If you want to take your bike off-road on gritty, bumpy trails and tracks then a Mountain Bike is probably for you. However, there are several different categories. This advice section covers the 'general Mountain Bike' which is best described as a bit of an all rounder. A typical all rounder Mountain Bike will have suspension at the front and possibly at the rear too, plus a light weight frame and a high ratio of gears to help the rider tackle almost any gradient.
The best way to split the general Mountain Bike category down is by price bracket. The most common type is the sub £200 Mountain Bike, but often the parts are not engineered well enough for hard core off road cycling so these are usually only suitable for riding around town and on paths. If you're looking for a bike to get to and from work on then a Hybrid, Commuter or Town and Trail bike is much more likely to suit your needs.
Once you move above this price bracket you will find that the level of engineering drastically improves. Spend more than £200 and you will get a bike that performs better with parts that last much longer.
Where we've felt there is a great enough split we've given the other various styles of Mountain Bike their own individual descriptions. These are as follows:
