Mountain bikes, Parts, and Accessories
Hello and welcome to mtnbikes.net. We are a site designed in bringing you the latest information on everything in the world of mountain biking. We are a purely informational site and we do not support or endorse any one particular product or method. We only want to bring you the best news that is available out there.
Mountain Biking is defined as riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain. But it is so much more than that. It’s a release from the stresses of your everyday life. It’s a great way to get out and exercise, not to mention the views you get to see as well as the challenges you get to put your body through.
Mountain Biking is often broken down into four categories, cross country, downhill, free ride, and trials/street riding. Each has differing levels of safety-consciousness with different types of mountain bikes and riding gear.
The most important piece of equipment is the obviously the Mountain Bike itself. Without a good quality Mountain Bike, you are not going to enjoy the ride. And to go along with the bike you’re going to need high quality tires. Mountain bike tires are thicker and include much more traction on them than a regular road bike tire.
Most mountain bikes share similar characteristics that make sure they have durability and performance in rough terrain, wide, knobby tires, large frame tubing, front fork or dual suspension shock absorbers. The durability factor means a far heavier bicycle weight to rider ratio than their road touring cousins.
Mountain Biking requires endurance, self-reliance and bike handling skills, and can be performed almost anywhere from a back yard to a gravel road. The majority of mountain bikers ride off-road trails, whether country back roads, or through narrow trails that wind through forests, mountains, deserts, or fields.
There are aspects of mountain biking that are more similar to trail running than regular bicycling. Because riders are often far from civilization, there is a strong ethic of self-reliance in the sport.
Riders learn to repair their broken bikes or flat tires to avoid being stranded miles from help. This reliance on survival skills accounts for the group dynamics of the sport. Club rides and other forms of group rides are common, especially on longer treks.
It was not until the late 1970s and early 1980s that road bicycle companies started to manufacture mountain bicycles using high-tech lightweight materials. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, mountain biking moved from a little-known sport to a mainstream sport.
Bicycle pedals vary from simple platform pedals, where the rider simply places the shoes on top of the pedals, to clipless, where the rider uses a specially equipped shoe with a sole that engages mechanically into the pedal. Pedals with toe cages are rarely used as they take longer to get out of than clipless or platform if one takes a fall on the rough terrain (whether rock or tree roots and branches).
Mountain bike pedals sometimes require the wearer to wear specific mountain bike shoes that secure the two together. Although pedals and shoes like this are found more often for racing bikes, they are sometimes worn by those on mountain bikes who do not want their feet to lose their grip while riding.
Make sure to always take precautions when out riding, as your safety is always the most important factor. Please refer back to us often as we are continually updating our site in an effort to bring you the latest information on all things Mountain Biking.
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