https://www.mongoose.com/bikes/detail..._US&brandID=77

Has anybody heard anything about this bike? It's the first SS i've test-ridden as a candidate for my first serious bike buy and after years of riding multi, I've fallen in love with the simplicity...not to mention the disk brakes and beefy look. My LBS has one for $500 (offered tax-free).

However, I'm not too sure about this whole SS idea. I commute in the suburbs where long, quiet, smooth streets rule the city and I've been having concerns about slight grades or downhill slopes where I'd have to either pedal really hard or not be able to reach maximum speed.

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

hrmmm.. the fork looks a bit "different", kinda looks like a langster the way the tt slopes, but more like they took a MTB and converted it to a SS with disc brakes. they honestly could have done a better job.

the hills wont matter, they will become easier as you ride. the disk brakes look unorthodox for a SS, and the vertical dropouts are, iono.. bike doesnt look like any SS i've ever seen stock. plus the thermos holder is horrible, but thats just my opinion.

...

no to what ever you said!

My only beef is the vertical dropouts and price.

Honestly, a LOT of folks spend WAY MORE on a 1x1, and then spend hundreds more to put a bigger chainring on it and convert it to commuter mode... this Mongoose skips a couple steps and cheapens it up a little, plus it's basically a 29'er so the wheels are bigger too. Disc brakes aren't really necessary, but those are probably crappy ones anyways.

$500 for a low-end AL bike is a bit much though. I'd just get a Monocog 29'er and have the shop swap out the tires for some slicks and put on a bigger ring. At least then the brakes are pretty simple and reliable, and you have horizontal dropouts so you can actually tension the chain.

are those arm rests on the bars?

And they use vertical dropouts because of the disc brakes. Using an eccentric BB makes disc brakes a breeze, otherwise they are are a pain with horizontals.

I think that thing looks pretty badass. A "city 29er" Eccentric BB = awesome, a derailer hanger makes the whole thing more versatile, and that thermos holder is great.

The rear disk means that it can't be ridden fixed though which is too bad. I'd rather see V brakes in the rear, and a flip/flop hub

All in all at $500 a very decent value if you want a heavy duty fat tired SS city commuter, but if you think you want fixed I'd skip it. Since it would require ditching the rar brake, AND rear wheel.

the eccentric bottom bracket is actually a very slick way to tension the chain.

you could get a better bike to do the same job cheaper used.

I'm thinking those would be the

P.S. here's the same bike with gears.

Let them strip off the "27-Speed w/ SRAM X-7 Rear & Suntour Front Derailleurs and the extra 2 chainrings, and they'll sell it to you for $250 cheaper. Still has the eccentric bb for easy SS conversion.

I think it's sort of a gateway bike. The kind of thing someone is likely to buy when they are getting serious enough about pavement riding that they want something better than a beach cruiser, or an old mountain bike, but don't yet realize they are ready for a road bike. Mondo fat tire clearances and relaxed position are nice in their way, but I remember when I was lusting after a bike like this within a year I was moving to skinnier tires, and drop bars. Glad I didn't drop big bucks on a Trek 7500fx, or a Dr. Dew

Shoot, why would you want a single-speed? Even Mongoose openly recognizes that a 3*9 is "more acceptable."

I didn't even notice the EBB, I thought it was just a magic gearing... in that case, this a VERY decent deal. My MTB has an EBB and I love it.

For the record though, the way the disc brake is mounted, track ends would have worked pretty well too if the brake mounts were slotted for adjustment.

Good point, but also true for any bike, ever.

performance was blowing these out for $3XX not too long ago.

The chain is tensioned via a EBB so the vertical dropouts are ok. The brakes are Shimano centerlock also....pretty decent stuff for $500.


edit: just finished reading the other posts ignore me

I didn't understand half of what was said. So many technical terms!!

Is this worth the cash? I'm not looking for a fixie, just a single speed btw. Are there other SS's out there for a lower price with better characteristics?

It's OK depending upon what you want. Do you want something closer to a mountain bike that's been streeterised, or do you want a street bike.

If you like this bike, you may well be able to get it for significantly less than list price.

Tell me MORE!! I'm in a real financial pinch right now so anything helps. My LBS offering to pay the tax on a bike and giving me 10% off any accessories was a GODSEND.

Well suggested retail price is just that. Most LBS can go lower. especially if it 's last years stock they want to clear out. Someone mentioned seeing them at Performance Bike for threesomething. they are $450 there now with a free headlight. Use a 10% off coupon to get it down to about four.

Better yet armed with this information, go haggle with your LBS, a bit. I'd still pay the LBS a little more than Performancebike tough. They'll help you fit it, assemble it, do a free 30 day tuneup, and plus it's just nice to have them there when you need them.

Sounds good. I did the math with performance...comes out to about 404. And thanks for the advice, now I can do some haggling instead of asking for pity hah.

Annnd after all this debating about which parts are good and which parts don't make any sense on this bike...I'm still confused...can somebody explain all this lingo or give me a bottom line?

are you serious?

it's all fine for an around town singlespeed sorta bike. The eccentric Bottom bracket is a chain tensioning device, and is actually very cool for a bike in this price range. Disk brakes are sorta cool, but the ones that come on this bike are nothing special. THe rest of the parts are nothing special decent inexpensive parts that you would expect on a bike in this price range.

In other words if you like it get it, if not there are plenty of other bikes in your price range.

Well, it's a low-end mountain/road bike. None of the parts are going to be top-of-the-line. But it will probably be servicable and work well enough unless you start beating the crap out of it.

Also: One thing that's nice about a SS is that it's a lot less intimidating once you own it. Feel free to mess around with it, take it apart, etc. It's not that complicating if you think about things logically (and you have the bike in front of you).

What other SS bikes are there in the 300-500$ price range?