Hyperglide ™ | Shimano - speak (transmission componentry). Freewheel cogs with small "ramps" cut into the sides of the cogs which tend to pull the chain more quickly to the next larger cog when shifting. A Shimano term for a matched set of rear cogs that shift smoothly due to special ramps that allow the chain to engage the next cog before it has completely disengaged the previous cog. | Bicyclesource.com |
Icepick | A BMX term. Stalling at the top of the ramp with only the rear peg, while holding the nose in the air. | Wikipedia.com |
| Icepick Grind | A BMX term. Grinding balanced only on the rear peg, with the front of the bike held in the air. | Wikipedia.com |
| idiot lever | A MTBiking term. The gimmicky brake assist lever - found on some older road bikes - which allow the rider to brake with his hands on top of the bars, rather than on the drops. For powerful braking the stability, steering, and weight distribution that comes from using the drops is essential. | Bicyclesource.com |
| idler / idler pulley | An idler is a pulley or roller that does neither produce any mechanical advantage, nor transmit power to a shaft. Idlers are used to lead a chain around a bend (as in short wheel base recumbents), or to take up slack in a drive chain (as in a tandem chain tensioner, or the pulleys in a derailleur.) A pulley tensioned, designed to take up slack in a chain; on bicycles known as a 'jockey wheel'. | Sheldon Brown & Johan Bornman |
| IG™ | Interactive Glide is an extension of Hyperglide, in which both sides of the sprockets are contoured to improve upshifting. I.G. sprockets are slightly thicker than Hyperglide ones, and some Shimano Hyperglide chains may hang up if used on an I.G. cassette. The slightly wider I.G. chains work on either type, as do SRAM chains. | Sheldon Brown |
| IHPVA | The 'International Human Powered Vehicle Association' - an association created in 1974 to provide official recognition for speed records set on radically altered bicycles, hosting colourfull events. | The Complete Book of Bicycling. |
| IMBA | A MTBiking term. International Mountain Biking Association. An organization for trail advocacy. | Bicyclesource.com |
| impedimentia | A MTBiking term. All the junk on a bike that impeeds performance and looks bad. | Bicyclesource.com |
| indexed shifting | Indexed shifting means that the shift control has positive detents or click stops that provide discrete positions corresponding to different gears. Pioneered and popularized by Shimano, index shifting refers to a system where the shifter has a singular, distinct position for each gear choice. | Sheldon Brown |
internal gearing | A gear system in which the gear shifting mechanism is built into the hub of the rear wheel usually by the use of planetary gears. The most widely known form of internal gearing is the three-speed utility bicycle. 4-and 5-speed hubs have also been available for many years, but have been out of fashion since the early '70's bike boom. Shimano, Sachs and Sturmey-Archer have started marketing 7 - and 8-speed hubs and Rohloff offers a 14 speed model. Internal gearing is usually heavier and more expensive than derailleur gearing. Bicycles with internal gearing usually have fewer speeds than comparable bicycles with derailleur gears, and the mechanical efficiency is less with internal gearing. Internal gears are generally more reliable than derailleur gears, especially for bicycles that are used in wet or dirty conditions, because the gear mechanism is contained out of harms way. The great advantage of internal gears is that they can be shifted even when the bicycle is at a stop which makes them particularly suitable for use in stop-and-go city traffic. Not all internal gears are built into the rear hub, there are also models that are built into the bottom bracket. | Sheldon Brown |
| interrupter brake levers | Secondary brake levers that "interrupt" the cable housings used with "aero" brake levers on drop handlebars. These allow the rider to brake while holding on to the top/middle section of the drop handlebar. Instead of pulling on the inner cable, interrupter levers activate the brakes by pushing on the cable housing. These are an updated version of the extension levers popular in the late '70s, without the drawbacks of the older designs. This style of brake lever was first popularised by cyclocross riders, with the result that they're sometimes known as "cross levers" or "cyclocross levers" but there is actually nothing about them that makes them more suitable for cyclocross bicycles than for any other drop bar application. | Sheldon Brown |
