What type of bike suits me?
Looking for a new bike but not sure what type of bike you should be looking at? There's so many different types of bicycle available now it's not always easy to decide what type of bike best suits your needs.
Hopefully this article will help explain the many different types of bicycle available and help you to decide which type best suits your needs.
We'd always recommend that you buy a bike that suits the activity you do most often (although if you want to buy a bike just because it looks cool that's fine too!)
So firstly what do you want your new bicycle for? Do you want to fly down the side of mountains and hit big jumps? do you want a bike for commuting maybe? or maybe you're after a bike which can handle both road and some light off-road tracks? Or do you want to dress head to toe in lycra and try and set your new PB on Strava?
There is no one bike suits all solution unfortunately which is why many keen cyclists have multiple different types of bikes in their garage.
Most people who are new to cycling tend to look for a mountain bike because it seems to be the most used name in terms of different cycling disciplines. However unless you actually want to ride your bike off road a mountain bike is not always the best choice.
Below are the main types of bicycle available today and what they are designed for:
Downhill bikes - Designed for riding the roughest, toughest and steepest terrain possible, including large jumps and drops, as the name suggests, these are intended to be ridden downhill only
Road bikes - Designed for road riding only
Mountain bikes - Designed primarily for off road riding (can be ridden anywhere but are not the best choice if you are only going to ride on the road) there are now many different "sub categories" of mountain bike such as hardtail, full suspension, trail and enduro
Gravel bikes - Designed to be ridden both on road and along light off road tracks and paths
Hybrid/Commuter bikes - Designed for a bit of everything, the typical all rounder
Cross Country bikes - Designed for off road trails with steep climbs as well as descents, available in both short travel full suspension and hardtail versions
Cyclocross bikes - Designed for a bit of everything but primarily a road bike style set up with more aggressive off road tyres
Touring bikes - Designed for carrying loads on the bike over longer distances and remaining comfortable even after a long time in the saddle
Ebikes - Ebikes are available in pretty much every type of bicycle above now, they share the same main purpose as each of the bikes above but with electrical assistance to allow you to travel greater distance with less effort and more riding = more fun!
Women's bikes - Women's specific bikes are again available in pretty much all of the styles of bicycle above, they typically have smaller frame sizing and on some types a lower top tube
Jump bikes - Jump bikes do what the name suggests, they are designed for jumps and tricks and not much else!
Kids Bikes - There are a huge range of kids bikes now available on the market which are more capable than ever! There are many different types of kids bikes available from the categories above, the main difference being that the frame sizes are smaller and the wheels also tend to be smaller than adult bikes (typically 24 inch)
Unless you're certain about what type of bike you're looking for, we'd always recommend giving us a call or visiting our store to discuss what your primary needs for the bike are. From there we can recommend not just the best type of bike to look at but also advise you on the correct sizing as well.
We hope this article shed's a bit more light on the best type of bike to suit you.
Pedalz