What Exactly Is a Mountain Bicycle?

A mountain bicycle or mountain bike is sometimes referred to as a MTB or ATB for short. This type of bicycle was originally created for off-road use. The frame is stronger or heavier then standard road bikes because it is made to stand up to jumping and riding along rocky areas, hill sides and dirt trails or unpaved gravel roads. This type of riding obviously creates more stress on the bicycle and it's components then regular road riding. Generally the seating and handlebars will present somewhat of a more upright riding position then that of road bikes. Actually today you can upgrade a standard mountain bicycle by rebuilding a bike specifically to your desired specs by purchasing a high quality mountain bike frame and competition style components.

Generally speaking, the mountain bicycles will use wheel rims approximately 26 inches in diameter. More specifically the wheels are usually 559mm to be more exact. Tires for mountain bicycles vary but most will be knobby in style to provide good traction in an off-road environment. Today there are many variations in the frame construction but all mountain bikes will provide more travel and forgiveness than road bikes. Some of the newer styles include various types of suspension to better compensate for rougher use.

The sport of mountain biking has been growing in popularity since the early 1970's and today includes cross-country biking which is an all-day endurance trial, as well as downhill mountain biking which includes different types of track and slalom competitions. As you might expect the different uses have spawned new types of mountain bikes made specifically for competition in these events. Some real improvements have been made in the area of braking with the introduction of disc brakes instead of the common V-brakes. Today names like Mongoose bicycle have become quite familiar to those interested in mountain bicycles.

Mountain Biking -