There are road bikes, mountain bikes, BMX bikes, and in the Western world they are a fitness and recreational machine that attracts masses of technological development. Changes in material and style have been taking place in the bikes, bike accessories , and the clothes that cyclists wear. Bikes made today really match the modern culture they find themselves in.
Bikes are a great way to keep fit and enjoy yourself at the same time, and masses of people all over the world take up cycling as a recreational sport, to keep fit, to get out on weekends by themselves or with family and on a competition level as part of a group, or by themselves.
Several distinct classes of cycling have developed over the years - those that are mentioned in the first sentence of this article - and each class attract its own crowd of people and has developed its own culture. But purely from a viewpoint of a workout to keep you fit - cycling is a great way to go.
Mountain bikes are definitely a class of their own, often with full suspension systems to handle the rugged terrain in downhill racing. There are also mountain bikes used for dirt jumping, called hard-tail bikes that have a solid rear fork and shock absorbers on the front fork. Mountain biking can be real workout !
BMX stands for bicycle motocross: children saw motocross races on the TV in the 70s and since they had no motorbikes of their own, they used their bicycles to race around similar dirt tracks to the ones they had seen. BMXing today can be classified as one of the extreme sports like skateboarding and snowboarding. A lot of similar tricks are often done with the bikes.
Road biking has been around from the start and is still incredibly popular - growing in poularity in many places. It can be really high tech too, with riders wearing lycra clothing, and bikes made with carbon frames and aerodynamicaly styled wheel rims and hubs. You can get really fit on a good gradient by riding the roads, building up the speed and strength bit by bit.
No matter what type or style of riding you like, bike workouts are great for keeping fit and also being involved as part of a group if that is what you like to do.
