Freeride

Freeride Mountain Bike

Freeride mountain biking is closely associated with Downhill mountain biking and dirt jumping mountain biking. Like BMX bikes, it is popular to use these types of mountain bikes for tricks, jumps, style, and technical trail manuevers.

Freeride mountain biking is has become one of the most popular forms of mountain biking in America.

Freeride first caught on as a movement of riding a mountain bike on natural terrain, trail-less, without a pre-defined set of rules on direction, distance, or goal. As a Freeride rider, most look at the terrain, dynamically pick a creative line that showcases style, height, control, and if possible, a showy move. Freeride doesn’t focus on being the faster to a destination, instead their goal is to perform the best manuevers on their way to someplace, wherever it may be.

Most Freeride bikes have less suspension travel than other mountain bikes and focus on lighter weight. They exhibit shorter wheelbases than Downhill mountain bikes.

Freeride Mountain Bike Build

Typical setup of a Freeride mountain bike include:

Suspension: both front and rear
Suspension Travel
- Front: 7.9″ (approx) of travel with a single-crown or dual-crown fork
- Rear: 6.7″ to 9.8″ of travel
Brakes: Disc brakes, both front and rear.
Gearing: Unlike most other Mountain Bikes, it’s common to see a Freeride mountain bike with 3 different types of gearing
- Single: Equipped with a single chainring up fron and a single cog in rear. Much like a BMX bike.
- Shortrange: Outfitted with a single chainring up front and a cassette hub in rear containg 7-10 cogs.
- Longrange: Similar to the Shortrange with a single chainring up front, but containing 10-11 cogs in rear
Tubing: Strong but light, with aluminum and steel alloys common.
Weight: 30 to 35 lbs is a typical range