Cycling is a loved sport for many, from the lush forested terrain of central & northern England out to the dense urban environment of the country’s many metropolitan areas. The sports’ ease of accessibility is both a blessing and a curse for bicycle designers and the local authorities in which this mode of transport is most popular. For designers who are trying to keep their costs down, having to develop two versions of every bicycle design to fit such a varied set of local environments can be a real challenge and often results in two completely distinct designs.
In an urban environment, designers are blessed with a consistently flat tarmac or concrete surface to base their designs around which gives designers a solid foundation to base their designs around. The smooth finish of a man made ground surface removes the possibility for unexpected drops or rises which in turn allows designers to save weight and costs on the bicycles suspension. During construction of the path or road, all rocks, stones & other protrusions will be removed from the location, decreasing the need for thick & sturdy off-road tyres and instead allowing the implementation of the grippy & lightweight road tyres that we’ve all come to recognise thanks to popular cycling competitions such as the Tour de France & the Giro d'Italia.
In a natural environment the terrain is given form by the local environment, depending on where you are this can look like a peaty bog with a limited number of dirt paths through the landscape and a guaranteed repair bill if you deviate, or a forest trail with so many options for safe riding that the only limiting factor is your drive to continue.
With hazards from rocks, dirt holes, stinging & barbed plants its easy to see why so many people prefer to spend their time on a marked tarmac lane vs a disused forest trail, even if the former involves being within striking distance of a 2000kg vehicle. Still, there are those that would prefer to experience ‘the great outdoors’ as it was intended and so manufacturers continue to make bicycles for them.
Trail bikes differ from their road based cousins with a greater degree of travel on their suspension, larger tyres at the front and rear for stability, with deep cutting patterns for added grip along dusty trails & around those inclined corners. Further along the path of difference, a trail bikes frame will often be much stronger & heavier than a road bikes due to the fact that a trail biker tends to be much less concerned with the distance they’ve travelled (and therefore the weight they will have to carry with them) and more concerned with the height of their trail jumps, or the speed at which they pass through an appropriately named “Devils Elbow”.
With so many obstacles and hinderances to skirt around along the natural trail, its inevitable that someone somewhere is going to come off of their bike eventually… This is where a trail bikes thicker & heavier frame shines through, being able to tackle dints and scrapes with remarkable resilience.
In conclusion then, the best bicycle for you depends on what kind of terrain you’ll use it on. However, if you’re new to the hobby and still in the deciding stage, remember that a Trail bike can do trails & roads, whereas a road bike has a fair chance of being damaged on a trail and is best suited for cycling on roads only.
