Mountain bike

A mountain bike is a bicycle designed for riding off-road, either on dirt trails or other non-pavement type environments.

While cyclo-cross bikes already existed, the earliest ancestors of modern mountain bikes were based around frames from road cruisers such as those made by Schwinn. Gary Fisher is normally credited with introducing the first purpose-built mountain bike in 1979. The first mass produced mountain bikes were produced by Specialized

Mountain bikes have fat, knobby tires for extra traction, and are usually fitted with shock absorbers on the front fork. Sometimes rear suspension is included as well. Major manufacturers in this arena include Answer/Manitou, RockShox, Marzocchi, Pace Racing, Fox Racing, Progressive Suspension, Romic and Rond/Magura.

Mountain bikes are also often fitted with bar ends on the handlebars. The bikes tend to have 26" wheels (though some XC bikes now have 29" wheels).

In French a mountain bike is called a VTT (v�lo toute-terraine: "all-terrain bicycle").

Disciplines

There are a variety of disciplines in mountain biking, and a variety of grey ares in between each of them, so the bikes tend to reflect that:

• Cross Country (XC) Mountain Bikes tend to have only a small amount of suspension, and weigh very little. This is achieved through the use of lightweight materials and suspension is provided by Air shocks.

• Enduro Mountain Bikes are generally heavier than XC bikes, and have more suspension travel. They are designed to cover long distances in comfort.

• "Freeride" Mountain Bikes are a step up again from Enduro bikes. They tend to have more suspension travel again, and are built from stronger, heavier materials. They are designed to be an all-rounder, able to cross distances (although not as quickly or efficiently as an XC bike) and able to take on dangerous and technical downhill trails (though not as quickly or effectively as a specialist downhill bike).

• Downhill Mountain Bikes tend to be very heavy (>40lbs) and have a lot of suspension travel. They are very strong and (in most cases) are suitable only for riding down dedicated downhill trails.

There are various other types of mountain bike available including Trials and Dirt Jump bikes.

See also:

• Mountain bicycling
• Mountain unicycle