Mountain biking is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain, such as air or coil-sprung shocks used as suspension, larger and wider wheels and tires, stronger frame materials, and mechanically or hydraulically actuated disc brakes. Mountain biking can generally be broken down into distinct categories: cross country, trail, all mountain, enduro, downhill and freeride.
The Cannondale Bicycle Corporation is an American division of Dutch conglomerate Pon Holdings that supplies bicycles. Its headquarters are in Wilton, Connecticut, with engineering offices in Freiburg, Germany. Frames are manufactured in Taiwan. Bikes are assembled in Taiwan, as well as in the USA and in The Netherlands for the local markets.
Trek Bicycle Corporation is a bicycle, cycling product and electric motorcycle manufacturer and distributor under brand names Trek, Electra Bicycle Company, Bontrager, and Diamant Bikes. The company has previously manufactured bikes under the Gary Fisher, LeMond Racing Cycles, Klein, and Villiger Bikes brand names. With its headquarters in Waterloo, Wisconsin, Trek bicycles are marketed through 1,700 independently owned bicycle shops across North America, subsidiaries in Europe, Asia, South Africa, as well as distributors in 90 countries worldwide. Nearly all Trek bicycles are manufactured outside the United States, in countries including the Netherlands, Germany, Taiwan, and China.
Colnago Ernesto & C. S.r.l. or Colnago is a manufacturer of road-racing bicycles founded by Ernesto Colnago near Milano in Cambiago, Italy. It remained a family-controlled firm until May 4, 2020, when it was announced that the UAE-based investment company, Chimera Investments LLC, had acquired a majority of the Colnago shares from Ernesto Colnago, although the headquarters will remain located in Italy after the acquisition. Instead of following his family's farming business, Ernesto Colnago chose to work in the cycle trade, and was apprenticed first to Gloria Bicycles at the age of 13, and subsequently taking up road racing. After a bad crash ended his racing career, he began subcontracting for Gloria, and opened his own shop in 1954, building his first frames the same year. While building frames, he remained much in demand as a racing mechanic. He was second mechanic on the Nivea team Giro d'Italia under Faliero Masi in 1955, eventually being employed as head mechanic for the Molteni team of Belgian cycling legend Eddy Merckx in 1963.
Kona Bikes is a bicycle company based in the Pacific Northwest. The company was founded in 1988 by Dan Gerhard, Jacob Heilbron and Jimbo Holmstrom in Vancouver, BC. Their world headquarters are in Ferndale, Washington, with Canadian distribution offices in Vancouver, and European distribution offices in Monaco.
Giant Manufacturing Co. Ltd. is a Taiwanese bicycle manufacturer, recognized as the world's largest bicycle designer and manufacturer. Giant has manufacturing facilities in Taiwan, the Netherlands, China and Hungary. They have future plans for Vietnam to be the fifth location.
Tom Ritchey is an American bicycle frame builder, Category 1 racer, fabricator, designer, and founder of Ritchey Design. Ritchey is a US pioneer in modern frame building and the first production mountain bike builder/manufacturer in the history of the sport. He is an innovator of bicycle components that have been used in winning some of the biggest cycling competitions in the world including the UCI World Championships, the Tour de France and the Olympics. In 1988, Ritchey was inducted into the inaugural Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in Crested Butte, Colorado : and 2012, inducted to the United States Bicycle Hall of Fame in Davis, California.
Roberts Cycles is a custom bicycle frame building business that was originally located in Selhurst near Croydon, South London, and is now located in East Sussex, England.
Keith Bontrager is a motorcycle racer who became a pioneer in the development of the modern mountain bike. Between 1980 and 1995, he was president of his own Bontrager Company, which continues to develop components for Trek Bicycle Corporation after Trek bought out Bontrager.
Ibis Bicycles is a mountain bike manufacturer located in northern California, United States. It produces the popular Mojo, Ripmo, and Ripley mountain bike frames among other models. Ibis products are distributed in 33 countries.
A cruiser bicycle, also known as a beach cruiser or (formerly) motobike, is a bicycle that usually combines balloon tires, an upright seating posture, a single-speed drivetrain, and straightforward steel construction with expressive styling. Cruisers are popular among casual bicyclists and vacationers because they are very stable and easy to ride, but their heavy weight and balloon tires tend to make them rather slow. Another common feature is their ability to be customized with accessories including fenders, lights and saddle bags. They are designed for use primarily on paved roads, low speeds/distances, and are included in the non-racing/non-touring class and heavyweight or middleweight styles of the road bicycle type.
GT Bicycles is an American company that designs and manufactures BMX, mountain, and road bicycles. GT is a division of the Dutch conglomerate Pon Holdings, which also markets Cannondale, Schwinn, Mongoose, IronHorse, DYNO, and RoadMaster bicycle brands; all manufactured in Asia.
CCM is a Canadian bicycle brand owned by Canadian Tire. The brand was first used by the Canada Cycle & Motor Co. Ltd, founded in Weston, Ontario in 1899. CCM dominated the Canadian bike market for much of the 20th century before becoming bankrupt in 1983. The CCM trademark was then acquired by Procycle Group, while the company's hockey assets were sold off.
Ellsworth Handcrafted Bicycles is a bicycle manufacturer based in San Diego, CA. Founded by Tony Ellsworth in 1991, they produced a wide range of handmade bicycles made in the U.S.: mountain, road, beach cruisers, BMX, and fat bikes. The brand has gone through four ownership changes since 2014, and now focus on producing high-quality mountain bikes specifically in the genres of XC, trail, and enduro. Ellsworth also produce a designer/cruiser bike known as "The Ride"
Merlin Metalworks, Inc. was a US company that pioneered in titanium bicycle design and construction. Merlin introduced the first titanium alloy mountain bike, oversized tubesets, s-bend chain and seat stays for mountain bikes. For road bikes, Merlin commercialized the first titanium butted tubing and many other innovations.
Focus Bikes is a bicycle manufacturer that has its administration in Stuttgart, Germany and production facilities based in Cloppenburg, Germany and builds sport bicycles such as e-bikes, racing bicycles and mountain bicycles.
Klein was a bicycle company founded by Gary Klein that pioneered the use of large diameter aluminium alloy tubes for greater stiffness and lower weight.
Brodie Bicycles is a manufacturer of mountain, road, cyclocross and commuter bicycles based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Polygon Bikes is a bicycle's trade name made by PT Insera Sena, an Indonesian bicycle manufacturer based in Sidoarjo, East Java. Polygon operates manufacturing facilities in various places in Indonesia. Polygon has a globally connected design team, and commonly used as sponsor and its bike in bicycle competition.
Stelbel is an Italian manufacturer of racing bicycles, founded in 1973 by Stelio Belletti.