| inverted thread | An "inverted tread" is like the tread of most car tyres, where the tread area may be visualized as a solid mass of rubber with grooves cut into it. "Knobby" tread would be seen as a tyre with thin rubber over the casing, but with knobs stuck on here and there. Since tyres are made by moulding, not by cutting or sticking tread features on, this distinction is somewhat theoretical, and some tyres have characteristics of both types. "Inverted" tread tyres typically have a more continuous contact area with the riding surface, so they give a smoother ride than knobby treads do. They can also give a better grip on loose, uneven surfaces than smooth tyres do. They are mainly used as a compromise on- off- road tyre. They don't grip as well in sand and mud as serious knobbies, and they are heavier and have more rolling resistance than smooth tyres intended for paved surfaces. | Sheldon Brown |
| involuntary dismount | A crash. | Bicyclesource.com |
| Italian standard | An old set of dimensions which were used to ensure parts interchangeability among all manufactures following the Italian Standard. For instance, pedals from a Bottecchia will fit cranks on a Mondia. Unlike American, English and French standards that use threads with a sixty degree angle, the Italian standard uses 55 degrees. See also Schwinn. | Sheldon Brown |
| jam | A period of hard pedalling. | The Complete Book of Bicycling |
| jam nut | A thin lock nut. | Sheldon Brown |
| Jersey de Oro | The Vuelta a Espana's leader / winner's golden jersey. | Wikipedia.com |
| jockey pulley | The upper pulley on a rear derailleur. This is the pulley that actually guides the chain from one sprocket to another. Shimano jockey pulleys are designed with a "Centreon®" mechanism that allows a small amount of sideward motion to compensate for imprecise index adjustment. | Sheldon Brown |
| John Tomac | A MTBiking term. One of the greatest ever and certainly mountain biking's biggest star. He's won every major race at least once. | Bicyclesource.com |
| JRA | A MTBiking term. Abbreviation for the Just Riding Along syndrome (and then the bike spontaneously exploded). A claim that can be viewed as highly suspect. | Bicyclesource.com |
| Juli Furtado | A MTBiking term. The toughest, most fit rider on earth who had a remarkable two-year winning streak until 1995. A former Olympic-level ski racer who blew out her knees and reinvented herself as an off-road pro. Rides for Team GT. "Cursed" in the world championships : despite her skills, she's never won. | Bicyclesource.com |
| jump | A MTBiking term. Where we now say bunny hop, BMXers used to say "jump". | Bicyclesource.com |
| jumping the bike | A MTBiking term. A usefull circus act, by lifting the frontwheel and then 'kicking' the rear wheel over an obstacle by throwing your weight around on the bike. | |
| junker | A bicycle of little apparent value. Sometimes junkers are actually functionally excellent, just not stylish or new. Many commuters prefer junkers because they are less prone to theft. | Sheldon Brown |
| kack | A MTBiking term. An injury to the shin received while doing trials, a kack can be the result of any injury receive during technical riding. | Bicyclesource.com |
| keel tube | The large tube at the bottom of a tandem frame that runs between the two bottom brackets. Also known as "boom tube." | Sheldon Brown |
| keirin | A popular Japanese form of track racing. Keirin races are partially paced by motorcycles. | Sheldon Brown |
| key | In British usage, "key" is often used as a synonym for what an American would call a wrench. Even in the U.S., the term "Allen key" is sometimes used for an Allen wrench . | Sheldon Brown |
| keyed washer | A keyed washer is a washer with a special-shaped hole that fits over a special shaft. It can slide, but not turn. The usual set up is to have a groove in the axle or shaft, and a washer's hole will have a small tang that fits into the groove. This is almost always used in headset and pedal bearings. It used to be common in hub bearings as well, but has fallen out of favour for that application. Another type of keyed washer fits a shaft that is round but has one (or more) flat side(s). French forks usually use this system, with a simple filed flat on the back of the steerer. | Sheldon Brown |
