How to choose a mountain bike depends on what you are going to do with it, if all you want your new mountain bike for is going for a ride in the woods with the dog or a nice leisurely ride on the canal path you wont need a fully suspensioned downhill bike with 10cm travel on the forks and an articulated rear end with damping and rebound control.

Where To Start.

If you do want to go for an easy ride in the park you do not need to spend too much, if you think you will go riding off road then big tread tires maybe all you need, but if you think you might try some rough stuff then you will need suspension.

Gears will probably be Shimano, brakes must be V-brakes, but could be made by a few different manufacturers, all the rest of the MTB components will depend on how much you can spend. If you go to your local bike shop or big sports store and see what they’ve got to offer, then buy it or have look on the Internet and maybe you might find the same thing at a cheaper price.

The Next Step Up.

So maybe you want to be a bit more adventurous, more off-road, more forest tracks and dry boulder river beds, then you’ll need a lighter bike, with suspension forks. All this will cost you more money, but will be worth it for the extra enjoyment and adventure. With a better mountain bike it will have a sportier handling and because it is lighter, it will be easier to struggle up the hills before you come flying down the other side. The components will again be Shimano and the quality will depend on how much money you can spend. V-brakes and Rapid-fire gear shifters, along with Shimano chain set, bottom bracket and headset. Handle bars, stem and seat pin should be alloy and along with a comfortable saddle you’ll be ready to take to the hills.

More Money, More Bike.

The next rung up on the mountain bike ladder would be good enough to race on. There are many to choose from, get on the net and surf the bike manufacturers sites and all the shop sites along with the magazines for juicy photos of the bikes.

The top manufacturers in this price range, I would say are: – Trek, Giant, Specialized and Cannondale, these companies make the nicest frames with the best mountain bike parts available at the price, gears will be either Shimano or SRAM, brakes could be V-brakes or cable disc brakes, both are very good and light, most of the other MTB parts, of course will be Shimano and as usual get the best you can afford. There are many combinations of hubs and rims to make up your wheels; hubs from Shimano and rims form Mavic are the usual mix. Then you have to choose which suspension forks to put on you bike, you may not get a choice, depending on which bike you buy, the main ones are Marzocchi, RST, Manitou, Fox, RockShox and Suntour suspension forks buy any of these and you will not go far wrong.