The heyday of mountain bikes, also known as mountain bikes, can be traced back to the eighties and nineties, around which time happy and unhappy people bought such bikes. This phenomenon persisted even in the first decade of the new millennium, regardless of who used it and on what terrain. Obviously, the appearance of the classic mountain bike has changed a lot since then, but its main characteristics are the following: robust wheels, with balloon tires (wider than 50 mm/2 inches), off-road pattern, traditional, relatively wide handlebars, front (and even rear) telescopic, wide with a gear range for extreme off-road conditions.
It is important to mention that the majority of the cheap bargain bikes in department stores only model mountain bikes, unfortunately many people still choose this category. These bikes were/are sold to the unsuspecting under the pretext that they are "strong, durable and will go through anything". Thick tires and "decorative telescopes" easily convince customers of this, and the price of less than HUF 100,000 is promising for a product that looks almost exactly like a real mountain bike worth several times more.
The truth is that the indestructibility of a bike has little to do with the tire size and the pointlessly heavy, but horribly lousy frame and fork will not be more durable than a conventional one. For unsuspecting buyers, it is important to point out that they should not even think of buying such a cheap product, which cannot be called a mountain bike in any way. In addition, nowadays the range of bicycles is so diverse that it is worth buying a real mountain bike for a relatively narrower group. Let's see who...
In our previous section, we discussed the two main questions of choosing a bicycle, in the case of mountain bikes it is clearly "Where do we use it?" the final. It is worth choosing a mountain bike for those who take advantage of balloon all-terrain tires and damping, that is, for those who ride on real terrain, even on stony, rooted paths, particularly steep slopes and uphills. Village dirt roads, bumpy forest paths, and hilly terrain do not justify the use of a mountain bike at all, a cross, trekking or gravel bike is more than enough for these. with which we are better on asphalt.
How do we use mountain bikes? Primarily for relaxation, hiking, hobby cycling on suitable terrain, the latter obviously includes more extreme use, downhill, dirt or street style. If we have a bicycle, it is also suitable for transportation as a compromise solution, but this is not its main field of application.
There are countless subcategories, and mountain bikes can be grouped from several points of view: rigid-tail or all-telescopic, shorter, longer spring-travel bikes and, of course, versions with electric assistance. In terms of use, there are different subcategories for hiking, enduro, racing, and extreme use, as well as special versions, such as fatbikes or dirt, street, and trial bikes. In the next part, we will talk about the subcategories!
