jimmo

Hello Everyone.
New here and to tandems.
I purchased the Mongoose Wanderer a while back and seeing how there hasnt been much written about it I figured I would.
Little backround on me- Ive been riding single cyclocross and road for about 4 years now
All in all- definitely worth the money!!! Ebay places are asking $399. I shopped around online and got it to my house for a total of $274.
The box arrived slightly banged up with one small scratch on the rear drop-out. Also the nut and springs were missing on the front skewer as that was floating around the box.
Assembly was cake if you are used to working on bikes already. Typical seat post situation that I read about other cheap tandems having is the different sized seatpost and the front does need the spacer.
The Pros: Not too many here,
-has a nice aluminum frame.
-eccentric timing chain adjustment.
- The linear pull brakes work very well on this bike and we hit some pretty steep descents. The quality of them has me a little worried but they do work well for now.
-utilizing a low top tube height and long seatposts it is sized to accommodate a wide range of people
- then entire bike is somewhere in the just under 40 pound range. This was done getting on and off my house scale with and without the bike, so take it for what its worth. Gotta be within a pound or so.
The cons-
- The eccentric pinch bolts are only 5mm phillips head screws. They need tightening too often. I replaced the with 5 mm socket head screws but 5mm is just too small, I may have to drill and tap the holes for 6mm screws. If that doesnt work I will purchase a self expanding unit.
-The chainrings are riveted to the cranks and the rings probably wont last too long so the whole set up will probably have to be replace sometime. I just saw a nice tandem crankset slip away on ebay for less than 60 bucks too. Hopin to catch a deal like that.
-All of the bearings are junk. If you would like to save hassle, buy a new headseat and bottom brackets and replace asap.
-The rear deralure is all plastic. Its been working flawlessly for a few hundred miles so far but one wonders how long something like that will last.
-After 30 miles the freewheel internals failed and we had to do the last 7 miles of a ride like it was a fixed gear. Any time we would stop pedaling, the top of the chain would slap the spokes. A new shimano unit fixed that problem.
-The rims needed truing right out of the box.
-I dont like the huge mountain tires that came with it. I think a lot of beginner cyclists make the mistake of riding on roads with a fully suspended monster tired mt bike and get discouraged cuz they only average 5 mph.
-The last thing is not having enough water bottle braze-ons. It has one location on the bottom tube for the stoker. I installed a double holder behind the captain's seat. It does NOT get in my stokers way and worked out nice.
Now for personal preferences- I bought the bike with the intent to upgrade only as components broke but sometimes ya find good deals that cant be passed up. I purchased 700c wheels as this bike came with 26”. It has provisions to accept road calipers so no brake modifications need to be done, however there is a company that makes a bracket to relocate the existing brake to accommodate larger wheels. The road tires really make the ride enjoyable.


This is a decent beginners bike for one who has the resources and skills to work on it. If you are a strong rider who needs to bring your bike to the shop for repairs, dont buy this bike cuz it will cost you in repairs. I am very happy with this bike, it suites my stoker and I perfectly. If she sticks with riding I will purchase a high end tandem in the future.
sorry the post is so long but I hope it helps someone

zonatandem

At 274 bucks the bike will certainly have its limitations and no-name components. All these things can be replaced when/if they fail as long as you are a bit handy with tools. But co$t$ will add up quickly unless you got some stuff sitting around in your parts/junk box that will work.
Suggest some loctite to keep the eccentric from slipping.
Back in the 70s the French used a Delrin (plastic) rear derailleur and they held up quite well.
Enjoy the ride TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Onegun

hehe! Zona, that statement requires the caveat, "if they were kept clean and protected". The old Simplex derailleurs really weren't too bad if an adult enthusiast rode it and maintained it.

Unfortunately, they were sold on a crap-load of bikes that went out the door to kids during the "bike craze", (read: gas crunch), of the early seventies. The result was that we sold a crap-load of Suntour replacement derailleurs!

