Bike Types

 

This is a very very basic guides to bike types, and really doesn’t go into any detail,  as you get more confident and ride more, the more your understanding increases and the more fussy you can get (apparently I'm now OCD with my bike) obvs. I would choose to dispute this 🤣

I would suggest that you look at what you sort of rides you are doing before deciding what sort of bike you want;

  • If you want to race and do time trials, a racing/aero bike would be best  
  • If you are planning to do longer ride an endurance bike might be best  
  • For bumbling to the shops and back, a hybrid would probs. be good
  • If you want to go on the road and do some easy trails a Gravel bike might be best
  • If you cant decide what you want to use it for, then maybe start with a hybrid

 

Gears

Different bikes have different gears for different types of riding. Mountain Bikes have different gears to Road which have different gears to Gravel bikes. Let’s not get too wrapped up in gears at the moment, I’ll put that on another blog soon. For the moment decide what sort of cycling you will be doing, generally speaking the gears put on a bike when you first buy it are suited to the type of bike you are buying.

Road bikes

These are for what they say on the tin, for riding on the road

Generally have dropped handle bars, narrower tyres

There are lots of sub categories, for example (I've not listed them all)

  • Aero bikes usually used for racing, time trials etc.
  • Endurance; used for longer more relaxed rides
  • Touring bikes; generally used for touring they can have lots of mounts/racks/bags on them

Mountain Bikes

These have wider, big nobbly tyres and are used off road on very rough surfaces & trails

  • Hardtail bikes - Suspension at the front of the bike
  • Full Suspension (also known as Full Suss) has suspension at the front and back of the bike
  • The handlebars are flat, with essential grips
  • The wheel sizes can different, the large 29” will go  faster than 26” wheels. 

 

 

Gravel Bikes

 

Dropped handlebars (usually) with tyres that are wider than road and narrower than mountain bikes. Use it on easier trails but also on road as well.  The design allows for a more relaxed riding style than a road bike.

The gears on a gravel bike can vary greatly and are generally a mix between the mountain bike and road bike.

Hybrid Bikes

 

 

Usually flat handlebars (like a mountain bike), a much more relaxed riding position, much more upright.  Lots of people use these for commuting, around town, shopping, that sort of thing 😊