Bikeyard Wiki

The cycling and mountain-bike encyclopedia, written by riders

Bikes and brands, components, trails, riding technique, disciplines, maintenance, gear and MTB terms — short, visual articles written and checked by the Bikeyard community.

Bikes & brands

Bike types, the brands that build them and the models riders talk about.

SRAM — An American component maker from Chicago, founded in 1987. It made the 1x mountain drivetrain mainstream and owns RockShox, Zipp and Quarq.
Electric mountain bike (eMTB) — A mountain bike with a pedal-assist motor and battery. The motor helps only while you pedal, so you climb more, ride further and spend the day descending.
RockShox — An American suspension brand founded in 1989 by Paul Turner. Its first fork, the RS-1, brought front suspension to mountain biking; since 2002 the brand has been part of SRAM.
Santa Cruz Bicycles — A Californian maker of full-suspension mountain bikes, founded in 1993. Known for its VPP linkage, carbon frames with a lifetime warranty and the V10 downhill bike.
Trek — An American bike maker from Wisconsin, founded in 1976 in a barn in Waterloo. One of the largest bike brands in the world, with a full mountain range from hardtails to downhill.
Specialized — An American bike company from California, founded in 1974. Its Stumpjumper of 1981 was one of the first mountain bikes sold in large numbers.
Full-suspension bike — A mountain bike with suspension at both ends. The rear shock keeps the back wheel on the ground over roots and rocks, which means more grip, more control and less fatigue.
Shimano — A Japanese maker of bicycle components founded in 1921 in Sakai. Its drivetrains and brakes are on more bikes than any other brand's.
Hardtail — A mountain bike with a suspension fork and a rigid rear end: light, simple, cheap to keep running — and the bike that teaches you to ride well.
FOX — An American suspension maker founded in 1974 by Bob Fox. Its forks and shocks — recognisable by the gold Kashima Coat — are fitted to mountain bikes of every discipline.
Canyon — A German bike brand from Koblenz that sells directly to riders online, without shops. It began in 1985 as Radsport Arnold and has carried the Canyon name since 2002.

Components

Forks, shocks, brakes, drivetrains, wheels and everything bolted to the frame.

Drivetrain — Everything that turns your legs into forward motion: cranks, chainring, chain, cassette, derailleur and shifter. A modern mountain bike runs one chainring and twelve sprockets — 1×12.
Tubeless tyres — Tyres that seal directly to the rim with no inner tube, holding liquid sealant that plugs small punctures as you ride. Less weight, fewer flats and more grip at lower pressure.
Dropper post — A seatpost that drops at the push of a lever on the bar and rises again on its own. The saddle goes out of the way for the descent and comes back for the climb, without stopping.
Wheel size — Mountain bikes roll on 26′′, 27.5′′ or 29′′ wheels. Bigger wheels roll over obstacles more easily and carry speed; smaller ones are quicker to turn and throw around.
Rear shock — The spring and damper that control the rear wheel of a full-suspension bike. Its tune and setup decide whether the back of the bike grips, pedals and lands well.
Suspension fork — The telescopic front fork that lets the front wheel move up over bumps instead of throwing them into your hands. It is what steers the bike through rough ground.
Disc brakes — Brakes that squeeze a steel rotor on the hub instead of the rim. Hydraulic disc brakes are the standard on mountain bikes: strong, controllable with one finger and unbothered by mud.

Trails

Trail types, features and bike parks — and the trails on the Bikeyard map.

Bike park — A resort of graded trails served by a lift or shuttle, so the whole day goes into riding down. Usually a mountain ski resort in summer, with flow, jump and downhill lines.
Drop — A vertical step down on the trail — a ledge, a rock or a built platform — where the ground falls away under the wheels. Small drops can be rolled; bigger ones need speed and a clean take-off.
Berm — A banked turn: the outside of the corner is built up like a wall, so the bike leans into it and keeps its speed instead of sliding out.
Singletrack — A narrow trail, about as wide as one bike, winding through the terrain. The heart of mountain biking: most of the riding worth driving to is singletrack.
Rock garden — A section of trail covered in rocks — fixed or loose, round or sharp — with no smooth line through. Momentum, line choice and loose arms are what get you across.
Flow trail — A trail built to be ridden on momentum: berms, rollers and small tables, one after another, so you barely pedal or brake. The easiest way to feel fast and learn to use the terrain.
Trail grades — How hard a trail is, told by colour: green, blue, red and black, orange for pro lines and purple for transfers. Every trail on the Bikeyard map is drawn in its grade.
Jump line — A trail made of jumps in a row, built so that one landing sets you up for the next take-off. Ridden at a steady speed, it feels like one long flight.

Tricks & technique

How to corner, brake, climb, jump and pull a manual.