Jimmo, keep it clean and lubed, and be careful where/how you lean the bike. The blow that would just require straightening of the hanger with a normal derailleur used to break the plastic Simplex that Zona is talking about. If memory serves, the spring retaining holes in the bodies were another issue. The combination of normal movement plus grit would wallow them out very quickly, (within a year sometimes), releasing the spring and rendering the unit useless. So keep it clean.

You might want to consider buying an XT derailleur right up front, but since we don't know if the shifters are even Shimano compatible, (if they are indexed), that might require replacement of the whole shifting system. Worth giving that a look, though.

Zona suggested Loctite on the eccentric pinch bolts/screws, and that's a good thing to do. You might also try a search for "friction paste". Just about every carbon component manufacturer makes their own flavor of it, and some claim to reduce the necessary clamping force on parts by as much as 30%. That might help some with the issue. (The internal expanding variety are generally greased so they don't squeak. But having it stay put would be your first priority!)

On your 700 wheels, you didn't specify, so I hope they are tandem rated. If not, be very careful of them and inspect them often. In the days Zona and I were talking about, there was no such thing as a tandem rated wheel! So tandems broke wheels fairly often. Check for cracks around the spoke holes on a regular basis. The current day tandem rated 700c wheels are head and shoulders above what we used to ride!

But a good post, Jimmo. Sounds like you went into this purchase with your eyes open. The biggest problem with these cheap tandems comes in when someone buys one with the mistaken perception that all the tandem enthusiasts in the world spent thousands on their bikes because they were simply too stupid to take advantage of the "great deal" that these "perfectly servicable" tandems represent! You, on the other hand, went into it expecting to have to rebuild it right out of the box, and will probably get some good miles out of it because of that.

Phantoj

pics please

Stray8

And there in a nutshell is the primary underlying reason why tandem enthusiasts hate/fear inexpensive tandems. Not altruistically for the sake of the buyer's satisfaction with tandem riding, but instead because of the mere possibility that they themselves would look "too stupid" for investing in more expensive equipment.

Well, anyone who knows bikes wouldn't think that about cost and anyone who does think that obviously doesn't know too much about bikes so why worry at all? People spend what they can afford depending on their wants and their resources. Period.


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jimmo

Thanks for the derailleur advice. It has a sram/shimano spacing 7spd rear. I was actually hoping to find a set of old 3x7 brifters and change the bars and set it up like my road and cross bikes.
The wheel I got was one of those mavic 520 40 spoke tandem wheels someone has on ebay. It is tandem specific. It has an hfo5 hub, I know its not super stought but I dont think we will have any problems with it. I waited a few out before finally buying one. Still looking for a front. For now< I have multiple sets of MT bike 26" wheels layin around and I set a pair up with road tires.
Yea, I have lots of stuff around and I have the time to wait around for deal so Im keeping the cost down as much as possible.
I almost bought the Lambo cuz its set up the way I want already but I didnt know how the gf would take to it and that was almost twice what I spent.

Onegun

I think you went the right way, cause for the price of a Lambo, (if you're patient), you can find a quality used bike for a dollar or two more. Just found a barely ridden Trek T200 for a friend for $600, and that was with a "child stoker kit" which he'll sell off and get about $100 back! Two years ago I bought a Santana Rio in perfect condition for $700 and did what you want to do .... changed it to drops and brifters mostly out of the parts bin, but I didn't change out the wheels. We just ran 26 X 1 or 26 X 1 1/8 tires on it, which are basically the same widths most tandem teams run for smooth road riding anyway.

On the brifters, I personally wouldn't want to put any money into 7 speed stuff at all. I ride brifters on all my bikes as well, and love them for the convenience. But I'd go with regular brake levers and bar end shifters on this project since the bar ends will shift anything in friction mode, the levers/bar end combination is much cheaper, and WAAAY easier to find used. (Plus, it's just plain tough to find 7 speed stuff that still works! There is an RSX 3X7 front brifter on eBay now, though, if you're interested!)

Sounds like you're having fun! Go for it!

jimmo

Its funny you mentioned that. I was lookin at bar end shifters and thought of trying them out. Never had em before. Ill check it out on ebay, thanks.
I am running the 26" now until I find a cheap front 700. I wanna go 700 cuz there are a lot more tires to choose from and my other bikes are fitted with 700s so forgetting to grab the correct spare tubes before leaving the house wont be an issue. As for the 26" I only found a couple of 26x1 that will take over 100 psi, just not too many road tires for that size.

