How to Identify Bike Parts - Bike maintenance

Hi my name is Jesse McDonough and I'm here at Spokesman Cycles in New York City, right by Union Square. I'm a bicycle tour guide in New York and formerly a bike messenger and I'm here to tell you a bit about the bike. Today we're going to name the parts of the bicycle. This can be helpful when you're trying to make bike repairs or explain bike problems to people. Uh, one of the most common problems or mistakes people make is confusing the tube, the tire, and the wheel. The wheel itself is the metal piece here. This is called the wheel rim and these are the spokes coming into the middle of the wheel. The thick rubber piece on the outside is the tire. And then inside is what you would refer to as the tube. So the tube itself is what goes flat when you have a flat tire. Coming down to the gears here, this is referred to as the cassette, the gears in the back. This is the rear derailer here, this whole piece. And this helps shift the back gears. In the front here, you have what's called the chain ring. And then you have the front derailer, which helps shift the front gears. Attached to the chain ring you have the crank. And attached to the crank which is like a little arm here, um, is the pedal itself. Coming up to the bicycle frame, this is what's referred to as the top tube. The angled tube here is called the down tube. In the back, these skinnier pieces of the frame, this is called the seat stay and the chain stay. And then the separate piece in the front is referred to as the fork. This is not actually attached to the bike frame itself. In the front, this is called the stem. Then you have the handlebars, of course. The brakes. These particular brakes are referred to as V-brakes. They're probably the most common brake right now and the easiest to maintain. And this is your seat post and the seat itself, which is often referred to as the saddle. And, those are the parts of the bike.