Technical climbing — Getting up steep, rooty or rocky climbs without putting a foot down. It takes the right gear before the hard part, weight over the front and smooth, patient pedalling.
Jumping — Leaving the ground off a take-off and landing smoothly on the far side. Good jumping is less about launching yourself than about letting the lip do the work and staying relaxed in the air.
Bunny hop — Lifting both wheels off the ground without a ramp — front first, then the rear. It clears logs, roots and holes and is the base of every jump and trick.
Manual — Riding on the back wheel without pedalling, balanced by shifting your hips back. On the trail it lifts the front over holes and roots and smooths out drops and rollers.
Cornering — Getting round a turn fast and in control: brake before it, look through it, lean the bike more than your body and let the tyres do the gripping.
Braking — Braking well is braking in the right place: hard and early on good ground, then off the brakes where the trail is rough or turning. The front brake does most of the work.
Attack position — The standing stance every descent starts from: pedals level, knees and elbows bent, weight centred over the bike and eyes up. From here you can react to anything the trail throws at you.

Disciplines

Cross-country, trail, enduro, downhill and the other ways to ride.

Freeride — Riding for the line rather than the clock: big drops, jumps and steep natural terrain, chosen and ridden with style. Judged on creativity and flow when it is raced at all.
Dirt jump (DJ) — Riding a line of hand-built dirt jumps on a small, stiff hardtail — for height, flow and tricks. Close to BMX in spirit, and where many riders learn to fly.
Downhill (DH) — Racing one steep, rough track from top to bottom, against the clock, on bikes with around 200 mm of travel. A World Cup run lasts three to four minutes and is decided by fractions of a second.
Gravel — Long rides on unpaved roads and easy trails on drop-bar bikes with wide tyres. Somewhere between road cycling and mountain biking — and the reason many riders discover dirt.
Trail riding — The most common way to ride a mountain bike: loops that climb under your own power and descend the good stuff, on one bike that does a bit of everything.
Cross-country (XC) — Mountain biking as an endurance sport: as much up as down, on light and efficient bikes, where fitness wins races. The only mountain-bike discipline at the Olympic Games.
Enduro — Racing the descents and riding the climbs: timed downhill stages linked by untimed transfers you pedal up yourself. Also the name of the long-travel bikes built for it.

Maintenance

Setup and servicing that keeps a bike fast, quiet and safe.

Brake bleed — Replacing the fluid in a hydraulic brake and pushing out the air bubbles that make the lever soft. Once a year, or whenever the lever feels spongy or pulls to the bar.
Tubeless setup — Converting a wheel to tubeless: tape the rim, fit a valve, mount the tyre with sealant and seat it with a burst of air. Forty-five minutes the first time, fifteen once you know it.
Suspension setup — Half an hour with a shock pump makes a bigger difference than most upgrades. Set the air pressure by sag, then rebound, then compression — one change at a time.
Tyre pressure — The cheapest upgrade on any mountain bike. Too much air and the tyre skips and slides; too little and it squirms, burps and hits the rim. The right number depends on you, the tyre and the trail.
Chain care — A clean, lubed chain shifts better, runs quieter and saves the cassette and chainring. Clean and lube it every few rides and replace it before it wears out everything else.
Pre-ride check — Five minutes before every ride that catch most mechanicals before they happen: tyres, brakes, axles, bars and the drivetrain, checked in one pass around the bike.

Gear

Helmets, pads, goggles, gloves and what to wear on the trail.

Full-face helmet — A helmet with a chin bar that protects the face and jaw as well as the head. Standard for downhill, bike parks and big jumps, and more and more common in enduro.
Gloves — Full-finger gloves give grip on the bars when your hands sweat or it rains, and save your palms and knuckles when you fall. Thin enough to feel the brakes, tough enough to slide.
Goggles — Sealed eyewear worn with a full-face helmet that keeps dust, mud, roost and branches out of your eyes at speed. The foam seal is what glasses do not have.
Knee pads — Pads that take the hit when you fall on a knee — the most common crash injury on a mountain bike. Modern pads are soft enough to pedal in all day and harden only on impact.
Mountain bike helmet — An open-face helmet made for trails: deeper at the back and sides than a road helmet, with a visor and plenty of vents. The one piece of gear no ride goes without.

MTB terms

The words riders use, explained in a paragraph.

Mullet — A bike with a 29′′ front wheel and a 27.5′′ rear: the big wheel rolls over the trail, the small one keeps the back end agile and out of your way on steep ground.
Shuttle — Getting to the top of a descent by car, van or pickup instead of pedalling, so you can ride down again and again. A shuttle day is to trails what a lift pass is to a bike park.
Boost — The hub-width standard of most modern mountain bikes: 110 × 15 mm at the front and 148 × 12 mm at the rear. Wider hubs make stiffer wheels and leave more room for tyres.
Frame geometry — The angles and lengths that decide how a bike rides: stable or nimble, easy to climb or eager to descend. Every model publishes them in a geometry chart.
Suspension travel — How far a wheel can move on its suspension, in millimetres — the first number in any mountain bike's description. More travel absorbs bigger hits; less travel pedals and weighs less.
Sag — How far the suspension compresses under the rider's own weight, standing in the riding position — given as a percentage of travel. The first number to set on any suspension.