| kickback | A MTBiking term. The tendency for the cranks to rotate backward due to an increasing chain length as the suspension compresses (due to e.g.hitting a bump ).See “Feedback”. | mundobiker.es |
| kickback hub | A two speed coaster brake hub, which switches between its two gears each time the brake is applied. The advantage of this system is that it doesn't require any hand controls or cables. They were formerly made by Bendix and Sachs, and were popular on folding bicycles and inexpensive tandems, but are not currently in production. | Sheldon Brown |
| kicker | A MTBiking term. A steep section of road or trail. | Bicyclesource.com |
| kick-out | A MTBiking term. A bunny hop in which the rider pushes the back tyre to one side. | Bicyclesource.com |
| kickstand | A prop for holding a bicycle upright when it is parked. They are called kickstands because they are operated by the foot. Unreliable. | Sheldon Brown |
| kidback | An adjustable "bottom bracket" which clamps on to the rear seat tube of a tandem to permit a child ("stokid") who cannot reach the normal stoker pedals to pedal. | Sheldon Brown |
| King of the Mountains | A points based 'competition within a competition' / race within a race. The King of the mountains is the rider who excells within the climbing-stages of a race, having earned the title in earning points based on his performance during the race. In the Tour de France the leader of the king of the mountains is identified by the polka dot jersey . | Daniel Coyle |
| kit | A set of all the parts needed to turn a frame into a ready-to-ride bicycle. See "group." | Sheldon Brown |
| kite | A rider who specialises in riding uphill quickly, which ability is usually due to having a high power-to-weight ratio. | |
| klingon | A wheelsucker. Term popular with tandemists, generally refers to solo cyclists who draft behind a tandem. | Sheldon Brown |
| knobbly | Also 'Knoblys'. A wide tyre with an "aggressive" tread pattern, that is, one with knobs or bumps of various shapes, designed to dig into soft surfaces for better traction (such as mud, gravel, snow, and dirt) . | Sheldon Brown |
| knurled | A MTBiking term. A pattern stamped onto the sides of some steel rims to improve the braking surface. | Bicyclesource.com |
| KOPS | (Knee Over Pedal Spindle). This refers to a popular fitting theory that states: When the cranks are horizontal, a plumb line straight down from the front of the rider's front knee should intersect the spindle of the pedal achieved by adjusting the position of the saddle. This approach is quite popular but it is by no means clear that this is always a good setup for general cycling. | Sheldon Brown |
| ksyrium™ | Top of the range rimms made by Mavic. | Mavic |
| la course en tête | A French cycling term. To lead the Tour from start to finish. The ultimate domination of the Tour (Jacques Anquetil – 1961). | University of Toronto |
| La Doyenne | A cycling race :Liege-Bastiogne-Liege (Belgium) is the oldest road race, and was 1st held in 1892 as an amateur event - a monument of cycling. | Wikipedia.com |
| La Grande Boucle | "Le Tour de France" (Tour of France) is often referred to as "La Grande Boucle", "Le Tour" or "The Tour" and is the most famous and prestigious road bicycle race in the world. With the exception of the war years, it has been held annually since 1903. The race is based upon a long-distance stage race competition for professional cycling teams, riding through France and other countries, over three weeks, annually over July. The overall winner is the individual who finishes in the least accumulated time. The Tour is generally accepted as cycling's premier event, and possibly constitutes the "hardest sporting event on the planet" as no other event demands so much aerobic effort day after day, for three weeks, over 3 500km. | Wikipedia.com |
| La Primavera | "The Spring" - Italian. The 1st true classic of the professional cycling calendar, also known as Milan-Sanremo - a monument of cycling. | Wikipedia.com |
| lace the wheels | To affix the spokes into a wheel. | The Complete Book of Bicycling |
| lâcher | A French cycling term. To 'drop' or 'let go'. To break away from the peloton / attack. | University of Toronto |
| lactate 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 anaerobic threshold (AT). | Sheldon Brown |
| lactic acid | A substance formed during anaerobic metabolism when there is incomplete breakdown of glucose. It rapidly produces muscle fatigue and pain. Also called lactate. | Sheldon Brown |
