Bicycle Mountain Bike
Nearly all mountain bikes utilize wheels together with rims which are 559mm in ISO sizing, terminology referred to as “26-inch”, although the term is inaccurate as it addresses too numerous rim and tire sizes to be significant. Wheels used on mountain bikes typically use wide, knobby tires for great traction on unequal terrain and shock assimilation.
In the present century front wheel suspension has become the norm and full front and rear suspension has become more and more common. Various mountain bikes are usually fitted with bar ends on the handlebars to give extra leverage for hill-climbing.
Because the progress of the sport in the 1970s numerous brand new subtypes of mountain biking have developed, such as cross-country (XC) biking, all-day endurance biking, Freeride-biking, downhill mountain biking, and a wide range of track and slalom competitions. Just about every of these place different demands on the bike requiring various designs for optimal performance. MTB development has integrated an increase in gearing, up to 30 speeds, to facilitate both climbing and rapid descents. Other developments include disc instead of cantilever or V-brakes.
Bicycle Mountain Bike History
The history of the bicycle mountain bike history comes with efforts from cyclo-cross in Europe, the Roughstuff Fellowship in the UK. The name mountain bike primary made an appearance in print in 1966 as “mountain bicycle”. The mountain bike was a modified heavy cruiser bicycle used for freewheeling down mountain trails. The sport have become popular in the 1970’s in Marin county.
The 2007 documentary film, *Klunkerz: A Film About Mountain Bikes, looks at this period of off-road cycling in detail. However, it was not until the late 1970s and early 1980s that road bicycle companies started to manufacture mountain bicycles using high-tech lightweight materials. The first mass production mountain bike was the Specialized Stumpjumper produced in 1982. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, mountain biking moved from a little-known sport to a mainstream activity.
Until the late 1990s, mountain bike bicycles often had road bicycle style frames and geometry. In the 2000s, mountain bikes often use frames designed for off-road use, which strengthened to withstand jumps and impacts and which use a geometry that allows for much more spirited riding over obstacles like logs, rocks, and ramps.
In the 2000s, mountain bikes often have either 21, 24, or 27 speeds, with 3 gears in the front and 7, 8, or 9 gears at the rear wheel. Thirty-speed mountain bikes have previously been unworkable, as the mud-shedding capabilities of a ten-speed cassette, and the intricacies of a ten-speed rear derailleur have never been suitable.
However, many pro-level mountain bikers have taken to using a narrower 10-speed road chain with a 9-speed setup in an effort to reduce the weight of their bike. In early 2009, component group SRAM announced their release of their XX groupset, which uses a two-speed front derailleur, and a ten-speed rear derailleur and cassette, similar to that of a road bike. Mud-shedding capabilities of their ten-speed XX cassette are made suitable for MTB use by extensive CNC machining of the cassette. Due to the time and cost involved in such a product, they are only aimed at top-end XC-racers.
