What type of mountain bike do I need?

26-07-21 | Simon

The type of mountain bike that best suits your needs is often determined by where you ride, what your riding partners ride and also what type of ‘mountain biking’ you like doing. Mountain bikes can be split into several categories from ‘recreational’, through ‘cross country’, ‘trail’ and ‘enduro/all-mountain’ to ‘downhill’. To make things simple most bikes are split into ‘hardtail’ - where the bike has a suspension fork on the front and a rigid frame and ‘full suspension’ - where there is a rear suspension system as well as a suspension fork at the front.

If you are looking for a bike to ride forest tracks and canal towpaths then you probably only need a hardtail with lightly treaded tyres and fewer heavy duty features. Whereas if you want to ride at trail centres or live in an area with rougher surfaced trails (rocks and roots etc.) then a full suspension mountain bike might be better.