '70's advertisers co-opted the term "alpine" and started to apply it to the 40/52-14/28 set-ups common on mass-produced 10-speeds, and the term became essentially meaningless. | Sheldon Brown |
| alternate cable routing | Shimano originally suggested & publicised this as a way to make older Dura-Ace shifters work with newer Shimano derailleurs. It is also useful to make the derailleur move slightly farther than its intended settings, such as when you wanted to use a 9-speed cassette with 10 speed shifters, or 8-speed cassette with 9-speed shifters, or a 7-speed cluster with 8-speed shifters. | Sheldon Brown |
| aluminium | A light metal alloy that does not rust and weighs 1/3 of a similar volume of steel. It is one of several materials that are quite suitable for bicycle construction. On virtually all quality bicycles aluminium is used for cranks, chainweels, rims, handlebars, stems, brake - and derailleur parts. Also refered to as "aluminum". Unlike steel and titanium, aluminium has no fatigue limit, and each stress impact causes weakening and eventual failure. Aluminium frames have a usefull life as "enough" aluminium is incorprated to ensure its long term safety. | Sheldon Brown |
| Amashovashova | An annual point to point metric century cycling event between Pietermaritzburg and Durban, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa. Held during October. | Everythingbicycling |
| american standard | A series of dimensions that are used to maintain parts’ interchangeability among most American bicycle manufacturers. For instance, pedals on a Huffy will fit a Murray. Interestingly, many Schwinn parts do not adhere to the American Standard. Schwinn cranks use 26 threads per inch (TPI) while the American standard dictates 24 TPI. | Bikewebsite.com |
| Amstel Gold Race | The largest cycling event in the Netherlands, held at Valkenburg aan de Geul the day prior to the professional peloton riding the Tour version 250km Amstel Gold Race. Part of the UCI Golden Bike series, described as intermediately difficulty for very fit riders, with riding options / loops between 50km to 250km. (Held annually in April.) | Wikipedia.com |
| anaerobic | Anaerobic means 'without oxygen' and refers to the energy exchange in living tissue that is independent of oxygen. Anaerobic exercise is brief, high intensity activity where anaerobic metabolism is taking place in muscles. During extended periods of exercise aerobic metabolism supplies the bulk of the energy and the exercise is termed aerobic exercisea power mode activated when high output levels are required, in two forms. i) Creatine phosphate stored in muscles can provide up to a 15 second burst maximum energy, and recovered within 3 minutes after being depleted. ii) Lactic acid can supply energy for up to 2 minutes, and is provided by glucose having been broken down without oxygen, creating an excess of lactic acid providing 2 ATP molecules. | Wikipedia.com |
| anaerobic threshold | (AT). The exertion level beyond which the body can no longer produce energy aerobically, resulting in the buildup of lactic acid. This is marked by muscle fatigue, pain and shallow, rapid breathing. Also called lactic threshold (LT). It is the exercise intensity at which lactate starts to accumulate in the blood stream, and happens when it is produced faster than it can be removed (metabolized). This point is sometimes referred to as the onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA). When exercising below the AT intensity any lactate produced by the muscles is removed by the body without it building up. | Wikipedia.com |
| anatomic | A marketing term used to describe a bicycle part that is purported to be better fitted to the cyclists' anatomy than other designs. The term has specific customary meanings in the bicycle industry. Anatomic saddles are those with two bumps and a valley between at the rear. This design is usually associated with Avocet, but has been widely copied since. Anatomic brake lever hoods are specifically shaped to fit left and right hands. This design was popularized by Modolo. Anatomic handlebars are drop bars that have straight sections to fit the hands, particularly just below the brake levers. | Sheldon Brown |
| anchor | Your child, or children (anchors) that keep(s) you from riding. "Wait till you anchors grow up, you'll have road rash for breakfast and prunes for dinner!" To be used as an endearing phrase. | Bicyclesource.com |
