coldehammer

So back in the mid-90's I had a Mongoose bmx which was an exceptional brand during its times. As of recent, I started getting this itch to get back into mountain biking and have seen luxurious Mongoose frames in the hills and then there are these "low-end entry level" type bike Mongoose has it's name on as well.

Is this a marketing strategy by Mongoose to appease both lower and upper ends of the market and do they still make low-end bikes to this day (less than $300 for brand new)? Does anyone have any experience with their frames made in the last 3 yrs? What do you guys think of them? Thanks for any info.

BotByte

Appease?

Walmart bikes worth their weight in scrap metal. I see no use in buying a bike that will give me constant problem.

Here's my story:

I assemble bikes for 3 walmarts, 2 targets, and 5 bike shops in my area.

I head to the bike shops in the morning, open two boxes, assemble and service the bikes. I deliver to the manager, he pays me cash and I go to the next shop.

Now I hit a walmart. Now here's my trick, I get paid for every bike I complete, money back if it's assembled wrong. So I do all the bike shops early in the morning so then I can most my day at the walmarts.

So I show up, about 6 bikes waiting for me. I open the first box, the wheels look like some abstract model. But it needs to go out on the floor. So I bend it and assemble the bike. Most of my time is spent making everything work. Even if they say they are the same parts, they never work properly and takes so much time to even make them manageable.

Then I test ride them. Bike shop bikes are great, and put a smile on my face. Walmart bikes scare the living sh** out of me. Even when I know all the parts are torques and lubed, they scare me.

I only work on the walmart bikes because most of my money comes from them, other then pre-season buying.

Mongoose are the more popular and higher priced walmart bikes.

I have assembled true mongooses and I have to say they are very nice bikes, not much value in them, but very nice bike still.

I would not buy a mongoose no matter where it was sold because of the resale factor.

But, I keep going, my father has a mongoose, about 10 years old and still moving. He bought it from walmart and everything works still. I don't understand the world sometimes....

JoeBear50

I bought a Mongoose Detention just over a week ago so I can't talk about it's longevity. I ordered mine from Wal-Mart online so it came in a box, the packing was excellent and the bike was well protected. After assembling it I needed to adjust the front and rear derailleurs, after which the gear changes were smooth and quick. It's not a bike that I would do jumps with, (SR Suntour XCT V3 Fork) but then again I wouldn't do jumps or dropoffs with any bike no matter who made it. The bike feels very robust and solid, absoulutly no rattles or weird noises but then again I use it on very easy local trails, it looks like a quality built bike as the finish and the way the parts fit seems excellent for the money. Depending on what your expectations are, and where you plan to ride it, it could be a great bike. For me I ride it 6 miles every mornong to get my fitness up and hopefully loose some weight, and to eventually ride it on some easy trails like Lake Somerville Tx. It's not a light bike as it weighs around 35lbs and it certainly dosent feel fragile, but the weight issue wasn't/isn't a problem for me unless it's around my waist. For the Money it's reasonably equipped, Altus R.D, Promax DSK 400 disks front and rear and Shimano Trigger shifters.

For me it's just what the doctor ordered and it gets me out of the house and into the fresh air. As I said depending on your expectaion of a $300.00 Mountain Bike, for the money it's good value.

roastbeef

it's sort of a sad story. mongoose used to be a solid brand (and still is to a certain extent) but got dumbed down when they were purchased by pacific cycle. some high end mongooses (mongeese?) definitely still exist and are solid bikes from what i hear, but everything else is a waste of time and money.

LesterOfPuppets

Sorry, no experience in the past 3 years (or past 15, yikes, I'm getting old), but I think I could have some fun on a Mongoose Teocali. I went to their site and there's a page for XC bikes but nothing there!

My 1996 Mongoose IBOC Zero-G is one of the best mass market hardtails around if you ask me.

TimJ

Their bike shop bikes are very nice and usually a great value.

Schwinn is another pacific brand where their department store bikes are crap but the ones they sell at performance are fine.

GT and Cannondale are owned by the same company as well (Dorel, which bought Pacific).

They all have good models and good bikes, their bike shop bikes are all of equal quality.

JoeBear50

The OP asked if you have any experience with their frames none of you answered his question. Do you have any experience with their low end Mongoose frames? Simple question, yes or no, if yes you need to quallify your answer and say what your experiences are with such a bike. Not write a lot of verbal garbage about how they have been bought out by Pacific and now Dorel, which comes accross like you just came back from a funeral. Mongoose are still very good bikes end of story. If my low end Mongoose feels good to ride I could only imagine how great their top end bike would be like. Come on guys talk through experience, don't make conclusions without facts! Because you come accross as Trek or whatever fanboys. Please be objective.

samburger

The OP didn't ask just a single 'yes or no' question, he asked a series of questions in the form of two paragraphs. Needless to say, a series of questions requires a series of answers. One of the questions was even Every response so far fits into answering that questions. So STFU, no one is making fun of you for having a Mongoose, but we aren't going to lie to the OP about quality just so you don't get your little feelings hurt.

And to add insult to injury, I'll go ahead & back what they're saying about the x-mart level Mongooses with a personal experience. When I was ten years old (y2k) my parents got me a Wal Mart level Mongoose 'freestyle' BMX bike to start racing BMX with. It lasted me all of about 6 races, & only one crash. Went over a double & tried to clear it, but came up short & hit my front tire on the back of the transition. Totally destroyed my front tire, which was no surprise, but it also managed to bend my crank back so far I couldn't move it & it trapped my ankle between the crank arm & the frame. They had to come out with a crow bar to pry it open, which was also surprisingly easy, because the crankset was crap & bent easily. Also bent my handlebars forward & turned the front sprocket into a wobbley turn-table. All this from a ten-year-old kid crashing the bike, which should give you an idea of how fast I was going & how much weight I put on the bike.

