The Bicycle

Mountain Bikes

'Mountain Bike' is the name given to off-road bicycles used in rough terrain and tough conditions. Mountain bikes are required to be tough and durable to meet the demands of off-road biking. Mountain bikes will usually have wide and knobby tires, good suspension, riser handlebars and sometimes disc brakes.

If you are off mountain biking, you would want your mountain bike to hold true in the trying uphill and downhill conditions and the sudden and steep turns, diversions and aversions you would want to make. To achieve this, manufacturers of mountain bikes take great care in making sure that every part of the bicycle is in its proper place and at a specific angle to each other so that the balance and sturdiness of the bicycle is perfect. Besides, these mountain bikes are made of tough material so there is minimal wear and tear in the rugged off-road conditions. It is for these reasons that mountain bikes are often much more expensive than their regular counterparts.

Mountain biking and off-road biking have a long history. But, high-tech purpose-specific mountain bikes are much younger. The thrill of off-road biking was identified very early into the history of cycling. Cycle racing competitors also used off-road biking as a means to acquire practice and greater fitness and stamina which could be used in the on-road cycling events. Thus, mountain biking started with a need for adventure for the novice cyclist as well as for stamina and fitness for the professional cyclist. As for the origins of mountain biking as a sport in itself, many people trace it back to a racing event on Mount Tamalpais in the US state of California. It slowly gained popularity until manufacturers started competing with each other to produce the best bikes using high-tech, strong yet surprisingly lightweight materials. Thus, started the story of evolution of the awesome mountain bikes that we see today. Having said that, mass-production of mountain bikes was first successfully attempted in 1983 in Japan. These bikes had as many as 15 gears.

Based, on the design, modern mountain bikes can be classified into four basic groups.

 

• Fully Rigid: These will have no suspension at all. The fork and frame are formed rigidly.
  
• Hard Tail: These bikes have no suspension in the rear, but fork suspension in the front.
  
• Soft Tail: The frame here, will have a little bit of suspension in the rear which is activated by the flexing of the fame and not by pivots.
  
• Dual or Full Suspension: These will have front suspension forks as also rear suspension using pivots.
  

These are basic classifications of mountain bike designs. There is a much wider variety of mountain bike designs available, each made to suit a specific use or terrain that the mountain bike is subjected to.

Mountain bikes have been fairly popular for sometime now. Newer designs and innovative additions are being added everyday to the already wide range of mountain bikes available. Bikes used for dirt jumps etc. are an example of a new trend. These have rigid forks that enable the rider to transfer the impact force onto the ground which is necessary for the tricks that are performed in dirt jumping. Of late, there are even resorts coming up completely dedicated to mountain bikers, much on the line of ski resorts. Mountain bikes continue to be continuing source of excitement and entertainment and it doesn't seem like their popularity will fade away anytime soon.