Published on: 9 April 2014  | Last updated: 25 March 2018

Signs

• incrocio pericoloso — dangerous junction
• rallentare — slow down
• curva pericolosa — dangerous bend
• uscita mezzi pesanti/automezzi — entrance used by heavy vehicles
• strada chiusa — road closed
• strada chiusa a [x] km — road closed at the x-kilometre point
• deviazione — diversion
• divieto di transito — road closed
• frana — landslide
• strada disestato — road in poor condition
• bici a mano —  cyclists dismount
• discesa ripida — steep descent
• velocipedi cyclist
• vietato — forbidden 
• vietato appog­giare biciclette — do not leave/park bikes here 

Bike parts and repairs

Useful phrases

• there’s a problem with this — c’è un problema con questo
• it doesn’t work — non funziona
• it’s working badly/not working properly — funziona male
• I need — mi sirve […]
• I need a tool for this — mi sirve un utensile per questo — 
• I need a new inner tube like this one — mi sirve una camera d’aria come questa -
• can you do it today? — sarebbe possibile farlo oggi? — 
• how long will it take? — quanto tempo ci vuole?

Parts and consumables

• inner tube — una camera d’aria
• valve — una valvola (Schrader/Presta — you defin­itely don’t want Regina)
• tyre repair patch — un Tip-Top (this brand is so common it has become the word people use, but if you prefer, una pezza reparazione)
• tyre repair kit — un set di reparazione (or un set Tip-Top)
• tyre — una copertura (may also be referred to as un copertono — un copertoncino)
• folding tyre — una coperta pieghevole
• cable — un cavo
• gear cable (stainless steel) — cavo di cambio (acciaio INOX)
• chain (9-speed) — una catena (nove velocità)
• chainlube/lubricant —  lubri­ficante [per la catena]
• grease — grasso
• olio (eg for forks) — olio
• screw/bolt — un vito
• chainring bolt — un vito guarnitura
• chainring — una guarnitura
• water bottle — una borraccia
• bottle­holder — una portabor­raccia
• Co2 cartridge — una bomboletta di CO2 (‘ci-oh-due’)

Wheels and tyres

• 26-inch — ventisei pollice
• 2-inch — due police
• tyre lever — una levagomme
• puncture — un buco (or una foratura di camera d’aria)
• tubeless — tubeless (non-tubeless — montaggio con camera)
• quick-release — un bloccaggio rapido
• wheel(s) — la ruota — le ruote
• spoke(s) — il raggio (i raggi)
• rim — il cerco

Brakes

• brake — il freno (i freni)
• disc brakes — i freni a disco
• v-brakes — i freni V or i v-brake
• canti­lever brakes — i freni di corsa
• brake lever — leve freno
• brake blocks — i pattini di ricambio
• brake block holder portapattini
• disc brake pad — una pastiglia freno (or pads)
• a pair of disc brake pads — un paio di pastiglie (or una coppia di pastiglie) or due pad
• sintered/organic pad — una pastiglia sinterrazzata/organica
• resin pad — una pastiglia in resina
• brake fluid (for hydraulic brakes) — brake fluid

Transmission

• gears — le marcie
• pedal — il pedalo — i pedali
• front mech — il deragliatore anteriore
• rear mech - deragliatore posteriore or il cambio
• shifters - i comandi cambio
• bottom bracket — il movimento centrale
• external BB cups — le callotte delle guarniture

Other bike parts

• frame - il telaio
• forks — la forcella
• suspension fork - una forcella ammortizata
• seatpost — una regisella
• stem — piantone
• handlebars — il manubrio
• bar ends — gli appendici manubrio

Tools

• pump — una pompa
• mini-pump — una minipompa (probably best not to ask for a pompino (blow-job) in a bike shop)
• Co2 cartridge — una bomboletta di CO2 (‘ci-oh-due’)
• minitool — un minitool
• cassette tool — chiave cassetta
• spoke tool — una tira raggi
• screw­driver — una cacciavita ( — crosshead screwdriver)
• spanner — una chiave
• pedal spanner — una chiave per pedali
• cone spanner — una chiave per coni
• adjustable spanner — un chiave inglese
• chaintool — un estrattore catena
• allen key — una chiave esagonale
• spanner for chainring bolts — una chiavetta bussole viti guarnitura

Tools for hollowtech cranksets/external BBs

• Shimano tool for left hand  crank — una chiave per montare la ghiera pedivella sinistra
• external BB tool - una chiave per montare le calotte delle guarniture

Reading a route description

There’s always Google Translate, but sometimes but a few useful words and phrases can help to make sense of a route description.

• sinistra/destra — left/right (abbre­vi­ations SX or DX)
• dislivello — the amount of climbing
• impeg­nativo — a hard climb or ride
• difficile/medio/facile — difficult/average/easy
• strada — road
• strada sterrata — unsur­faced road (also carrareccia)
• fondo [stradale]- road surface (normally either asfalto or sterrato)
• sentiero — path
• pista/percorso ciclabile — cycle path but don’t assume it’s rideable with a roadbike
• percorso ciclope­donale — path shared with pedes­trians (pretty much all cycleways are shared with pedestrians)
• discesa — descent
• discesa ripida — steep descent
• salita — climb
• salita ripida — steep climb
• pendenza — gradient
• incrocio — junction
• scaricare [traccia GPS/roadbook] — download GPS track/roadbook]
• s.l.m — altitude above sea-level
• sede propria su asfalto — part of traffic-free cycleway with a tarmac surface
• sede propria su sterrato — part of traffic-free cycleway with aggregate surface
• sede promiscua a basso traffico — part of cycle route on roads with light traffic
• sede promiscua forte traffico — part of cycle route on busy roads