Onegun

You'll find a whole segment of the tandem community that still swear by them, particularly those that do long, unsupported rides, and those that tour less developed countries. Brifters are a great convenience, but the aren't all that durable. Bar ends, on the other hand, just don't break. The few that DO tour with brifters usually throw a spare bar end in their gear in case a brifter craps out.

Speaking of touring, if you want to get your stoker excited about the tandem, try introducing her to the tandem journals on CrazyGuyOnABike. Scroll down to the "Journals by Category" on the left, and select "Tandem". There are ride reports like "Seattle to San Diego", "LA to Chile", "Trans America", "Around Australia" and "An Exploration of Southwest China". All real ride reports by real tandem teams, many of whom are either on this board or on the tandem@hobbes email list.

Now back to the bar ends. I rode them for 20 years prior to brifters that actually worked, and installed a thousand sets in the bike shops I worked at / owned. Some tips that you may, (or may not!), want to use:

I always cut an inch off the end of the handlebar, ($5 tubing cutter works best), so that the bar end doesn't make my bars so long I hit them when I stand. It also makes the distance I have to slide my hand to get to the shifter a little shorter if on the drops. Some of the newer "ergo" bars, (which are anything but, IMHO), probably won't allow and/or don't need this modification.

Next, if you wrap your handlebar tape from the top down, STOP! The pros wrap from the bottom up for a reason, (and they don't even use bar ends)! A bottom-up wrap means that the exposed edges of the tape point down, so when you slide your hands down the bar, (which usually happens with some amount of weight on them), you're not curling and tearing the edges of the tape. This makes your tape last a LOT longer! For our purposes, it also means that you're not tempted to try and stuff both the barend shifters and handlebar tape into the end of the bar! Finish the tape off up top with the supplied "logo'd to death" wraps, some matching electricians tape, or even shrink wrap, if you're of a mind.

On cable routing, I hate the installation I see most often with the shifter cables sticking out in front of the bike like feelers or antenae bouncing in the breeze. We always followed the handlebar with our cables, going to the inside of the bar past the brake levers as we migrated to the underside of the bar on top, and then exited the tape just a wrap or two before the end up top. If you've never done an "internal cable wrap" before, the main trick is to position the cable and housing first using plastic electrician's tape. Then wrapping the handlebar tape is easy.

This "completely under the tape" approach requires top quality cables and housing, (and don't forget to grease the cables first!), to avoid any binding during shifts. Not a big deal there, as you were going to have to buy new tandem length brake and derailleur cables anyway, (grip/thumb shifters typically use a barrel end cable, whereas everything else uses a ball end .. same with upright levers as opposed to drop levers).

Can't think of anything else right now, but if you run into any snags, feel free to PM me here.

jimmo

Thanks for the tips. I just realized you are from Clearwater. I was in FL last week visiting family in New Port Ritchey, its not far. We rode the tandem all around and thru jay b wilderness park and the sunshine highway, ithink it was called, very cool area. We saw all kinds of wildlife in the park.

Onegun

hehe! Close enough, Jim! That's a nice area of trail, but to be honest, we don't ride it in summertime. Virtually no shade, 90 degrees and 90 percent humidity! That's a fall/winter/spring route for us. If you do the entirety of the JB Starkey Wilderness Trail and the Suncoast Trail it connects to, you've done 97 miles with only about a dozen road crossings. Almost impossible to find any route that even touches that within 100 miles of here in any direction!

And yeah, wildlife. This is the part where you have to teach your stoker to start the sentence with a direction instead of ending with it! It has to be, "On your left, look at that ..... ", not the other way around, or the pilot is already by it!

jimmo

Oh, the suncoast trail, thats it, haha. Yea it was hot but being that I was on vacation I just had to ride. The heat doesnt bother me too much though. I ride up here for most of the winter too. 30 and up is doable. Ill have to check out the rest of that trail next time I am down. The roads are crazy down there cuz there is not much of a shoulder and lots of cars, so any type of dedicated trail system is awesome.

