Glossary of Terms - Pronunciations

Beryl Burtoned -
In honor of Beryl Burton - she went faster than you - To time-trial. Specifically, to time-trial very fast on a non-modern bicycle with your hands in an asymmetric position on the bars. (a couple references - 1 - 2 )

Burt Munroed -
In honor of Burt Munro - iBob in spirit - (1) To pursue something relentlessly. (2) To go much faster than most folks would think safe while operating under less-than-failsafe conditions. (3) To overcome an obstacle through optimism and resourcefulness. (a couple references - 1 - 2)

Chelovek -
Russian - che-luh-VEK - Man.

Coastables -
Any bicycle, geared or single-cogged, which allows the cyclist to cease pedaling while the wheels are in motion.

Coasters -
Any cyclist or group of cyclists who ride coastables. Also the group which sang "Yakety Yak" and "Charlie Brown", which were arguably the same song.

GFN -
abbrev. - Good Fer Nuthin'.

Gospodin -
Russian - guh-spuh-DEEN - Mister.

Gruntled -
Happy. Positive. Appreciative. Generally used to refer to an outlook upon life, or reaction to a situation. E.G. - The mechanic lnew that a Zeus crankset used the obscure 16mm bolt, and fixed it without marring the finish, leaving me extremely gruntled.

Head Tunes -
(Var. Ride Head Tunes, Commute Head Tunes, Earworm ) Phenomenon caused by exertion and a large music collection. At some point, the combination of chemical processes in the brain creates a sticky surface upon which a certain song - generally a instrumental or lyrical snippet from a song - to become affixed. This causes endless repition of said snippet until (a) another snippet of moderately more insipid value dislodges it, (b) it happily segues into other related songs, or (c) you infect someone else on the ride with said song by singing or whistling it aloud. WARNING - depending upon how well others with you play this game, it can lead to complete breakups of rides, relationships, friendships or worse.

JRA -
Literally "Just Riding Along." Normal contextual use by mechanic denotes irony that something like a bulged downtube, straightened fork blades and bent top tube have occurred while the customer was JRA. Do not use this term (abbreviated or in full) while describing any mechanical issue or breakdown. Mechanics have been known to react reasonably harshly. It usually makes them twitch, at best

Lost Peletonian -
(Varient - "Peletonian") - A solo rider in full team kit who has clearly been "dropped by the bunch" and is now trying to make their way to the team bus or find a shortcut back to the hotel. These riders often exhibit prickly or aggressive behavior when passed, especially by folks with fendered-n-racked bicycles.

Micropayments -
The idea that if everyone just chipped in a little, it would go a long way to offsetting costs. Way back in the beginning days of personal computers, folks would come up with nifty little programs that filled a need or fixed a glaring omission. They would ask for a micropayment - hoping to maybe pay for a sandwich or two that were consumed during the coding effort. This site works on that principle. If everyone would chip in a couple o' bucks, it would help cover hosting and bandwidth charges, which keep ratcheting upwards as more people find out about this site. Donation specifics are in the FAQ.

Ochen -
Russian - OH-chen. -Very

Na Remont -
Russian - nah reh-MONT. - Meaning "under repair" or being fixed. A phrase encountered with some degree of regularity and a lack of specificity of completion time. For example, in 1985, the hot water pipes - as the water in Moscow was (at least at that time) centrally heated - were "na remont". This meant that for a two week period, the showers were cold. The water in Moscow comes out of the pipes reasonably cold.

Nibblies -
Knobby tires found on cyclocross bikes. "Knobs" on such tires are typically 1/4" or smaller.

RBWHQ&L -
Acronym-speak: "Rivendell Bicycle World Headquarters and Lair" (best done in a Dr. Evil voice, followed by maniacal laughter

Stantial -
Better than "Sub" Stantial. See also - "Gruntled"

Smoothies -
Road tires taken onto trails. Opposite of "Knobbies".

UCQT -
Acronym-speak: ""Unequivocably Cool Quickbeam Thing" - usually a thought or observation about the Rivendell Quickbeam derived while riding it, followed by posting said observation to the RBW mailing list.

UJB -
Acronym-speak: "Universal Japanese Bicycle" Any one of many 70's era Japanese made frames which tended to be of reasonably high build quality - Nishiki, Univega, Panasonic, etc. These are often underpriced, and are normally quite adaptable for a multitude of purpose

Corrollary (courtesy of Mark at howtostretch.com) :
UNIVERSAL JAPANESE MOTORCYCLE: def; A reference to the motorcycle industry, when all the big four manufacturers (Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki), made fungible motorcycles in different size catagories(550 cc, 750 cc, 900 cc) that were easily converted to whatever use you had for them. Put bags and a windscreen, you have a touring bike. Slicks low bars, a cafe racer. Fairing, take off all street equipment, a racer. Leave it as is, a good all around moto. Then moto's went thru an intense specialization period, with each one a tool for a very narrow use (sound familiar). Now they call UJM's naked bikes. Sounds like sport touring bikes becoming country bikes.

Walla -
Proper Name - One half of Walla Walla, a city in Washington. Locals refer to it in this manner. Not to be confused with "voila"

Voila -
(vwŠ-lŠ) Expression used to call attention to or express satisfaction with a thing shown or accomplished. [French : voi, second person sing. imperative of voir, to see (from Old French; see voyeur) + lˆ, there (from Old French la, lai, probably from Latin illc, by that way : ill; see al-1 in Indo-European roots + -ce, deictic particle).] Not to be confused with "Walla"

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Pronunciations - Glossary of Terms

Cannondale -
Italian - Frame manufacturer - "Ko-NAHN-Dah-lay"

Dura-Ace (var. DuraAce) -
Italian - Component manufacturer - "Du-RAAH-chay"

Giant -
French - Frame manufacturer - "GHEE-anh"

LeMond -
French -Bicycle manufacturer - "L-mo"

Paul's -
Italian - Component manufacturer - "PAH-uhlz"

Race Face -
Italian - Component manufacturer - "RAH-chee FAH-chee"

Sun Race -
Italian - Component manufacturer - "Soon RAH-chee"

Surly -
Italian - Bicycle frame distributor - "es-SUHR-lay"

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