First of all, they're not just for mountains... they are more often referred to as "Cross Country" bikes, designed to handle everything from easy trails to tricky forest rides, prepared for almost anything a cross-country adventure could throw at you. Mountain bikes use wide rims and knobbly tyres for better traction and stability. Many feature front suspension: shock absorbing forks supporting the front wheel that smooth out your ride over rougher terrain. In addition, some frame designs incorporate rear suspension, allowing the rear wheel to move independent of the frame, which increases traction over uneven ground and large obstacles. Three front chainrings and eight or nine gears on the rear wheel give you a total of 24 or 27 speeds for easier pedalling on difficult hills. Disk brakes are superb on mountain bikes, especially for demanding riders, but cost more, both in money and weight, than modern V-brakes, which still offer impressive stopping power. Most mountain bikes fall into two groups:

Full-suspension bikes are pure-bred offroaders, having both front and rear suspension with varying amounts of "travel". You will definitely appreciate this if you're looking to ride very rocky, technically challenging terrain like woodlands, mountain trails and rough tracks. Specialised versions are available for extreme sports use: Downhill, All-mountain (Enduro) and Freeride bikes have more travel and heavier, beefed-up frames.
Price guide: from £699

TIP: If you're not into the rough stuff, remember that rear suspension makes for a heavier and/or more expensive bike... you can always get a lighter, better-quality "hardtail" mountain bike for the same money. On the other hand, better-quality full-sus bikes can be very light (as little as 21 pounds) and a lot of people swear by their comfy ride for everyday cycling. With any bike, lower weight usually means higher cost and that's a decision you'll have to weigh up for yourself.

Hardtail bikes are the most common form of mountain bike. They have front suspension but fixed rear ends, like a "normal" bike frame. Some are designed to have a degree of flex in the frame to compensate. Hardtails have lighter, stiffer frames than full suspension bikes, and can be a better choice for uphill riding. If you might be interested in panniers or racks to carry your gear, you probably need a hardtail frame, as most racks are designed for them, rather than full-sus bikes. You might also want to look at Hybrid bikes.
Price guide: from £399, entry-level from around £160

Check out the CycleWorld Mountain Range...
Read more about mountain bikes at Wikipedia

In the old days this was the only kind of bike you could get. Times have changed and while road bikes are still very popular, the clunky boneshakers of old have given way to light, sleek machines built to cover distance at speed. Tyres are thinner and smoother than hybrid or mountain styles, which make them much faster on the road, if unsuitable for offroad use. Stiffer, more responsive frames can feel a bit "twitchy" at first, but no machine on earth will translate your effort into action more efficiently. Nine cogs on the rear wheel and two or three up front make easy work of steep hills, and innovations like integrated gear shift and brake levers allow you to change gears without moving your hands from the braking position. These newer bikes have almost nothing in common with that old 10-speed gathering dust in your garden shed. Investing in a new bike will re-invent the world of cycling for you if you're looking to re-establish yourself as a road-rider. Most road bikes fall into two groups:

Commuter bikes (also known as Citybikes, very similar to Touring and Comfort bikes) need to cater for your every practical need. These are true road bikes designed for casual and pleasure riding, normally housing a triple chainring at the front, with nine cogs on the rear wheel, for easy climbing and cruising at speed. They often come with  sprung saddles and seatposts to cushion your ride, and as weight is less of an issue, many comfort riders add accessories like rear-view mirrors and mudguards, if they don't already come with the bike. Comfort bikes tend to have a more upright riding position, slightly wider rims and fatter tyres.

Folding bikes have hinged frames and much smaller wheels so that you can easily fit them into the boot of your car. They can be the ideal commuter solution, although the folding frame design and low profile engineering does tend to make them a little too heavy for recreational use. If you want to use your commuter bike for fun rides at the weekend, maybe have a look at a Hybrid.
Price guide: from £235

TIP: Many road bikes come with extra mount points built into the frame itself, ready to take the full range of add-on accessories, from bottle cages to front and back pannier racks. Don't pick a bike just because it comes ready-fitted with what you want: open up your options, find the bike that fits you best and rides they way you want, then add accessories to suit your practical needs. 

Race bikes come in a range of guises: triathletes, time-triallers and track riders all use highly specialised machines based on the fastest, lightest frames available. Bikes geared for performance usually feature just two chainrings up front and have the absolute minimum of additional components, to reduce weight and improve efficiency, and to some extent all race bikes are based around this idea. Curved "drop" bars offer more hand positions and a lower, more aerodynamic riding position than a mountain bike, which may feel a bit odd if you're used to mountain bike bars. Speed also comes from super-narrow rims and extremely high-pressure tyres, which reduce friction to a minimum but provide very little cushioning: the ride is firm and can be hard on your wrists and backside if the road surface isn't so good. Where performance is paramount, a little less comfort is the trade-off... keep a clean line  though, and you'll experience the smoothest, most graceful ride cycling can offer. If grace, speed and efficiency are what you're looking for, these are the bikes for you.
Price guide: from £399, entry-level from around £160

Freewheel to the CycleWorld Road selection
Read more about bikes at Wikipedia

The best bet for a good all-rounder, Hybrids  are a cross between a Road bike and a Mountain bike: the light, sleek road bike frame is modified slightly to allow wider tyres to pass through the seat stays, but still look and feel like a road bike. Mountain bike bars, brakes, gears and even front suspension may be included to give the bike added off-road capability. Also known as Leisure bikes, they make ideal Tourers, having all the practicality, comfort and speed you want for extended road riding plus the ability to switch from highway to bridleway with confidence. More and more commuter riders are choosing hybrids for their speed and versatility. For the majority of casual cyclists – leisure riders and commuters alike – this is the only bike they'll ever need. If you’re new to cycling and not sure where it might take you, you should probably be looking at a hybrid. The only caveat is the usual one with any "jack of all trades": a true road bike will be faster over Tarmac and a proper mountain bike will take much more punishment offroad. Assuming rocky mountain trails and full-on road racing aren't your thing, stick to well-made tracks and a hybrid will handle pretty much anything you care to throw at it.
Price guide: from £249

