MTBs (Mountain Terrain Bike) or ATBs (All Terrain Bike) – popular bicycles dedicated for riding in various environments.
Mountain bikes, as its name say, were created to be ridden on mountain trails. Thanks to its construction, MTBs can handle easily terrain obstacles, thus are perfect for off-road cycling and unpaved grounds. Group of MTB/ATB lists a vast number of vehicles, including those dedicated for bicycle tourism (eg. enduro) as well as for sports (eg. DH – down heel; FR – freeride; or XC – crosscountry).
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Specificity of MTB bikes
A characteristic feature of a mountain bike are wide (up to 2.3”) wheels with a diameter of 26” and a thick tire with a deep, block tread. The entire construction of the MTB must be solid but light; with a fairly high support and a sloping upper frame tube. The low-set handlebars create a sloping, stretched stance, and its straight line ensures you stay in control even on bumps.
Horns are usually mounted on the handlebars to allow you to change your position and effectively transfer your body weight on climbs. The possibility of overcoming routes with different surfaces and inclinations is also possible thanks to a large number of gears – up to 32 gears and solid brakes – v-break or disc brakes.
Mountain bike suspension
When riding off-road, the type of depreciation significantly translates into the comfort and safety of the cyclist. There are rigid mountain bikes whose suspension is based only on thick tires and frame deflection, but they usually use different types of suspension. In this respect, they can be divided into hardtail, softtail and full suspension.
The first type, the most popular, has a shock absorber for the front fork, which allows you to easily overcome smaller obstacles and reduces the strain on your hands due to steering shocks. A softtail MTB will also have minimal rear suspension. The last type, called full, i.e. a bike equipped with full shock absorbers in both the fork and the rear. A wide variety of technical solutions are used in the rear suspension. Such a system ensures even greater contact of the bike with uneven, bumpy ground, but it works a bit worse on climbs.
Mountain bikes are currently a very wide category of equipment diversified in terms of technical solutions and specific applications. The common denominator for these variants is dynamic driving on varied terrain.
