Mountain Bike Designs – The Most Common Ones

This article will introduce you to the most common types of mountain bikes with their own features that differentiate one from another. You must pay attention to their features and decide which one the most suitable is for you. All of them are however designed to suit off-road biking, whether they serve for racers or leisure riders.

Four basic types come as the most common ones and they are as follows:

• The fully rigid type is represented by a conventional bike in the way you imagine it to be: without suspensions and with all the basic elements included to make a simple type of bike. It is mostly used by bikers who have been used to this type because it offers a better way to keep it under control but it is fast replaced by other types although they come at a lower price than the other designs that have suspensions. This is the reason why many bikers will prefer purchasing the rigid type: a more accessible price.
• Hard-tail mountain bike is another common type and they come with a conventional design of the rear part (doesn’t have suspension at the rear) while presenting suspension in the front. This type is largely preferred by enthusiast bikers and professionals due to the comfort ensured by front suspensions.
• Soft-tail mountain bike is represented by the feature of rear suspension which is the latest innovation in the industry. This type of suspension is very complex in design and at the same time, it comes with a higher price on the market.
• Full suspension mountain bike represents the type of bike that holds both front and rear suspensions resulting in a more complex design. This type was avoided for a long time by many riders due to its heaviness and the tendency of sagging in the middle. Only in the 90s, these bikes started to be marketable as a result of years of working at its fully functional suspension.

Mountain bike designs also differ from one another in the break system, because there are bikes ‘equipped’ with caliper brakes and others with drum brakes. Caliper brakes are designed to associate with the bike type by squeezing the rims to slow and stop the vehicle. Drum brakes work in the same way automobile breaks work. This last type of brake comes with a more expensive price tag as compared to caliper brakes equipped bikes.

The tire size is another element that makes one mountain bike differ from another. The size ranges between 24″ to 29″ with the smaller size used for bikers who are looking for improved maneuverability and a larger size used when the biker needs to gain more speed.