Types Of Mountain Biking

Mountain biking isn’t one type of riding, but a term that encompasses a whole range of different styles. Riding up mountains, racing back down them or getting technical on trails, there are four main categories of mountain bike riding that you need to know about.

In this guide, we look at the most popular types of mountain biking and why they matter to you and your choice of bike.

Why does it matter what type of mountain biking I’m doing?

For every different type of mountain biking, you’ll find different types of mountain bikes. If you’re buying a new mountain bike, you should buy one that’s suitable for your type of riding.

We can break down mountain biking into four categories.

1. Cross-Country or XC
2. Trail riding
3. Downhill
4. Enduro

Here we delve into the details a little more!

Cross-Country or XC

Cross-country (also known as XC) mountain biking is a discipline of mountain biking that emphasises endurance,speed, and efficiency over a variety of terrain. As one of the most established forms of mountain bike, it’s perfect for both recreational riders and competitive athletes.

XC cycling typically involves forest paths, singletracks, fire roads and even paved pathways. Expect long ascents and descents, with a focus on fun and speed. Cross country riding is all about tackling what’s in front of you, riding up, down, over and under obstacles.

Cross country mountain bikes are competent all-rounders with the key focus being efficiency and speed. XC bikes can be split into two categories: hardtails and full suspension. The key difference being that hardtails do not have rear suspension. With these bikes, you’ll find a lightweight frame, large range of gears, drivetrains, fast rolling tyres, 100-120mm of suspension travel and geometry to help tackle steep climbs and to provide comfort for big days out on the bike.

Trail riding

Trail mountain biking is all about enjoying the ride, rather than racing. Trail riding focuses on exploring different trails, challenging yourself on technical sections and enjoying the flow of the trail. This style of mountain biking overs the perfect balance between cross-country and the more aggressive style of Enduro riding.

The UK has some fantastic trail riding centres, with purpose-built tracks and trails that will test every rider. Although terrain varies across the centres, you can find common features such as a mix of climbs, descents, and technical features like rocks, roots, burms and jumps.

Trails bikes need to be tough and enable the ride to confidently climb and descend. Usually, a full suspension affair with between 120-150mm of travel. Trail bikes will have wider handlebars, tyres with more aggressive tread and powerful brakes. All of these components will help deliver the confidence you need as you descend challenging trails or roll along flowing singletrack.

Downhill

Downhill bikes are built for racing or riding on very steep, rough, and technical downhill trails. This is the most extreme form of mountain biking. You’ll find full suspension set-ups with high-travel suspension to soak up the lumps and bumps and smooth out the ride. These bikes are built to handle the most challenging terrain and high speeds, whilst offering maximum control and durability.

Downhill riding focuses solely on the descent, with all components designed to deliver maximum descending performance with very little focus on pedaling performance. Many downhill rides will use lifts or shuttles to get to the top of courses. The UK is home to several world class downhill bike parks which offer lift assisted riding such as Bike Park Wales, Dyfi Bike Park, Fort William Nevis Range and Revolution Bike Park.

Usually built with 200mm of suspension travel front and rear, handlebars up to 800mm wide, tyres with ultra soft compounds and thick sidewalls for stability, tight ratio cassettes and multi-piston brakes – these bikes are fine-tuned, highly specialist machines.

Enduro

Enduro mountain biking is a form of racing, commonly used to describe one of the most extreme types of riding. These bikes are focused on delivering the optimum descending performance, through their powerful geometry similar to a downhill bike and suspension that prioritises grip and bottom-out resistance.

Enduro mountain bikes are epic go-anywhere, ride-anything machines. These bikes are perfect for downhill tracks which are linked together with single track or forest g ravel roads to get you nack to the top for your next adrenaline-fuelled run. With large jumps, drops, rocks and steep sections – your skills are sure to be tested when it comes to enduro racing.

Choosing a mountain bike

It may be that you enjoy a bit of all these disciplines during your regular rides, and that’s OK. These classifications are basic and are meant to help you understand what some of the terms mean.

The most important thing is to find the right sized mountain bike that’s affordable, comfortable and a pleasure to ride - which is where Halfords can help. Check out our mountain bike buyers guide and video, or drop in to a local Halfords where you can view our range of bikes and speak to our expert staff.

It doesn’t matter whether you want to ride trails, mountains, up hills or race down them, we’ve got the right mountain bike for you.