Few hobbies manage to combine excitement with fitness so well as mountain biking. If you’ve recently decided to get into the sport of mountain biking as a hobby, then you’re in the right place.
As you probably already know, one of the most important decisions that you’ll make as you start your mountain biking journey is picking the right mountain bike for you. If you don’t yet know how to pick the best mountain bike, read on.
In this article, we’ll distill picking a mountain bike into a few easy steps.
Fit is Important Above All
Remember that the most important thing about the bike that you ride will be fit. A $5000 bike that doesn’t fit well won’t ride nearly as well as a $500 that is custom-built to your size.
The fit of the bike changes a lot about how you’ll use it. Firstly, the wrong fit can be dangerous if it doesn’t allow you to put your foot down easily to regain balance. Second, it will also provide easier riding — a bike that sits too low will put unnecessary pressure on your legs to provide thrust.
Think About the Terrain That You’ll Ride
Not all mountain biking terrain was created equal. Think about what kind of terrain your bike will mostly be going over. Are you going to be going through frequently-wet, muddy rainforest trails? Or will you instead be traveling over arid, dried out, hard terrain?
The type of terrain that you’ll ride will have a very significant impact on the winning bike that you end up choosing.
Consider Suspension Options
One of the biggest differentiators in mountain bikes is all of the different suspension options that are available.
The first type of suspension is dual or full suspension. With this suspension type, both the back and front wheels have a suspension system on them. This makes riding downhill at speed far easier if you’ll be going over very rough terrain.
A second type is only front suspension. When you only have front suspension, it’s easier to go up trails but harder to come down.
Last but not least, you have rigid bikes that don’t have suspension on either end. This is only recommended for very experienced riders that want an extreme experience.
Frame Material
Lastly, you’ll want to consider frame material. This will likely be the most significant decider as to the cost of the bike. The lighter and rarer the frame material, the more expensive the bike will be. If your budget is modest, you’ll probably end up having to go with an aluminum frame bike.
If you have a much bigger budget, then you can try springing for a carbon fiber frame.
How to Pick the Best Mountain Bike for You
There you have it — all you need to know about how to pick the best mountain bike for you. Remember that there’s no one size fits all here, so everyone’s answer to this important question will be different.
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