Onegun

Give us a shout when you do. We'll ride!

jimmo

Yea, that sounds good.
As soon as I can figure out how to post pics I will. Do I have to use a photo site?

Onegun

Please don't! PhotoBucket and those places are a pain with all their spam and bs, etc. When you hit reply, you have two options up top ... the "insert image" icon, (where you feed from another site like PhotoBucket), or the paper clip "attach" link where you upload your pic from your computer. Has to be less than 100k file size though, and then the forum software will thumbnail it, and hyperlink it to the full size pic like below.

EDIT: Let me rephrase that .... if you use Photobucket, please DO feed the photo from that site, NOT give us a link to it. THAT'S when we have to fight off the spam to see the pic.

cotney.jpg

jimmo

Still has the 26" road tires on it. All I did so far was change the captains seat and stem with a stem adapter.

mercury168

We just finished a 100km ride on a Mongoose Wanderer, so I'm ready to add some information to this thread.

This one-size-fits-few bike is sized for slightly-less-than-average sized riders. I'm 5'9" and my gf is 5'4" and it already feels a wee bit on the small side, but you can swap stems and seatposts, which I'm not going to do because it's close enough for us... and it's a $330 bike. If I were to guess, this bike would be perfect for a 5'7" captain and a 5'2" stoker. The included seatposts are long (probably 400mm, not sure) so taller people will fit, but feel cramped. The rear cockpit is only 24.5" long, which I think is 4" shorter than most.

The wheels will arrive out of true, the brakes will need adjusting, the hub bearings will be too tight, the timing chain will be too loose, and the derailleurs will be way off. If you can button up everything yourself, the bike is quite rideable for recreation. Everything on the bike strikes me as being cheap (steel seatposts and handlebars, quill stem, stoker stem is just a plain old 100mm stem for threadless forks, stamped chainrings, plastic pedals and seat), but nothing on it strikes me as being disposable (once properly adjusted).

It's got 21-speed SRAM 3.0 Grip Shift, SRAM rear derailleur, Suntour front derailleur, an eccentric bottom bracket, Promax V-brakes, Joytech hubs with 36 14g spokes laced to unknown alloy rims, 7-speed freewheel 14-32 (megarange 32 = big jump to the big cog) with axle nuts in the rear and quick release in the front, and 135mm rear dropout spacing so you can swap in any modern MTB wheelset. Crankset is Prowheel 48/38/28 with 170mm arms both front and back. Chainrings are crappy stamped steel and it's probably not worthwhile to replace the rings. Bottom brackets are square taper. Mounts for two water bottles (both in the stoker compartment), holes for rear rack and rear fender. Coolest feature: free kickstand included!

Our combined team weight is 235 pounds, so we're not stressing the limits of the bike by any means.

The included knobbies are good for the gravel/dirt trails we usually take it on, but I changed the tires to 26x1.25 Forte Metro-K for this road ride. Only other changes were two M5x12mm screws to replace the Philips-head eccentric set screws, Look pedals to replace the platforms, a rear rack, and a bell. Even the stock seats are somewhat tolerable.

My only other experiences with tandems are with a couple of early '90s steel Burley rentals and an old Schwinn beach cruiser and I'll vouch for this Mongoose being better than all of those. The old Burleys are fine bikes, but their lives as rentals really wore them out.

For the $330 Amazon price, this bike is TOTALLY worth it!

zonatandem

Being a bit of a retrogrouch at times, we got rid of our Dura Ace STI after fighting with the front shifter for 3,000 miles on our Zona tandem.
At stoker's suggestion we went back to D/A bar-end shifters.
Put the tandem's D/A STI on my new single (front der. worked fine on single because of shorter cable run) but STI totally failed after a total of only 10,000 miles.
Yup, switched to bar end shifters on the single too!
Bar end shifters are nearly indestructable, simple, smooth operating and le$$ pricey.
Currently have 22,000+ miles on the D/A bar end shifters on the tandem . . .
Enjoy the ride TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem