In this paper, we explore the mechanics of bed particle saltation in turbulent wall-shear flow, analysing the forces on a particle to perform saltation. The hydrodynamic drag encompasses the form drag and turbulent drag. The hydrodynamic lift comprises the Saffman lift, Magnus lift and turbulent lift. The subtle role of the Basset force in governing the particle trajectory is accounted for in the analysis. The bedload flux, emanating from the mathematical analysis of bed particle saltation, is determined. The results reveal that for the particle parameter range 20-100, the transport stage function equalling unity corroborates the threshold of bed particle saltation, where the saltation height and length are 1.3 and 9 times the particle size. For a given transport stage function, the relative saltation height and length decrease with an increase in particle parameter. For the particle parameter range 20-100, the relative saltation height and length increase with an increase in transport stage function, reaching their peaks, and then, they decrease. For a given particle parameter, the peak and mean particle densimetric Froude numbers increase as the transport stage function increases. The bedload flux curves for particle parameters 26 and 63 produce the upper and lower bound curves, respectively. © 2019 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.