Parts of a bicycle

If you're not familiar with the bicycle parts, read the Wikipedia article on the list of bicycle parts. Or click here to see some labelled images.

Although there is a wide variety of bicycle frames around (Wheeler, Giant, Specialized, Fuji etc), the most popular brand for drivetrains you will encounter will be Shimano. For mountain bikes, the "pecking order" is something like this:

Shimano XTR [lightest and most expensive]
Shimano (Deore) XT*
Shimano (Deore) LX*
Shimano Deore
Shimano Acera
Shimano Alivio
Shimano Tourney [heaviest and cheapest]

* note that Deore is not normally included in the name.

Low end MTBs normally have Alivio and Tourney parts, mid range bikes will have Deore and Acera. The Shimano website also includes products such as Saint, Hone, but these are not common in Singapore.

Here is the full range for road bikes, in descending order of price but ascending order of weight:

Shimano Dura Ace
Shimano Ultegra
Shimano 105 [mid range]
Shimano Tiagra [low/mid]
Shimano Sora [low end]

The other brand sometimes seen in bike parts is Campagnolo.

Every year, bike manufacturers will improve on the parts that they manufacture, but for the past few years, the improvement has been rather minor (1-2%), such that whenever there is a great improvement, it is big news among the cycling community. For example, many reviewers the new ten speed 105 was a great improvement over the old nine speed 105. So if the bikeshop man talks about a "new model" with "new parts", don't automatically assume that it is much better than previous models.