| anchor bolt | A bolt that clamps down on the plain end of a cable to hold it in place. Many anchor bolts have a hole drilled crosswise through them for the cable to go through, then a nut and washer clamp down on the cable, or use special washers to clamp cables (that run just to the side of the anchor bolt). | Sheldon Brown |
| ankling | Older cycling advocates recommended the practice of "ankling" which refers to changing the angle of the foot (fairly drastically) during the course of the pedal stroke. The toe is pointed upward at the top of the stroke, and downward at the bottom, folowing through nearly 360degrees of pedal arc. The idea is to make more use of the muscles of the lower leg. This practice has been discredited, and & if carried to an extreme can cause injury. | Sheldon Brown |
| ano | Often misspelled abbreviation for "anodized". | Bicyclesource.com |
| anodized / anodising | Anodizing is an electroplating process commonly performed on aluminum parts which forms a thin protective film on the surface of the metal. Anodizing is sometimes accompanied by the use of a colored dye, which gives a lustrous colored finish to the aluminum parts. Some rims are "hard" anodized, which produces a hard surface, harder than the natural aluminum, usually in a dark brown or black. This process was popular in the 1980s, as it was presumed to improve the durability of the rim's braking surface, and to make the rim more resistant to cracking around the spoke holes. Unfortunately, the anodized braking surfaces did not provide as good a grip as natural aluminum, and they presented an unsightly appearance as the dark coating wore off of the sides of the rim. Even more unfortunately, it developed that the harder surface was also more brittle, causing more cracking around the spoke holes. | Sheldon Brown |
| ANSI | A retracted bicycle helmet standard set by the American National Standards Institute. ANSI-1984 is less strict than any current standard. | Bicyclesource.com |
| anti-rotation washer | Internal gear hubs use the axle as a fulcrum for the gearing, which tends to apply a twisting force to the axle, which in turn reverses direction in some gears. Such hubs need a method of keeping the axle from rotating within the frame. The most common approach is to use special washers with tabs that fit into the dropout's slot and keep the axle from turning. The 14 speed "Rohloff Speedhub" has such a wide gear range that simple anti-rotation washers aren't sufficient, and they either use a reaction arm, a special dropout, or a fork connecting to a disc brake braze-on. | Sheldon Brown |
| apex | The apex is the middle or sharpest point of a curve / the sharpest part of a turn where the transition from entering to exiting (the turn) takes place. To plan your line around a bend - to touch the inside of the lane at the apex - start and leave the turn at the outside of the lane, which 'flattens' the required curve at the apex, increasing your speed. | Bicyclesource.com |
| arch (brake) | An incorrect term for the calliper / set of cantilevers that press against the wheel rim. Since an "arch" is a rigid structure, it is a poor choice to describe a moving part. The term "brake arch" does legitimately apply to the part of a suspension fork that links the sliders and contains the cable housing stop. | Sheldon Brown |
| ardoisier | A French cycling term.The guy who sits on the pinion seat of a motorcycle with a small chalkboard on which he gives information to the riders in a breakaway about the time gap to the chasers. | University of Toronto |
| arrivée | A French cycling term.The finish line. | University of Toronto |
| Ashtabula ® | A one-piece crank. Ashtabula is a city in Ohio where such cranks were formerly made, by a company of the same name. | Sheldon Brown |
| ASTM | A bicycle helmet standard set by the American Society for Testing and Materials. The most frequently used helmet standard, is a bit watered down compared to Snell B-95 and many international standards | Bicyclesource.com |
| AT | An acronym for 'Anaerobic Threshold'. The exertion level beyond which the body can no longer produce energy aerobically, resulting in the buildup of lactic acid. This is marked by muscle fatigue, pain and shallow, rapid breathing. Also called lactic threshold (LT).The exertion level beyond which the body can no longer produce energy aerobically, resulting in the buildup of lactic acid. This is marked by muscle fatigue, pain and shallow, rapid breathing. Also called lactic threshold (LT). It is the exercise intensity at which lactate starts to accumulate in the blood stream, and happens when it is produced faster than it can be removed (metabolized). This point is sometimes referred to as the onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA). When exercising below the AT intensity any lactate produced by the muscles is removed by the body without it building up. | TheHubSA.co.za |