| lady's bicycle | In the Victorian era, when the bicycle had its first popularity, women were forced to wear long skirts, which prevented them from riding conventional diamond-frame bicycles. This led to the development of the "lady's bicycle" which eliminated the top tube from the frame, adding a second down tube for strength. | Sheldon Brown |
| lanterne rouge | A French cycling term, referring to a red lantern found at the end of a train. The rider in last place on the Classement Generale. The lanterne rouge is often rewarded with substantial appearance fees at the various post-tour criterium races. | University of Toronto |
| large | A MTBiking term. Synonym for high. e.g. "You can get some seriously large air off that jump." | Bicyclesource.com |
| l'Ariegeoise | This mountaineous course crosses 4 mountain passes (the Ariege valleys) - the Port de Lers, Agness Pass, Latrape Pass and Port pass - and constitutes a gruelling 166.5km with a 3625m climb, or 108.2 km with 2193 climb, or 71.6km with a 632m climb, respectively. This event forms part of the UCI Golden Bike Series, and is held in June. | Wikipedia.com |
| laughing group | Riders who collect together in a road race just concerned with making it to the finish "in the time" so as not to be disqualified or "swept up". Members of the laughing group are not concerned with contesting the finish. | Sheldon Brown |
| LBS | Acronym - local bike shop. | Sheldon Brown |
| le sprint | A French cycling term. A mad dash for the finish line or some other designated point on the stage. Some of the most exciting moments of the Tour are the mass sprints that conclude many of the flatter stages in the first week of the Tour. | University of Toronto |
| Le Tour | A French cycling term. "Le Tour de France" (Tour of France) is often referred to as "La Grande Boucle", "Le Tour" or "The Tour" and is the most famous and prestigious road bicycle race in the world. With the exception of the war years, it has been held annually since 1903. The race is based upon a long-distance stage race competition for professional cycling teams, riding through France and other countries, over three weeks, annually over July. The overall winner is the individual who finishes in the least accumulated time. The Tour is generally accepted as cycling's premier event, and possibly constitutes the "hardest sporting event on the planet" as no other event demands so much aerobic effort day after day, for three weeks, over 3 500km. | Wikipedia.com |
| lead out | A race tactic in which a rider accelerates to his maximum speed for the benefit of a teammate in tow. The second rider then leaves the draft and sprints past at even greater speed near the finish line, or a powerful rider is often 'led out' by teammates in order to lauch the sprinter from their slipstream. | Sheldon Brown |
| Leaugue of American Wheelmen | LAW : A group of American cyclists formed the league, in 1880, in newport, Rhode Island. During its heyday it was an organisation with notable social standing, which politicians could not ignore. | The Complete Book of Bicycling. |
| l'Enfer du Nord | The French held Paris-Roubaix race is also known as the 'Hell of the North', and constitutes the most prestigious Monument of cycling - the queen of the classics. It is a one day race held in April, featuring cobblestones, rain, and thousands of fans. | Wikipedia.com |
| let go | i) To let go a rider or break is allowing a rider(s) to attack and not responding even if one has the capability to follow the attacking move. This is done for tactical reasons .Can be applied in the plural. "the peloton let the break go" ii) To let go the wheels is to not be able to "hold a wheel" unable to follow the pace. "He let the wheels go" or "let go the wheel" the difference is the use of wheel rather than the rider or riders. if you let a rider or a break go you do so voluntarily. To let go a wheel is involuntary but has slightly derogatory edge in that the rider "let the wheels go" before he was pushed to his absolute limit, to be "dropped" (subtle). | Sheldon Brown |
| Levitator | A BMX term. Grinding on just the pedal, with the crankarm vertical, thus making the bike appear to levitate a few inches above the ledge. | Wikipedia.com |
| Liege-Bastogne-Liege | Belgium - the oldest race, 1st held in 1892 as an amateur event - a monument of cycling. Also called La Doyenne. | Daniel Coyle |
