How to choose a mountain bike

Mountain biking for beginners

Choosing a mountain bike

There are two main types of mountain bikes. One type, 'Hard Tail' has suspension only in the front. Hard tails are a good beginner mountain bike, as they are cheap and offer a smooth enough ride suitable for Cross Country riding. The second is known as a 'Dual Suspension.' Dual Suspension includes suspension for the front and rear wheels. The advantage of this is Dualies (as they are sometimes known) offer a plusher ride and arguably more control, but have a high price tag. The first step in choosing a mountain bike is determining whether you want hard tail or dual suspension.

Before selecting what type of bike to buy, you should determine what type of trails you will be riding on.

You don't need a thousand dollar bike to enjoy this sport, but you should have a bike that can hold up to the rigors of mountain biking. If you're not sure if your bike will be able to, ask your local bike store to help you out.

Hard Tail	Dual Suspension
Hard Tail offers 2 advantages of Dual Suspension mountain bikes:	Dual Suspension offers 2 advantage over Hard Tail mountain bikes:
Cost - Much cheaper	Smoother - the ride is much smoother
Climbing - climb better	Faster - Faster on flats and downhill
Hard Tail mountain bikes are cheaper because they do not include a second shock, which cost around $300. This means for the same price a Hard Tail bike will have higher quality components - better shifters, higher quality brakes, better pedals, etc. than a Dual Suspension bike of the same price.	Dual Suspension mountain bikes are much smoother because of the two shock absorbers that cushion the front and rear wheels. These mountain bikes are much more comfortable to ride, and offer more control to the rider especially on rough, fast terrain.
Hard tail mountain bikes are better climbers because while climbing your pedal strokes are putting a lot of torque on the rear wheel which forces it to move forward. This force also wants to move the rear wheel up, and if there is a shock on the rear wheel some of your forward momentum is sucked into the shock and lost. Hard Tails have fixed rear wheels which translates into much more efficient climbing.	Dual Suspension mountain bikes are faster on flat and downhill sections because while riding you will encounter obstacles like rocks, roots, ruts and logs. If you hit an obstacle on a bike without any suspension your forward momentum is translated into upward force. Dual Suspension mountain bikes handle the upward force by absorbing them into their shocks so your forward momentum is not translated into an upward force and lost.
Hard Tail and Dual Suspension are the most common types of mountain bike suspension, however there is a second type known as a 'stiff' mountain bike. These do not have any suspension and are pupular with some racers obsessive over low weight bikes and recreational riders seeking a simple ride.

More about Dual Suspension

Many new mountain bikes integrate a "full suspension" design known as Dual Suspension or "Dualie", meaning that both the front and rear tire are fitted with a shock absorber in some form as the wheel attaches to the bike to provide a smoother ride as the front and rear wheels can now travel up and down to absorb the force of obstacles striking the tires. Dual suspension bikes are considerably more expensive, but this price increase equals an enormous performance upgrade as dual suspension bikes are much faster on downhill and flat sections than other forms of the mountain bike. This is because when the wheel strikes an obstacle its tendency is to bounce up. When the wheel does cause the bike to bounce some of the forward momentum of the bike is translated into an upward force that is quickly caught by gravity and lost as you come crashing back onto the trail. Dual Suspension bikes solve this problem by absorbing this upward force and absorbs it into the shocks of the front and rear wheels drastically decreasing the translation of your forward momentum into useless upward movement.