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A mountain bike is a bicycle designed for
off-road cycling, including jumps, and traversing of rocks and washouts, and steep declines, either on dirt
trails, logging roads, or other unpaved environments. Bicycles typically used for mountain biking need to be
able to withstand off-road use and the surmounting of obstacles such as logs and rocks. Most mountain bikes
use 26 inches bicycle wheels with wide, knobby tires for extra traction and shock absorption. In the
current century, front wheel suspension has become the norm and full front and rear suspension has become
increasingly common. Some mountain bikes are also fitted with bar ends on the handlebars to give extra leverage
for hill-climbing.

Since the development of the sport in the 1970s, many new subtypes of mountain biking have developed, such as
cross-country (XC) biking, all-day endurance biking, Freeride-biking, downhill mountain biking, and a variety
of track and slalom competitions. Each of these place different demands on the bike requiring different designs
to suit them. MTB development has included an increase in gearing, up to 27 speeds, to facilitate climbing and
rapid descents. Other developments have included disc instead of cantilever or V-brakes.
Mountain bikes can be classified into four categories based on suspension:

* Fully rigid: A frame with a rigid fork and fixed rear, no suspension.
* Hardtail: A frame with a front suspension fork and no rear suspension.
* Soft tail: A frame with small amount of rear suspension, activated by flex of the frame instead of pivots.
* Dual or full suspension: A front suspension fork and rear suspension with a rear shock and linkage that
allow the rear wheel to move on pivots.