An Overview of the Basic Mountain Bike Parts

Mountain biking is a fun sport. It promotes good exercise and appreciation of the great outdoors. A mountain bike is a specifically designed bicycle to maneuver over rough terrain and off road areas. It also has several specific parts that are usually used for mountain bikes only.

The frame or body is the most important of the mountain bike parts because this is the biggest and this is your basis for all your other mountain bike parts. It is here that you will attach all the other parts that you will need to be able to use your mountain bike. Frames come in many sizes and shapes and even have different materials depending in the rider's preference.

Bike frames come in steel alloys, very heavy and used in the first generation mountain bikes. The aluminum alloy frames are lighter and more rigid. They are also more affordable and easier to make in to the desired shapes because they are more pliable. Titanium frames are the most expensive among the lightest frames in the industry but they are also the most durable and less likely to corrode or break due to high pressure and stress. Other materials are carbon fiber and Kevlar. These frames are also light but they are prone to corrosion and are irreparable once dented or broken.

Other mountain bike parts are the handle bars which is used to control the bike along with the crank and derailleur. Handle bars are supposed to be as wide as the biker's shoulders but these can be cut to suit the biker's preference. Cranks are the mountain bike parts that are attached to the chain rings and the chains to make the bike move. Pedals are attached to the cranks for a biker's feet or bike shoes. Derailleur is the part used to shift the chain from one chain ring to another to change the speed of pedaling.

More mountain bike parts are the shifters and gears. These are connected to the previous mountain bike parts. The shifters control the derailleur to accommodate the shifting of the gears from a low speed to high speed. Gears are several rings that have teeth around them where the chains slip into place to be able to make the rear wheel move.

The brakes, wheels and tires are mountain bike parts that are also essential to ride. Brakes help to stop or slow the speed of the rider while the wheels and tires are specifically designed to withstand the rough terrain where the bike and rider go.

Most mountain bikes use front suspension or shocks to absorb the impact of the rough terrain. Dual suspension is used for comfortable or more stable riding in rougher terrain.

Mountain Biking Colorado, 2nd: An Atlas of Colorado's Greatest Off-Road Bicycle Rides

Where else can mountain bikers complement a day's bike ride with a dizzying glissade down a mid-August snowfield? Where else can they descend nearly 40 miles through five biogeographical zones? Where else can they catch a major league game and be ripping along rocky singletrack 30 minutes later? Colorado, that's where. Snow in August, lighting above timberline, and 100 degree desert temperatures are all to be expected in the sport of Colorado mountain biking. As the country's highest state, Colorado offers its mountain bikers a unique perspective into the sport and raises the bar for all who ride. Under the expert guidance of local cyclist Stephen Hlawaty, come admire the beauty and revere the majesty that is Colorado.

From this newly revised book, cyclists can expect exhaustive and comprehensive trail descriptions of more than 50 of the state's greatest mountain bike adventures, from beginner to advanced. Included are GPS-quality, digitally designed relief maps, and accurate route profiles showing the ups and downs of each ride. In addition, detailed directions get cyclists to the ride without getting them lost. Detailed mile-by-mile directional cues are also provided with difficulty ratings, elevation gain, trail contacts, and much more. More than 60 photographs round out this book's presentation. It's not just a mountain bike guide to Colorado. It's a guide to Colorado by mountain bike.

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