mountain bike

American

noun

a bicycle designed for off-road use, typically having a smaller and sturdier frame and smaller and wider tires than a standard bicycle.

mountain bike British

noun

a type of sturdy bicycle with at least 16 and up to 21 gears, straight handlebars, and heavy-duty tyres

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

mountain bikes

plural

Etymology

Origin of mountain bike

1985–90

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

mountain bike

Visitors may even try what is known as the 5X1NZ challenge: skydive, snowboard, mountain bike, bungee jump and jet boat—all in one day.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

"He had such a great attitude. We'd chat between patients about trying to get in a mountain bike ride together. Will never happen now," Drekonja wrote on the social media platform Bluesky.

From Barron's ● Jan. 25, 2026

“We’d chat between patients about trying to get in a mountain bike ride together. Will never happen now.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 25, 2026

In 2017, he bought a mountain bike, to celebrate the end of his treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2025

A bright orange mountain bike was propped against the garage.

From "Doing Time Online" by Jan Siebold

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023