| ATB | An abbreviation for 'All-Terrain Bike / Biking" - a synonym for MTB. | Bicyclesource.com |
| ATL | An acronym for 'Acute Training Load'. It is a default measure of your training stress over the past 7 days used in powertraining. ATL = fatigue ( the accumulated training you have done recently). ATL tends to respond rapidly, showing its effect in the short term. | TheHubSA.co.za |
| attack | An expression. To quickly accelerate from riding in a peloton or with other rider/s, with a view to create a gap between yourself and such other/ An aggressive accellerationtaken to open a lead on other riders. | The Complete Book of Bicycling |
| audax | A French cycling term. A structured style of club riding popular in parts of Europe. Audax clubs ride in precise unison formation ( usually a double pace line, at a fixed speed (18 – 22 km/h?)) with a set schedule of rest stops "by the clock." Riders do not take turns "pulling" as with normal pace lines, but a pair of designated, strong riders are permanently stationed at the front of the peloton. | Sheldon Brown |
| auger | To involuntarily take samples of the local geology - usually with one's face - during a crash. | Bicyclesource.com |
| autobus | A group of riders in a stage race (typically non-climbers and suffering domestiques) who ride together as a group on the mountain stages, with the clear intention of finishing within the stage's time limit. | Wikipedia.com |
| Avocet ® | "Avocet" is pronounced "A-vo-cette" and it is a prominent U.S. maker / importer of parts and accessories. Avocet is best known for cyclecomputers, tyres and saddles. The Avocet 20 cyclecomputer was the first to sell for less than $40. Unfortunately it was widely advertised with a price of $24.95 for almost two years before it was actually ready to ship. This did great harm to the development of the cyclecomputer market for a couple of years. Avocet was the first to market tyres with perfectly smooth tread for road use. Avocet's first claim to fame was its saddles, which were the first serious alternative to traditional leather saddles, and they were the first to use the "two-bump" design to reduce pressure on the perineum. | Sheldon Brown |
| axle | The shaft upon which a rotating object is mounted. Technically, an axle turns with the object on which is it mounted, and shaft which does not turn with the rotating object it holds is a "spindle". These terms are often reversed in bicycle nomenclature, as for instance we have a bottom bracket spindle, and the wheels are mounted on an axle. | Bikewebsite.com |
| axle set | A hub's axle plus the cones, nuts and washers that attach to it. | Sheldon Brown |
| baby heads | A MTBiking term. Small boulders about the size of a baby's head. | Bicyclesource.com |
| backbar | A shorter, more normal version of a Sissy bar. Backbars and sissy bars were used to hold up banana seats - long seats popular on children's bikes of the 1970s | Bikewebsite.com |
| Backflip | A BMX term. Rotating the bike 360 degrees on the vertical axis, backwards. | Wikipedia.com |
| back-pedal brake | British term for a coaster brake. | Sheldon Brown |
| bacon | A MTBiking term. Scabs on a rider's knees, elbows, or other body parts. | Bicyclesource.com |
| bagger | A MTBiking term. A person that habitually "bags" out -also known as a loser. | Bicyclesource.com |
| bagging a peak | A MTBiking term. Making it to the summit of a mountain. | Bicyclesource.com |
| bagging out | A MTBiking term. Canceling a ride for something other than a death in the family. | Bicyclesource.com |
| bail | A MTBiking term. To 1) jump off in order to avoid an imminent crash, or 2) to give up on a ride | Bicyclesource.com |
| ball bearing | A ball bearing is a type of bearing in which the turning part is connected to the non-turning part only by balls that roll between the two parts. Ball bearings are used in bicycle bottom brackets, freewheels, headsets, hubs, and occasionally in derailleur pulleys and brake calipers. | Sheldon Brown |
| ball race | the ballbearing assembly in the headset, biottom bracket or wheel hubs are often configured in a cylindrical 'ball bearing race' / unit. | Sheldon Brown |
