Free ride is one of the most popular type of mountain biking which is a combination of downhill biking and dirt jumping. It is more focused on different tricks and technical abilities. Free ride bikes are heavier than cross country bikes as it comes with a weight of 13 to 18 kg and dual suspension but have the same climbing capacity.
Modern free ride bikes are very much similar to downhill bikes. Slopestyle riding is a popular free ride mountain biking where the players have to cross multiple lines during a course. Sally players choose lines which let them show their distinct skills to obtain more points from judges.
In case of downhill riding, which is more likely descending a slope as quickly as possible, players usually face many obstacles during the race and it involves a lot of jumping, dropping as well as overcoming rocky obstacles.
In case of free ride, players ride in a wider terrain and it involves both descending on slopes as well as jumping on inclined platforms while performing airborne acrobatic skills on jump which is different than downhill riding. British Columbia's North Shore is one of the most recognized starting point for free ride biking.