How to describe your bike

For a relatively straightforward piece of machinery, there certainly is a lot of terminology when it comes to bikes and their seemingly endless parts. The diagram above breaks down the bicycle by individual component which should help you out when something goes wrong and you are trying to explain to a friend, bike mechanic or anyone else who is willing to listen, what is wrong with your bike.

While we at Triathlon Bikes can offer guidance on a bike, and other equipment, it is ultimately you who is responsible for ensuring your bike is safe to ride.

One method of checking the serviceability of a bike is an 'M-check'. So called because it forms the shape of an M starting at the rear hub, travelling up to saddle, down to the bottom bracket, up to the stem and handlebars and back down to the front hub.

The section below gives a more complete list of areas to examine when performing the M-check.