SBR Bicycles

MOUNTAIN BIKING DICTIONARY

Shock

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This is the bit at the BACK of the bike that squishes.  There are two parts to any performance shock.
  • Spring- There are two types
    • Air spring. This is what’s on most performance bikes.
    • Coil spring. Want to try a coil spring?  Here’s a few solid options -
  • Damper-
    • This is where the magic happens, ESPECIALLY on forks.  This dissipates the energy from the spring.
      • Basically, there are holes drilled.  One side of those holes is oil, the other side has washers.
 
  • Eye-to-eye-
    • length between the bolt-holes at the top and bottom of the shock
  • Stroke-
    • How much the shaft of the shock can move.
  • Boost- 
    • means things are wider at the axles and bottom bracket (110x15 at forks, and 12x148 on the rear
  • Travel-
    • The amount the wheel of the bike can move while the suspension actuates.  How is it calculated? Ask a different engineer and you’ll get a different answer.  Just like sizes, different companies are measuring in very different ways.
  • Shredding-

Dropper Post

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Is a seatpost that allows the rider to drop the saddle.  This allows an optimal pedaling position while still allowing the rider to use proper form through switchbacks, off camber turns, and other types of technical trail features.  It’s like adding several inches of travel to your bike, except it comes from your knees and arms.  

Lockouts and platforms
  • A true lockout is a switch that completely locks out the travel of a bike (although there is typically some kind of blow-off valve to prevent damage).  You won’t commonly find these on performance suspension.
  • Platform switches are generally switches to increase low speed compression damping.  This means the suspension is still active, however it takes more force to initiate movement.

Stiction
  • Friction preventing the suspension from functioning properly. If it feels like it takes a lot of work to actuate the suspenion, you’re due for service.  - antonym: buttery, slippery, sensitive, smooth.  
  • Pro tip: invert your bike, namely the forks, before each ride .  Doing so lets the lubricating bath oil flow up toward the seals and saturate the wipers before a ride.  
 
  • Lower Leg Service - This is where the “lowers” are pulled off the fork legs [stanchions] in order to replace the bath oil and seals.  Do this every 50ish hours of riding.  Generally, the bike performs each time you do this (better than new off the showroom floor).  This is a great chance to change the travel of your fork, or alter the “negative air spring” to make an older fork feel smoother at the top of the travel.
  • Air Can Service - do this when you perform the lower leg service.  The shock’s air can gets new oil and seals.
  • Damper Service- Both forks and shocks have dampers.  This is when the damper oil is bled and replaced.  CAREFUL, it’s critical to ensure no air is in the damper.  It also typically requires specific tooling.  This service is a GREAT time to tune the damper to you as a rider.  We offer products from companies like Vorsprung to help optimize your fork and shock dampers for your riding style, on your preferred terrain.
  Types of MTB Bikes
  • Trail Bike - the quiver-killers.  These account for the majority of bikes out there.  They’re versatile, and better than ever before.
  • Cross Country Bike - generally 100mm or less suspension travel.  These bikes are meant to go hard uphill for a short time.  They have very quick steering, they’re very light, and just expect that it’s going to be on 29” wheels.  If you’re on the trails
  • Enduro Bike - These bikes descend better than full-blown downhill bikes of several years ago.  Expect about 160mm of travel or more in this day and age, even with 29” wheels (like Scott’s .  Expect heavier weights for improved durability,  
  • Downhill Bike - it won’t be of any use to you out here.  If you’re willing to travel to Tennessee, Vermont, Colorado, or further West, you’ll really enjoy these 200mm+ travel machines.

"Longer, Lower, Slacker” - This is a phrase you’ll hear in MANY new bike reviews.  It’s the reason bikes of the past couple years feel so much less prone to push a rider over the bars.  Longer refers to .  Lower refers to lower bottom bracket heights, which yield more stability (at the cost of pedal strikes in some situations, BUT THERE ARE SOLUTIONS).  Head tube angles have lowered.  The bikes are much less twitchy
  • Fork Offset- a measurement of fork geometry.  More is a bit more nimble, less is a bit more stable.  Less offset also means a slightly shorter wheelbase for more even weight distribution between wheels.  The differences, ridden back to back, are VERY subtle.  Expect to see lower offset numbers with the newest generation of mountain bikes.  
  • Compression- squishing the shock into itself (like when you sit on the bike or hit a bump) Generally, the knobs that control this on your damper are the blue ones
  • Rebound- The shock expanding again (the opposite of compression)
  • Eye-to-eye- length between the bolt-holes at the top and bottom of the shock
  • Durometer- the softness level of a tire.  Higher means longer lasting, and faster rolling.  Lower means shorter tread life, but more grip
  • Tire inserts- These go inside a tubeless tire setup
  • Leverage ratio- Wheel travel/shock stroke.
  • Leverage rate- How quickly the leverage ratio itself is changing.
  • Trunnion Mount- On metric shocks, instead of one through-bolt, the shock bolts directly through the lower shock body.  It makes it 20mm shorter than a standard shock with an eyelet at each end for bolts to go though.
  • Metric sizing- The industry got together about 3 years ago and decided, “Hey, we’ve made some erratic sizes over the past 2 decades, let’s just agree together on something more rational”

Clutched derailleur - originally pioneered for “1-by” drivetrains, these rear derailleurs have a strong spring to keep the chain from slapping the frame, or sliding off gears.
  • 1x Drivetrain- Pronounced “One - bye” (1x11, 1x12, or “Eagle”) it’s a way of saying there’s one chainring at the cranks, x(BY)  the number of gears in the back.  Three fourths of mountain bikes we sell have a 1x drivetrain.

“PIGGY BACK” SHOCK

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These shocks have a second, smaller reservoir that sticks out from the shock.  You’ll typically find these on bikes with longer travel.
  • Volume spacers- (See also: “bottomless tokens”) - Used only on air springs.  For our region, we generally recommend fewer spacers for better performance (it’s no mistake so many manufacturers are ADDING air volume to their products (Fox has added “Evol” or “extravolume”, Rock Shox has their “Debonair”
  • Sag- This is what that little rubber-bandy thing on your shock is for the rational goals they achieved - consistent size jumps between shock sizes (because bikes
  • Stroke- Generally, you’ll want to avoid any kind of damper here.  Stoke levels should be kept high.  For more information, see here: https://youtu.be/aPDcwbJBzn4?t=201
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Technologies that impress us:
  • Fork Fenders- Most trails in our region are “multi-use,” which means they see a LOT of equestrian use.  That puts a lot of turd on trails.  There’s nothing worse than getting a mouthful.  Even if it’s just mud (but you shouldn’t be riding on our clay when wet, head down to the Ozark Trail for that!).




  • Trailsync
  • Twinloc- The most integrated lever system for suspended parts.  
  • BWC- The first of the newest generation of 29ers.  BMC began lengthening the frame, shortening stems, wider bars, and slackening head tube angles.  This makes for a bike that feels familiar while sitting still, but is FAR more confident and stable
SBR Bicycles