A mountain bike is considered as being a bicycle that is designed specifically for mountain biking, either on dirt trails or on other unpaved environments. Mountain bikes are different from regular bikes in a number of ways. For one they have wide and knobby tires for extra traction and shock absorption.
As well, most mountain bikes are fitted with bar ends on the handlebars, however with the increase in the popularity of riser handlebars, fewer riders now tend to use bar end extensions.
There are basically four different classifications of mountain bikes, which are: fully rigid, which is when the frame has a rigid fork and fixed rear with no suspension; hard tail, which is a frame with no rear suspension, and these bikes are usually used with front suspension; soft tail, which is a frame with a small amount of rear suspension, but activated by the flex of the frame instead of by the pivots; dual or full suspension, which is a front suspension fork and rear suspension with a rear shock and linkage that makes the rear wheel move on pivots.
There are many key components on the typical mountain bike, with one of the most critical of all being the mountain bike...