| Ligget, Phil | Phil Liggett (born 1943) (the "Voice of the Tour de France") is the most popular English-speaking international cycling commentator. A former amateur cyclist who turned to sports journalism (having declined a professional contract in 1967), Liggett initially wrote for Cycling magazine and moved on to freelance for The Guardian and The Observer. At age 29, Liggett became the youngest ever UCI International Commissaire. Liggett is one of few sports journalists to work for the "Big Three" networks (ABC, CBS, & NBC), and was appointed Cycle Sport magazine's international editor ('97). His involvement in cycling led to him becoming vice president of the Association Internationale Organisateurs des Course Cycliste. For the ten years leading up to Jan 2007, Liggett was president of the Cyclists' Touring Club (Britain's national body). Liggett has written several books on cycle racing, scripted & hosted an Emmy award winning prgram on the Paris Roubaix classic, and spends most of his leisure time in South Africa (where he has a house in the Southern Cape's Gordon's Bay). Ligget's poetic comments are affectionately referred to as 'Liggetisms', of which a bundle has been published. | Wikipedia.com |
| Liggetisms | Phil Liggett (born 1943) (the "Voice of the Tour de France") is the most popular English-speaking international cycling commentator. A former amateur cyclist who turned to sports journalism (having declined a professional contract in 1967), Liggett initially wrote for Cycling magazine and moved on to freelance for The Guardian and The Observer. At age 29, Liggett became the youngest ever UCI International Commissaire. Liggett is one of few sports journalists to work for the "Big Three" networks (ABC, CBS, & NBC), and was appointed Cycle Sport magazine's international editor ('97). His involvement in cycling led to him becoming vice president of the Association Internationale Organisateurs des Course Cycliste. For the ten years leading up to Jan 2007, Liggett was president of the Cyclists' Touring Club (Britain's national body). Liggett has written several books on cycle racing, scripted & hosted an Emmy award winning prgram on the Paris Roubaix classic, and spends most of his leisure time in South Africa (where he has a house in the Southern Cape's Gordon's Bay). Ligget's poetic comments are affectionately referred to as 'Liggetisms', of which a bundle has been published. | Wikipedia.com |
| limit screw | The limit stops are two screws that set the limits of how far the derailleur can move from left to right. A derailleur has two limit screws. One limits how far the derailleur can move toward the largest sprocket, and the other controls the maximum movement toward the smallest sprocket. If a limit screw is too loose, the chain can fall off the sprocket when shifted. If too tight, it will not engage the sprocket, or will engage slowly. They are usually located on the back of the parallelogram, sometimes they face outward to the bicycle's right. The ends of the screws bump into internal parts of the parallelogram when the derailleur has moved all the way in the direction controlled by that screw. Synonym: Adjusting screw. | Sheldon Brown |
| linear pull brake | Another term for a direct-pull brake. | Sheldon Brown |
| lock nut | A nut that is tightened against another nut to keep it from loosening up. Often, but not always, there will be a key washer between the lock nut and the cone or other part it secures. Lock nuts are used to secure bearing adjustment of most hubs, headsets, pedals and sidepull brakes. Most hubs use lock nuts to secure the cones so that they will stay in adjustment. These lock nuts are the outermost parts which are screwed onto the axle, and their outer surfaces press against the insides of the fork ends of the frame. The lock nuts are therefore the reference point by which axle width and dishing are measured. | Sheldon Brown |
| lock ring | A thin lock nut used to keep threaded assembly from coming unscrewed. Conventional bottom brackets use a lock ring on the adjustable cup to make it hold its adjustment. Hyperglide cassettes and freewheels use a splined lockring to hold the sprockets to the body. Fixed-gear hubs use a left (reverse) threaded lock ring to keep the sprocket from unscrewing when the cyclist resists the motion of the pedals. | Sheldon Brown |
