A mountain bike or mountain bicycle is a bicycle created for off-road cycling.
Mountain bikes are typically ridden on single track trails, fire roads, logging roads, and other unpaved environments. These types of terrain commonly include rocks, washouts, ruts, loose sand, loose gravel, roots, and steep grades (both inclines and declines). Mountain bikes are built to handle this terrain and the obstacles that are found in it like logs, vertical drop offs, and smaller boulders.
Mountain bike construction differs from a typical bicycle in many ways. The most noticeable differences are the inclusion of suspension on the frame and fork, larger knobby tires, more durable heavy duty wheels, more powerful brakes, and lower gear ratios needed for steep grades with poor traction.
Since the development of the sport in the 1970s many new subtypes of mountain biking have developed, such as cross-country (XC) biking, all-day endurance biking, Free ride-biking, downhill mountain biking, and a variety of track and slalom competitions. Each of these place different demands on the bike requiring different designs for optimal performance. MTB development has included an increase in gearing, up to 30 speeds, to facilitate both climbing and rapid descents. However, recently the "1 by 10" trend has emerged, simplifying the gearing to one sprocket in the front and 10 in the rear of the drive train. This allows for lighter component weights while still maintaining a large spread of gearing options. Single speed mountain bikes are also becoming more and more popular. Other developments include disc instead of rim brakes and 29" tires instead of the traditional 26" tires.
Mountain bikes are typically ridden on single track trails, fire roads, logging roads, and other unpaved environments. These types of terrain commonly include rocks, washouts, ruts, loose sand, loose gravel, roots, and steep grades (both inclines and declines). Mountain bikes are built to handle this terrain and the obstacles that are found in it like logs, vertical drop offs, and smaller boulders.
Mountain bike construction differs from a typical bicycle in many ways. The most noticeable differences are the inclusion of suspension on the frame and fork, larger knobby tires, more durable heavy duty wheels, more powerful brakes, and lower gear ratios needed for steep grades with poor traction.
Since the development of the sport in the 1970s many new subtypes of mountain biking have developed, such as cross-country (XC) biking, all-day endurance biking, Free ride-biking, downhill mountain biking, and a variety of track and slalom competitions. Each of these place different demands on the bike requiring different designs for optimal performance. MTB development has included an increase in gearing, up to 30 speeds, to facilitate both climbing and rapid descents. However, recently the "1 by 10" trend has emerged, simplifying the gearing to one sprocket in the front and 10 in the rear of the drive train. This allows for lighter component weights while still maintaining a large spread of gearing options. Single speed mountain bikes are also becoming more and more popular. Other developments include disc instead of rim brakes and 29" tires instead of the traditional 26" tires.
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