| balloon tyre | A wide, low-pressure tyre, typically 2.125" (54 mm) wide. The development of balloon tyres and "streamlined", curved-tube frames created a mini bike boom in the 1940's. These bikes are rather indistinguishable from modern cruisers, and were the ancestors of the mountain bike, which was built around the popular sized balloon tyres. | Sheldon Brown |
| banana seat | A long seat popular on children's bikes of the 1970's. The banana seat is so long that a seat clamp would not be able to keep it level, and required an additional backbar or sissy bar for support. | Bikewebsite.com |
| BAR | A unit of pressure, equal to the' normal' air pressure at sea level, 14.5 PSI / 100 KPa. | Sheldon Brown |
| bar ends | Handlebar extensions which mount on the ends of a straight-ish mountain-bike style handlebar, which aims to provide extra hand positions. | Sheldon Brown |
| Barcons ® | Sun Tour's trademark for derailleur shiftlevers which mount in the ends of (usually) drop handlebars, replacing the normal end plugs. More formally known as "handlebar-end shifters" or "bar-end shifters," but not as "bar ends." | Sheldon Brown |
| bars | On mountain bikes, a technologically backward straight pipe that was otherwise discarded as obsolete in the 19th century. For road bikes, a refined component which promotes aerodynamics, body geometry, muscle teamwork, stability, and comfort. | Bicyclesource.com |
| Barspin | A BMX term. Spinning the bars 360 degrees while letting go of them. | Wikipedia.com |
| basecamp rides | A MTBiking term. Setting up camp and using it as the start and finish of tours. | Bicyclesource.com |
| Bassworm ® | A form of "helper spring" for rear derailleurs. This is a fitting that slips over the rear derailleur cable just in front of where it disappears into the final loop of housing that leads to the derailleur. It includes a length of rubber tubing. The cable runs down the middle of this tubing, and a setscrew clamps one end of the tubing to the cable. This serves two purposes: It completely seals this vulnerable entry point against debris thrown up by the front tyre. The rubber tubing acts as a "helper spring" to retract the cable smartly when upshifting. This can provide better upshifting on any bike that has a problem in that area due to excessive friction or a derailleur with a weak spring. | Sheldon Brown |
| BBAR | “Best British All Rounder” - a season long time trial competition held in the UK. | Bikewebsite.com |
| BCD | The bolt circle diameter refers to the circle formed by the stack bolts on a crank set. Standard double chainwheel sets use 130 mm or 110 mm diameters. Modern triple chainwheel sets have two diameters, a large one for the two outer chainrings, and a smaller diameter, with a separate set of bolts, for the granny ring. Full-size triples usually use 110mm/74 mm, or 130mm/74 mm for newer "road triples." Campagnolo uses 135mm/74 mm. Compact triples commonly use 94mm/58 mm. "C-C" is the distance between adjacent stack bolts. This is easier to measure directly than the actual bolt circle diameter. | Sheldon Brown |
| bead | A steel cable hoop that forms one edge of a tyre. Sometimes made of Kevlar allowing a moderate weightsaving and foldability. | Sheldon Brown |
| bearing | A 'bearing' collectively refers to the assembly housing the point of contact between a turning part and a non-turning part. A good bearing / bearing assembly has little or no play, and as little friction as possible. Major bearings on a bicycle are the headset, the bottom bracket and the hubs. There are also bearings in brakes, pedals and freewheels. Bearings used in bicycles are usually of the cup-and-cone type, but many newer bicycles use cartridge bearings. | Sheldon Brown |
| bearing ball | A steel ball forming part of a ball bearing assembly. Most front hubs use 10 3/16" balls on each side, most rear hubs use 9 1/4" balls on each side. Most bottom brackets use 11 1/4" balls on each side. Bearing balls are made in batches, and within a batch the size is very carefully controlled. From one batch to another, however, there can be a considerable variation in actual size of balls of the same nominal size. For this reason, balls from different batches should never be mixed in the same bearing. Bearing balls come in several quality grades, designated by numbers. Grade 25 is the best that is available for bicycle applications, but grades 100, 200, even 300 are also commonly used in bicycles. | Sheldon Brown |
Cycling Terms 