| lockout | With front forks this is used to make the fork rigid for better out of the saddle sprinting, extended climbing, or plain roadwork. In rear suspension this is used to counteract the pedal induced bounce is inherent in such mechanisms, albeit that better suspensions have built in counter measures for this effect which do not require a manual lockout, and includes an AUTO LOCKOUT locked out to maximize pedalling efficiency until there is bump input at the wheel, at which point it will become fully active. | Sheldon Brown |
| lockring spanner | Handy tool for bike maintenance. | Richard's bicycle repair manual |
| Lookback | A BMX term. Similar to the turndown, except the bike is horizontal and the rider is facing backwards. | Wikipedia.com |
| loop trip | A MTBiking term. A ride that forms a loop requiring no backtracking. | Bicyclesource.com |
| low gear | A low gear is one in which the pedals move rapidly compared to the speed of the wheels, and is achieved by using small chainwheels and large rear sprockets. | Sheldon Brown |
| low normal / high normal | Modern derailleurs are spring loaded, pulled one way by the spring and the other way by the control cable. A "low-normal" derailleur is one in which the spring pulls it toward the lower gear(s). If you release the tension on the cable, it will shift to the lowest gear. Up until the late 1950s, all spring-loaded derailleurs were low-normal type. When Campagnolo introduced the parallelogram-type rear derailleur, they changed to high-normal, and most rear derailleurs made since then have been of the high-normal type. | Sheldon Brown |
| low profile cranks | Traditional cranks run roughly parallel to the bicycle's centreline from the bottom bracket to the pedal. Most newer cranks use the "low profile" design, where the bottom bracket is made shorter, and the crank runs outward at an angle from bottom bracket to pedal. This gives improved heel clearance for riders who tend to pedal splay footed. Note: The fact that a crank is "low profile" says nothing about its tread width (a.k.a. "Q factor.") In fact most "low profile" cranks have fairly wide tread, but this has nothing to do with the "low profile design. The trend toward wider tread resulted from the wider chainstays introduced with mountain bicycles, and also the additional clearance required to keep the right crank from rubbing against the cage of the front derailleur (newer front derailleurs optimised for triple chainwheels require more crank clearance than older front derailleurs did.) | Sheldon Brown |
| low-normal | Low-normal rear derailleurs for mountain bikes are manufactured by Shimano (introduced in 2004 in the XT and XTR gruppo's ) maintain position over the largest cog on the cassette when no cable tension is applied. From a user interface point of view they shift opposite to other mountain bike derailleurs, as the user 'clicks' the index finger trigger to move to a larger cog, and pushes with the thumb trigger to select a smaller cog. | Wikipedia.com |
| lowrider | Lowrider racks are front pannier racks designed so that the panniers attach below the top of the front wheel, so that their centre of gravity is low and close to the steering axis of the fork. Lowrider bicycles are a fad design of bicycles, inspired by the wheelie bicycles of the 1960's with very long wheelbases. They are built purely as an exercise in styling, with no real concern for riding qualities. Some of them, in fact, are not rideable, because the cranks are so close to the ground that the pedals cannot turn around. They commonly feature lots of chrome or gold plating, 72 spoke wheels, sometimes steering wheels instead of normal handlebars, and springer forks. These toy "bicycles" should not be confused with recumbents, which are real bicycles. | Sheldon Brown |
| LSD | Acronym for “long, steady distance”. A training technique that requires a firm aerobic pace for at least two hours. 'Slow' is - perhaps - a relative term. | Sheldon Brown |
| LT | An acronym for 'Lactic 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 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. | bikemaxpower |
| Luc-E Grind | A BMX term. Grinding with the forward pedal and rear peg, with the front peg hanging below the grind obstacle. | Wikipedia.com |
| lug | A lug is a socket that forms the junction between two or more frame tubes. Traditional bicycle construction uses steel tubes and lugs, joined together by brazing or silver soldering so that the space between the tube and the lug fills up with molten brass or silver alloy. Some aluminium or carbon fiber bicycles also use lugs, with glue instead of the brass or silver. Some frames use internal lugs, with a necked-down section that fits inside of the tube, rather than having a socket that the tube fits into. | Sheldon Brown |
