Mountain bikers need bikes with a shock system, such as full suspension, hard tail, or no suspension. The shock system is important because it helps to smooth out the ride on rough terrain by absorbing some of the shocks. Both the front and back of a full suspension bike have suspension. Instead of a front fork, hard tail bikes have a solid rear fork and a shock system. Less expensive mountain bikes don't have a shock system in the front or back.
Different kinds of mountain bikes to ride
Cross-country mountain bikes are best for riders with a small to moderate amount of training, and they can both climb and descend. The rear suspension system has less than four inches of travel, which does not make it hard to go up hills. Cross-country bikes usually have 28 gears, which gives you a wide range of gears for riding on different types of terrain.
Trail bikes are heavier than cross-country bikes because they are designed for more difficult mountain biking rides. The travel of the suspension on these bikes is between 4 and 7 inches. This extra travel makes the ride much smoother, but it also makes it harder to pedal uphill. Mountain bikers have to decide if the less efficient pedalling is worth the smoother ride.
Both the front and rear shocks on the downhill mountain bikes have up to eight inches of travel. These bikes are made so that they can race downhill. Because the shock systems have a lot of travel, it's hard to pedal uphill. Because of this, these bikes are almost always used for downhill races, where the shock systems make it possible to ride smoothly over rough terrain at high speeds.
Dirt jump bikes are another type of mountain bike. They only have a suspension system in the front and are used to fly over jumps. These bikes have 16 gears, which lets the rider get up to the speed they need for jumps.
