Mountain Biking Styles

At Westbrook Cycles, we love the fact that our range of bikes caters for any mountain biker looking for a top quality mountain bike - which has been thoughtfully designed, is fit for purpose and is reliable. Mountain Bikes found across our site are massively diverse in both budget and design, with some bikes designed to ridden white knuckle style downhill, with other bikes being designed to maximise pace and progress across variable terrain.

Below, we cover some of the most common types of mountain biking, the types of bike used- and what they involve:

Trail Mountain Biking

Trail Mountain Biking is probably the most common type of mountain biking here in the UK - and it’s a type of mountain biking that can be as intense or as relaxing as you want it to be. Trail Mountain Biking covers a ‘typical’ day out mountain biking, enjoying both ascents and descents - with friends or alone. A hardtail mountain bike is usually sufficient for this style of riding.

Cross Country Mountain Biking

Cross Country Mountain Biking can be described as pretty close to trail mountain biking, with similar terrain being crossed, but at a more elevated and intense pace. Cross country bikes are designed to be lightweight, and have been designed to help get the rider across country in the shortest possible time frame. Cross Country Mountain Biking is also competitive, with some riders choosing to enter local and national competitions. 

Enduro Mountain Biking

Enduro Mountain Biking is perhaps one of the most intense forms of mountain biking - it involves the rider blasting across downhill trails, whilst also making good pace whilst ascending big hills and gradients. It’s one of the most challenging disciplines in the sport, and again - competitions are available at both a local level and a national level. 

Bikes designed for Enduro riding - are light enough to make progress uphill, whilst also having the right geometry and suspension travel to be able to tackle downhill trails. 

Downhill Mountain Biking

Downhill Mountain Biking is carried out on bikes which are fantastic to head downhill on, but pretty miserable things to be riding uphill on! The perfect example of true downhill mountain biking can be found across the Alps - were ski lifts in the summer months ferry downhill mountain bikers uphill, ready for some challenging descents. 

It’s true white knuckle stuff, and downhill mountain bikers will deal with jumps, berms, roots, rocks and other obstacles in their pursuit of downhill glory. Because of the risk of injury and high speeds of downhill mountain biking, riders typically wear full face helmets and body armour. 

Mountain Bikes Online from Westbrook Cycles

At Westbrook, we have the right bike for every mountain biker - from easy to ride hardtail mountain bikes, perfect for riders getting back into the sport after a long spell off (equally, getting into the sport for the first time) right across to carbon fibre framed downhill and cross country bikes which have been specifically designed for maximum performance in their field. 

As well as supplying bikes online, we are also able to offer specialist advice across any of our products, and if you get in touch with us, with your mountain bike preferences and requirements - we can happily help match you to your perfect mountain bike.