Brake pads consist of durable, usually rubber or rubber-like material. They attached to calipers, or brake arms, that wrap around each wheel and rest the brake pads just off the wheel rim. When pressed against the rims of the bicycle’s wheels, brake pads cause enough friction to make them stop.
Brake levers control the application of brake pads to wheels, allowing you to slow down under your own control. The right brake lever stops the back wheel; the left wheel stops the front. Never stop with just the left wheel, or else you risk flipping over the handlebars.
The cassette, also known as a cogset or cassette cog, contains rear sprockets, the teeth-covered discs that the chain runs over while you pedal in any given gear. Attached to a hub on the rear wheel, the cassette works in conjunction with the rear derailleur to allow multiple gear ratios.
The chain extends from the chainring to the cassette and derailleur pulley on the back wheel and allows the bike to be propelled when you pedal.
The chainring is a sprocket attached to the right crankarm.
The crankarm attaches the pedal to the bottom bracket axle and creates enough leverage to move the bicycle when your foot pressure the pedal forward. The crankarm, bottom bracket and chainrings comprise the bike’s crankset.
Drop handlebars, common to road bikes, are wrapped in cloth tape in order to provide more comfort to the cyclist’s hands and secure protruding shift and brake cables. Drops are the lower section of the handlebar. Cyclists place their hands on the drops and lower their upper body during descents in order to maintain an aerodynamic body position.
The fork fits inside the head tube, holding the front wheel in place.
Derailleurs allow a bicycle to change gear ratios by moving the chain side-to-side from one sprocket to another. Pictured here, the front derailleur moves the chain between two or three front sprockets (or chainrings) as it passes through a cage. The front derailleur moves only the top portion of the chain, which is under pressure when you pedal. In order to shift gears in the front, relax the pressure on the pedals.
Front triangle, also known as the main triangle, of a bicycle frame consists of the head tube (below the handlbars and stem), the front tube (between your legs), the seat tube (between the seatpost) and the down tube (the diagonal tube extending from the base of the seat tube to the bottom of the head tube).
Quick release is used to tighten or loosen a wheel on a frame. Also pictured here, the dropouts, or quick release skewers, are the thin tubes that go through the middle of the wheel axle. A wheel’s quick release tightens against the dropout, holding the wheel in place.
The rear derailleur allows the bicycle to change gears by moving the bottom of chain from side to side between sprockets. Because the bottom of the chain experiences less pressure than the top, you are able to shift gears as you pedal quickly.
The rear triangle of the frame consists of the chainstays (two tubes running horizontally from the bottom bracket to the rear dropouts), seat stays (two tubes running diagonally from the top of the seat tube to the rear axle), and the seat tube.
Saddle, the colloquial term for a seat, is where a cyclist sits on a bicycle.
Unfastening the
seatpost collar and sliding the seatpost up or down allows you to extend or shorten the distance between your seat and the pedals.
Stem holds the handlebar and allows for its adjustment during a fit.
A
road bike tire, shown on the exterior, has a smooth tread and narrow size, usually 700c x 23mm. Popular with recreational cyclists, clincher tires utilize an inflated tube that hooks into a rim inside. Racers tend to prefer tubular tires with sewn to the interior of the tire and glued to the rim. Also pictured here, the spoke is one of a collection of metal wires that transfer the load from the wheel’s perimeter to the hub and frame.
The crankarm attaches the pedal to the bottom bracket axle and creates enough leverage to move the bicycle when your foot pressure the pedal forward. The crankarm, bottom bracket and chainrings comprise the bike’s crankset.