Immediately after that, my parents took me to the LBS & got me a Redline Proline Expert. Solid bike, I just sold it this time last year & rode it around beforehand, still supported me at 140# no problem, even with a weight limit of 120#. I gave that bike SO much more abuse than I ever did the Mongoose, & never had a single problem with it.

JoeBear50

My feelings aren't hurt, and I don't give a crap what you think, so you need to ease up on the STFU sh...t. Ok fine, you have an experience and you shared it good for you. That's what the OP asked ( "Does anyone have any experience with their frames made in the last 3 yrs? What do you guys think of them? Thanks for any info." ) He asked members who had experience with them for their opinion, not members writing nonsense, and you need to keep that temper in check cause it will get you into trouble.

I say again if they have never owned a Mongoose their opinion is just that, hollow words or nonsense.

Really I'm not offended by what people think of my bike, the only person my bike needs to please is me, and it pleases me very much. My beef is with people saying hearsay and passing it off as fact. One more thing while I'm on my soap box. If you bought a BMW 3 series for the sole purpose of racing it against a Formula 1 race care, it wouldn't mean it's a crapy car because you lost every race. It just mean's it's not designed to race against a Formula 1 race car, but it is excellent for what it is designed for. I for one am not saying Wal-Mart bikes are great to do DH or Freeride or DJ but if you plan on riding easy XC, hey then there is nothing wrong with them. It's all about expectation and what use they are meant for.

cryptid01

That sounds more like recreational cycling than mountain biking. Maybe you should try another forum.

samburger

Again, the OP asked several questions, and each answer was directed at a specific one. How about letting him decide whether or not the advice was useful to him. You don't have to have personal experience with an object to know something about it. I've never driven a Lincoln Towncar, but I can tell you that it wont make a good track car and list several reasons why. And that's what has been done here; members took their general knowledge of bikes and applied it to a given catagory of bikes. Until you gain some more knowledge of mountain biking, maybe you should listen more than you *****.

YamiRider1316

I find it funny how quick people are to get flustered on this site. Seems like every thread has a personal dig at someone at one point or another. Quite entertaining. Now to the OP. I had a wally world mongoose when i was younger. It was a good bike for what i did with it. Though the rear shock was basically just a spring that had such bad recoil i would get launched every time i landed from a jump. My friend also has one of there higher end bikes and it seems to be well made. He goes everywhere we go with no issues and we ride some pretty tech terrain. In all honesty though if you are serious about getting into biking just save up a little more $$ and buy a decent hardtail as opposed to a wally world mongoose. You will be much happier in the long run. Just my 2 cents.

samburger

Well now you know.

Be gone now, I grow weary of your presence.

samburger

^^I work in retail and deal with a lot of really stupid people, but I have to stand there every day pretend these people actually have any idea what they're talking about. People like this guy give me perfect opportunities to put stupid people in their place without getting fired. We'll just call him a punching bag.

cryptid01

Nice! +rep

Nobody's arguing that a cheap ass piece of **** wallmarket mongoose is inappropriate for your needs. However, that doesn't change the fact that 1) it's still a cheap ass piece of ****, 2) others' opinions are worthwhile, and 3) as much as you wish you were as cool as us, you're not really mountain biking.

CbadRider

Thread cleaned up.

Let's stop the personal attacks and play nice.

samburger

Aww, we was jus' playin', honest!

fietsbob

Brand names are a commodity, for sale, because over the years people have
an association in their head about a brand name,

I see alot of people have had their head marketing colonized

by brand names and have some sort of loyalty to a commodity.

TimJ

Blow me.

samburger

lol

JoeBear50

Oh Tim, I didn't know you cared. I hate to break your heart, but I don't bat for the other team. I feel flattered that you would want to be intimate with me though, and I think that all the readers here in this forum should feel flattered as well. Since you chose this forum to Out Yourself. Don't worry I'm sure no one will sniker behind your back. Who knows you may get a few dates from the members here. Wow you and your boy friends must have a great time when you go camping. I think Sammy may have a glint in his eye for you as well.

samburger

It's funny, because last time I was involved in one of these personal-attack threads, the guy I was arguing with did the exact same thing: Argue a stupid point, get bashed by everyone, start making gay jokes at others' expense. Then he got suspended for too many infractions & never came back.

You sure you aren't RatedZ, back here a year later to continue your legacy of acting like a used women's hygiene product?

JoeBear50

^^^
Remember Tim was the one who gave the invitation. Sam, you can't go around in life telling people to B...M.. and not get a reply like I sent. When I was in Australia a guy said that to a mate of mine and the guy ended up in hospital. I think Tim got off litely. Now when you say ("You sure you aren't RatedZ, back here a year later to continue your legacy of acting like a used women's hygiene product?") your doing exactly what you accuse me of. If you want to call it a truce it's fine by me, but right now you're the one acting like a used women's hygiene product.

samburger

If you don't shut up I'm gonna get my big brother to beat you up. He's 26 and knows karate. I would be scared if I was you...

It's fun to be able to enjoy a show you're a part of

green427

I was wondering the same thing. I had a 1991 Mongoose Alta MTB that I used heavily, and it served me very, very well for 12 years. I saw the Mongooses in Wally World and was disappointed at the cheapness. Same goes for Nishiki bicycles...Dick's Sporting Goods sells them, and they do not appear to have fallen in the same trap.