On many bicycles, especially smaller sizes, it is possible for the front fender or tyre to bump into the rider's toe or to the toe clip. Some people worry a lot about this, but it is rarely a significant problem in practice. The only time it can happen is when the handlebars are turned quite far to the side, which only happens at very low speeds. Many, many people ride bicycles with fairly severe overlap with no practical problems, sometimes having to make a slight adjustment to their pedalling habits at very slow speeds. On smaller size bicycles with full size wheels, it is usually impossible to eliminate overlap without causing adverse fit/handling issues.

When a brake shoe hits a moving rim, the pull of the rim causes the brake arm to flex a bit. If your brake shoes hit a stationary rim perfectly straight and squarely, the flex of the brake arm will cause the rear edge of the brake shoe to do the brunt of the work. The front edge of the shoe may not even be engaging the rim under hard braking. Good practice in installing brake shoes is to "toe them in", so that the front part of the shoe hits the rim first. As the brake arm flexes under real braking, it will permit the whole surface of the brake shoe to engage the rim. Toeing in of brake shoes can also reduce the annoying squeal some brakes make when in use. Most newer brake shoes have special washers with curved surfaces to allow you to adjust the angle of the shoe to the rim. Older brakes relied on brute force, typically bending the brake arm with an adjustable wrench.

 Most front derailleurs use a parallelogram which is fixed (attached to the derailleur body) at the top, with the moveable cage attached to the bottom link of the parallelogram. Many of the newer Shimano units are built "upside down": the bottom of the parallelogram is fixed in place and the cage attaches to the top link. A peculiarity of Top-Swing ® derailleurs is that the limit stop adjustment screws are reversed, so that the outer screw limits inward travel, and vice versa. Top-Swing ® derailleurs clamp on to the seat tube lower down than bottom-swing units. (Some don't even attach to the seat tube, but are held on by the bottom bracket mounting ring.) Some frames made for use with top-swing derailleurs will not permit the installation of conventional bottom-swing derailleurs, because there's a bottle braze on in the way. Some suspension frames also require a top-swing front derailleur for clearance reasons. Top-Swing ® or bottom-swing derailleurs can be (and are) made in either top-pull or bottom-pull versions. (This has to do with the direction from which the cable approaches.)

A force applied in the form of a twist, rather than a straight push or pull. "Torsion" is used to indicate that the force involved it a rotary force. "Torque" is a measurement of torsional force. Torque is the linear force times the radius at which it is applied. For example, a 10 pound force applied two feet from the axis produces the same torque as a 2 pound force applied ten feet from the axis. The standard units for measuring torque are pound-feet or Newton-meters. Note that the force unit goes first, so as not to be confused with energy/work measurements. A common error is to refer to "foot-pounds" instead of pound-feet of torque. This is not strictly correct, since the foot-pound is a unit of energy/work, not torque.

"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. The Tour has iconic status and defines the international cycling calendar, creates cycling superstars and international controversy!

 A touring bicycle is designed for comfort, durability, efficiency and, in most cases, load-carrying capacity. Touring bicycles fall into two major groupings: Loaded-touring bicycles, the classic "touring" bicycle is intended for self-supported travel, including camping and, in some cases, cooking equipment. A loaded-touring bicycle has, a fairly laid-back fork angle for comfort and stability, long chainstays, for stability, and to provide clearance between the rider's heels and the rear panniers, a triple chainwheel crankset, with a granny gear, a wide-range cluster, with a large sprocket as large or larger than the granny chainwheel, sturdy wheels with wide (32-35 mm) tyres, Cantilever brakes, to allow clearance for wide tyres and fenders, multiple braze-ons for bottle cages, racks, fenders, spare spokes, etc. A well-equipped loaded-touring bicycle will usually have Drop handlebars, full fenders, front pannier rack (usually low-rider style), rear pannier rack, lighting system (usually generator-powered), 3 or 4 bottle cages, for water and cooking fuel, increasingly, loaded touring is being done on modified mountain bicycles, which share many characteristics with loaded tourers. Some riders prefer to use trailers instead of panniers to carry their camping equipment. Light-touring, or "credit-card" touring bicycles are intended for inn-to-inn tours, randonnés, or organized tours with sag-wagon service, in which the rider will carry perhaps a large touring bag or handlebar bag. A light-touring bicycle may be a modified road-racing bicycle, or a bicycle made for the purpose. It will usually have Conservative road-racing geometry, a triple chainwheel crankset, a close- or medium-ratio cluster, medium (25-28 mm) width tyres, clip-on aerobars, & Clipless pedals. 

The beauty of the track bike lies in its simplicity, as these bikes have no brakes and only run on single speed gears. The rear sprocket is screwed onto the rear hub and is not able to freewheel like the cassettes on a road bike. This is called the fixed cog system. Most riders run 1/8th inch chains similar to the ones used on BMX bikes. These are for strength. Gear ratios are changed by either changing the rear sprocket or the front chain ring. A set of three consecutive chain rings e.g. 47,48 and 49 or 50, 51 and 52 should cover most gear ratios combined with for instance a 14, 15 & 16T rear sprocket set. Riders ride slower or accelerate by changing cadence. Most top track riders ride on tubular tyres.