Main differences: Hybrids tend to look more like road bikes, because that's where the frame tubing and geometry have evolved from. The frame is usually modified to take bigger wheels which otherwise wouldn't fit through the rear triangle, but it's difficult to see the difference; the tyres, owing more to the mountain bike, are what really stand out. Hybrid wheels often have the same bigger diameter (700c) as the road versions but have beefed up rims (usually 35mm) to take fatter tyres. A recent development is the hybrid tyre, which is smoother along the crown for cruising Tarmac and knobbly along the edges for cornering on loose and muddy tracks. The best ones have reinforced side walls and puncture-resistance built in, very reassuring when riding variable terrain. Hybrid frames are drilled out ready to take a range of accessories like panniers, racks and so on – not something you notice until they're mounted, but useful to know. You're likely to get mountain bike gears (21- or 27-speed) flat mountain bike bars and V-type brakes, all essential offroad kit, all perfectly good on the road. Look for other extras – like suspension forks, adjustable-rise bar stems and damped seat pillars – which tend to come with the better-quality bikes.

Have a look at the CycleWorld Hybrid selection
Read more about Hybrid Touring bikes at Wikipedia

Born in the desert, brought up in the city: Street bikes started out life on the American west coast as a way of bringing the sport of Motocross within reach of its younger fans: bicycle motocross, or BMX, was originally an offroad sport, with riders traversing a very short, technical dirt track course at speed. As the sport spread internationally, it took off in the inner-cities instead and eventually evolved into a street version: Freestyle BMX. Every major UK town and city now has at least one decent BMX park – a specially designated area with ramps, jumps and open paved areas – to give keen BMXers somehwere to hone those skills. This boosted its popularity to the point where different riding styles began to develop and with them, slightly different bikes. Jump bikes have the same squat frame geometry as BMX but are quite a bit bigger and may be fitted out more like a smooth-tyred mountain bike. The saddle is heavily padded and set low and inclined, like BMX, to allow plenty of vertical movement while standing on the pedals, but the Jump bike's bigger frame and suspension makes it a bit more comfortable to ride recreationally. So we divide our Street bikes into two groups:

BMX bikes are performance machines. Like Motocross, BMX bike handling requires a a lot of skill and dedicated practice, although the bikes are easy enough to ride recreationally. Frames are small and therefore not just maneouverable but very strong, ideal for jumps, whips and other tricks. As are the wheels: just 20 inches, with wide rims and beefy tyres to cushion hard landings. Most freestyle BMXs run smooth tyres and fixed gears, although there are several variations on this. The chunky steel BMX frame isn't particularly lightweight, but weight is saved by keeping "extras" like gears and even brakes to a minimum. BMX bikes are different: the bars are uniquely designed to rotate through 360 degrees thanks to a special headset mechanism; heavy-duty pegs are fixed to the front and/or back axles, allowing rider to stand and pivot on these instead of the pedals. They're very robust machines, but as with any bike, you should not expect cheaper "imitations" to withstand the same punishment as a true BMX. Strength of components as well as frames goes up with price... you are strongly advised not to attempt competition-style tricks on a cheap BMX! We stock only the best – from world-class makers such as Fit and Haro – along with a wide range of trick bits and pieces.
Price guide: from around £200

Jump bikes are a relatively new idea, based partly on BMX in frame geometry, riding position, strength and maneouverability, but also heavily influenced by the Mountain bike. They have front suspension and may come with disk brakes and knobbly tyres on bigger (24" or 26") wheels. The bigger overall size means a Jump bike is easily mistaken for a Mountain bike, but remember it has a street/stunt pedigree, not a forest and trail-riding one, and lacks the stability and elevated ride of a cross-country bike. Jump bikes are tough; reinforced to take the knocks with long-travel forks, captive chain and  chainring protection plates. Another telling difference is the tendency of top-level Jump bikes to have a single front chainring, giving just nine gears or even just one. They're perfect for backyard dirt jumps, downtown skatepark or knocking 'round campus, but as with BMX, the best of them are pure performance machines... less = more... component quality is chosen over quantity. As the name suggests, these bikes are built for acrobatic riding, and the better they are, the safer they become to get airborne with, the more creative you get to be. If you are in any doubt as to what a bike will cope with, just come along and let us give you the benefit of our experience.
Price guide: from £295, entry-level from around £250

Check out the CycleWorld Street selection
Read more about Freestyle BMX at Wikipedia

According to Wikipedia, bicycles played a significant part in the emancipation of women, thanks not only to the new-found personal freedom they provided, but also by changing forever the way women were expected to dress. Bikes were so popular among women that manufacturers produced both "Ladies" and "Gents" versions, the former having a feature which still lasts today: the step-through frame, where the top tube is dropped to accommodate ankle-length skirts. Incredibly, it's taken another 100 years for those manufacturers to notice that not many women wear long skirts to go cycling any more... so here's the news: there's no need to have a drop tube bike just cos you're female!

We can help: just give us a call, drop us a line or better still, call in to the shop. Buying a bike online is almost too easy... if you've decided which bike you want and you're sure of the size you need, go ahead and buy one. Maybe check out our Size Matters page first. If you're not sure how it will fit, we always recommend calling in to our showroom and try before you buy. We're experts at matching bikes to riders and assure you of the best service and most impartial advice around. Of course, we'd love to just sell you a bike but it's much more important to us that we have happy customers with properly fitted bikes. We can guarantee you won't be disappointed!