Mountain Bikes

The point and design of a mountain bike.General Description...

Mountain bikes have tough frames, good brakes, lots of gears and knobbly tires - perfect for riding off the beaten track. The riding position is quite upright so you can see that tree you’re about to crash into! Suspension is now common, for two reasons: it’s more comfortable, and it can increase traction. Mountain Bikes, however, do not necessarily all have suspension, some have rigid forks and frames, others just have suspension forks and some have suspension front and rear.

A related breed of bike is the ATB or All Terrain Bike. This is generally less of a serious bike than a mountain bike (MTB), more for pottering along canal towpaths than proper off-road riding.

Types of MTB:

XC (Cross Country) -
This is for what most of us do anyway - a bike for generally playing around in the woods. It may have suspension, but not to an extreme, and will have a good spread of gears and good brakes. Ideally suited to rough but well worn off-road paths and tracks.

Freeride -
Added as a style to suit the pedants who believe this style to be something significantly different! A true freeride bike (I am informed) has lots of suspension but without the weight of a full-on downhill bike. Designed for jumps and berms and fast off-road riding.

Downhill -
For serious nutters only. The idea of downhilling is to get yourself down a path, track or dirt road as fast as possible. A downhill bike has a lot of suspension, very solid frame and components, and very powerful brakes.

Slalom or Trials -
Two related disciplines, both of which involve jumping and precision riding. Bikes have small, very strong frames, some suspension, lots of low gears, and very good brakes.

Pros...

Very versatile - you can use an MTB for anything from commuting to travelling across Outer Mongolia. There’s a huge range available, with prices from £60 to in excess of £6000. The fitting of less knobbly tyres will make the bike usable on tarmac.

Cons...

Bare MTBs need lots of extras to make the most of other uses - slick tyres, mudguards and lights for commuting, for example. Cheaper models fitted with suspension are, on the whole, a waste of money and VERY heavy. Often, cheaper suspension fails to give any benefit.

Expect to Pay...

As with BMX there are lots of bikes which look like mountain bikes. These are often referred to as ATB's. These start from as little £60, but you should really expect to pay no less than £250-£300 for a bike which is worth buying if you want to do any kind of off-road riding.

MTB's are the style of bikes which most puts people off cycling. Because the prices start so low, and supermarkets, catalogues and cheap outlets see them as some form of commodity like baked beans, meaning that many many people are succoured into buying a cheap "Mountain Bike". Components are of extremely low quality and can fail very quickly, and, perhaps most importantly, bikes from these types of outlet rarely come fully or correctly assembled meaning that many many bikes out on our roads are plain dangerous. In turn, these bikes get chucked in the shed and forgotten about. What a waste of money. If you feel that a mountain bike is the best type of bike for your intended usage, forget these cheap skips and instead look at bikes which you will enjoy riding. £125-£150 will get you a bike which is at least safe (if adjusted & assembled correctly) but for hard off-road riding, you really need to be looking above £200.