| lug | A metal reinforcing piece into which the tubing for expensive road bikes is brazed, allowing lighter tubing. The seat lug reinforces the connection between the top tube and the seat tube, for example. | Bicyclesource.com |
| LX ™ | A MTBiking term. Shimano offroad component - speak. | Shimano.com |
| Lycra ® | A stretchy fabric, popular for cycling clothing. The stretchiness of Lycra allows it to snugly so that it doesn't flap in the breeze, while still allowing free motion of the legs. Lycra is also sometimes used as a covering for plastic/foam saddles. | Sheldon Brown |
| madison | The Madison is a mass-start track race event comprising teams of two riders per team. It is similar to a team points race, as points are awarded to the top finishers at the intermediate sprints and for the finishing sprint. Only one of the two team riders is racing on the track at any one time, riding for a number of laps, and then exchanging with his partner by a hand sling. Often running six days continuously, teams of riders would take turns riding and resting. Each team would have a small stick, carried in the back pocket, and as one rider would relieve another, the stick would be passed from one to the other in a distinctive manoeuvre designed to transfer as much momentum as possible from the retiring rider to his relief. This style of racing was most associated with New York's Madison Square Garden, hence the name. | Sheldon Brown |
| maes | The Maes bend is the most common type of drop handlebar. From the centre, it goes straight out then bends forward in a gradual curve. When it has bent forward 90 degrees, it turns downward, and bends in a smooth, constant-radius curve approximately 160 degrees, then straightens out. It is usually set at an angle such that the forward-bending section is tilted somewhat downward toward the front. The bottom flat part of the "drops" will normally be level, or slightly down at the rear. | Sheldon Brown |
| Mafac ® | Defunct French manufacturer primarily of brakes. The Mafac "Racer" centrepull was the standard for high-end French bicycles all through the '50s and well into the '60s. "MAFAC" is an acronym from: "Manufacture Auvergnoise de Freins et Accessoires pour Cycle" (Manufacturer in the Auvergne of Brakes and Accessories for Cycles.) | Sheldon Brown |
| Magic Carpet Slide | A BMX term. Front peg and pedal slide, whilst the rear wheel is 'suspended'. | Wikipedia.com |
| magnesium | Magnesium is potentially the lightest construction metal available to us. It is 34% lighter than aluminum and 50% lighter than titanium (by volume), but is not as strong as aluminium - requiring more magnesium - yet gives excellent fatigue, denting and buckling resistance. Magnesium alloys are readily extrudable, some alloys are highly weldable, yet it is fairly corrosive. Its biggest benefit seems to be the price. | everythingbicycling |
| Magura | A MTBiking term. The first hydraulic brake for the mountain bike. It's screaming yellow, powerful, and made in Germany. | Bicyclesource.com |
| maillot à pois | A French cycling term. Literally the jersey of peas / polka dots. A White jersey with red polka dots worn by the leader of the “King of the Mountains” competition. | University of Toronto |
| maillot blanc | A French cycling term. The leader of the Best Young Rider competiton (the highest placed GC rider under the age of 25) wears a - maillot blanc - white jersey in the TdF. | Wikipedia.com |
| maillot jaune | A French cycling term. The yellow jersey – worn by the leader of the TdF's Classement Generale. | University of Toronto |
| maillot vert | A French cycling term. The green jersey – worn by the leader of the points competition in TdF. Erik Zabel made this jersey his 6 times! | University of Toronto |
| main pivot | A MTBiking term. The lowest and most forward of the pivots in any suspension mechanism responsible for handling the highest amount of load within the mechanism. | mundobiker.es |
| male blindness | A MTBiking term. When a male rider watches a beautiful female ride over rough terrain and stares intensely, making him too dizzy to see straight when it's his turn to ride the same terrain. | Bicyclesource.com |
Cycling Terms 
