Mountain Bikes NZ: Know Your Mountain Bike Parts

Mountain bikes can be costly investments, so they must remain in good condition. Being familiar with your bike’s components allows you to make informed decisions regarding upgrades that can improve its ride.

Upgrades could include mountain bikes handlebars NZ, grips, shorter stems, grippy or lighter tires, saddles and pedals.

Frame

Frame selection for mountain bikes can be essential; your decision depends heavily on personal taste and riding style.

Steel frames boast natural vibration-dampening abilities that can lessen the impact of bumps and vibrations during your ride, making them durable yet easy to repair.

Seat tube

The seat tube of a bike frame connects directly to the saddle. Additionally, it may feature a dropper post that enables riders to alter their seat height using a lever mounted on their mountain bikes handlebars NZ.

Take measurements from the centre of your bottom bracket to the top of the head tube (excluding the seatpost) to measure seat tube length. A mountain bike frame size calculator may also come in handy in helping determine your ideal bike frame size; using your reach number as a starting point but taking into consideration riding style when selecting a bike may also be important.

Down tube

The down tube connects the head tube to the bottom bracket shell while housing rear derailleur hangers on many modern mountain bikes.

Most mountain bike frames feature butted tubing, wherein walls thicken in the centre before tapering out towards each end for weight reduction at low-stress areas while providing reinforcement where needed. This design reduces weight in low-stress zones while increasing strength where needed.

Dropper seatposts allow riders to adjust the seat when descending to maintain an efficient pedalling position, lower their centre of gravity, and stay lower in pedalling efficiency. They’re an essential feature when riding off-road terrain, such as rugged terrain.

Head tube

The head tube sits at the front of your bike and connects with its wheel fork – this allows for simple steering of your ride by turning the mountain bikes handlebars NZ. In addition, it houses the headset, which connects the frame and fork.

Threaded headsets feature large diameter races and locknuts that fit tightly against the head tube walls, making adjusting their height difficult due to their large dimensions. In adjusting fork height properly with such headsets, specific spanners are usually necessary due to their large sizes; changing them without these tools can result in head tube stretching, causing a shaky ride; however, this effect is rarer with lugged frames.

Crankset

A crankset (also referred to as a chainset) is the system that converts pedalling power from your legs into forward motion, consisting of one or more front chainrings, a crank spider and crank arms connecting pedals with drivetrain components.

Chainrings on a crankset dictate how many front gears a bike has; single-ring setups are more effective for steep climbs, while multiple rings provide more gear range for downhill riding.

Crank stiffness enhances power delivery and decreases flex, enabling your feet to respond more readily to features and terrain on the bike while helping reduce knee strain. High-end cranksets often use carbon fibre, titanium or other high-grade alloys in their construction for reduced weight and superior shift performance.

Derailleur

Your bike’s rear derailleur shifts the chain smoothly from smaller to bigger sprockets so that pedalling remains effortless. Without one, this would require reaching down to shift yourself – risking damaging the chain or straining yourself too much by reaching down too often!

Derailleurs contain two pulleys to guide the chain: an upper jockey pulley known as a jockey pulley moves it into position on the desired sprocket, while a lower tension pulley takes up and releases slack for tightness across all sprockets. Limit screws also restrict how far in or out pulleys can move.

Chain

Chains are at the core of your drivetrain, and an optimally functioning one will deliver crisp shifting, increased longevity and enhanced performance.

An outdated chain can be more than an inconvenience; it can pose a danger and compromise the components that comprise your drivetrain. Use an appropriate tool to monitor chain wear and replace it when its percentage exceeds its recommended tolerance limit.

Locating and fitting the ideal chain can be tricky, but we make it simple with our step-by-step guide for easily cleaning, removing, and installing mountain bike chains so you can return to enjoying those trails quickly!