Before you can make any buying decisions, you need to have a minimal knowledge of the technical aspect of bicycles. This way, when comes the time to go at the bicycle shop, you will be well prepared to ask questions to the salesman... and see if he knows what he's talking about. If you want your bicycle shopping experience to be the least painful possible as well as getting the best deal, you should know the answer to many of your questions. If you do well reading along this site, you should not need the salesman at all to shop your bicycle. Just looking at the bicycles yourself will be enough. Okay, let us get acquainted with the various critical components of a bicycle.