I’ve trolled this site for a long time but just recently started posting and admittedly have some trouble with the terminology that's thrown around. Here’s a start to a Bike Forums to English dictionary. After you’ve explored the forums, come back here and post what you’ve learned!

BF: Bike Forums

dork bands: the bands bike commuters wear around their pant legs to prevent grease stains

dropped: getting left behind by the group or other rider because you’re too slow

Fred: no idea what this means but from context of posts I know it’s not a good thing

LBS: local bike shop

mod: a moderator on this message board; it appears to be a bad idea to tick them off or swear in front of them

MTB: mountain biking; mountain bike

newb: newbie, beginner, negative connotation toward clueless

noob: newbie, beginner, negative connotation toward clueless

+1: when replying to another poster this signifies you like what they said

roadie: a road biker

super mod: better than a regular mod?

TDF: A little bike race over where they make wine and fancy cheese (Tour de France)

This!: another method of drawing attention to a post, I’ve seen it used in admiration and ridicule.

weight weenie: someone who is obsessed with the weight of their bike, their body, or both. “I just paid $500 for this new component to save 10 grams.” That’s a weight weenie.

I don’t know what these mean: FTW, HTFU, sigs

Moving thread to General

If you are a Fred, you're generally proud of it.

FTW = For the Win
HTFU = Harden The F*** Up

I'm assuming FTW is the same as everywhere else I've seen it.

FTW does not equal WTF.

Thanks! Makes more sense now. I'm a Fred for sure but not sure if I'm proud of it.

You missed references to the 41, the 33 and the 217.

These are all shorthand for great Chinese entrees.

But there's nothing more fun than explaining to everyone at the charity ride what you're carrying in your panniers and all the stuff strapped onto your handlebars.

Super mods get to wear capes.

The "super" means that we have access to more functions, such as dropping the ban hammer.


sig = signature, the space at the bottom of your post that you can customize.

Sounds like you have confused trolling with lurking.

Also includes those yellow wrist bands that read "Livestrong"

Not sure how it's spelled but according to Bob Roll it's pronounced "Tur Day France".

Cycling-Terminology thread from the Road forum ...

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ora-of-newbies

Yes apparently so. I'll add it to the dictionary!

Read:

https://www.members.tripod.com/geert_pc/slang.htm

Don't be a Fred.

Found some more... I'm beginning to feel like a BF anthropologist. Dig another layer down and discover a whole new civilization.

tire suck: someone riding your @ss to draft (sorry super mod, don't hurt me)

pulling: intentionally allowing someone to tire suck you

pcad: somewhat of a local legend from what I can tell. Best guess is that this is a BF member patentcad who has over 47,000 posts

century: a 100 mile ride

Anybody know what MUP is? In context, "I was riding the MUP the other day..." multi-use path maybe?

Exactly.

+1

That's a pretty narrow minded definition for Fred. I'm a Fred and proud of it.. but that definition comes across as derogatory to me. I much prefer the Wikipedia article.

Verily I say unto you, you can say ass. -umd

umd = BF Jesus, but he resurrected at another site that doesn't seem to have much traffic.

And it's more commonly called wheel sucking. Some one drafting in a group or behind another rider and not going out in the wind to take a pull. This is a violation of Rule 67.

As is your prerogative. It certainly is more forgiving for those who don't like the other. However, such preference has you dancing to the forbidden beat - ergo, a Fred.

TO be helpful, the ultimate "roadist" is a singularly minded individual, with absolute disdain for his fellow man.
It isn't a definition, it is a state of mind. Only a few, select elitists ever achieve it. Many try - most fail.
HTFU.

I've been on internet forums for years and came across a new one (to me) in the last week: QFT (quoted for truth.)

Basically you quote someone's message, and add the QFT statement as a way of saying "I agree completely with that post."

As near as I can tell it's the functional equivalent of saying "This".

Correction.
Century: A 100X ride. Can be 100 anything. Miles, kilometers, or my personal favorite.............. feet.

+1 is shorter, still.

+1