Choosing the right level bike for your riding ability is important. Components that are not suitable for your level of riding can wear or fail much sooner than expected. Although BMX bikes can look very similar, under the surface components and materials used can vary greatly. Born out of a garage in SoCal back in 1974, Mongoose is synonymous with BMX. Mongoose designs BMX Freestyle and BMX Race bikes for riders of all ages and ability levels, and our bikes are trusted by some of the world’s best riders.
It was an early run 1999 with the Twin Jet seat- and chainstays. Before the Cali, I raced on an aluminum ’97 mongoose bicycle Supergoose that was made in Taiwan. They were all good frames that I never had any serious issues with.
They are constructed from strong, hard wearing materials and usually feature Steel or Chromoly frames. This means that the bike can stand up to a certain amount of impacts and hard landings, but remember no bike is indestructible. For riders looking to learn tricks and stunts, then a freestyle bike is the correct choice. Race bikes are designed specifically with the track in mind, they are nimble lightweight machines for putting down quick lap times.
Youth freestyle bikes are sized depending on the diameter of the wheel staring at 12” all the way through to 18”, at a 20” wheel the bike is considered an adult size. Adult freestyle bikes are sized on top tube length, a 18.5” top tube is extra small for younger teenagers who have just moved up to an adult bike, a 20” top tube is small, 20.5” a medium and anything over a 21” is considered large. Although this may seem like a brilliant feature, it does come at a price! Freecoaster hubs feature a “Slack” before engagement while pedalling forward. This means that you can turn the crank a set amount (Usually an adjustable amount) before the drivetrain engages.
A friend of mine had a solution pro back in like 94-95,, that bike rode awesome and my other buddy had the first run of the Tim Hall frames in like 95 I think,, that was a great trail bike, that thing rode like a Cadillac. I dunno, I have a 2012 Mongoose Solution 24 as my race bike. Other than a couple of small niggles (pedals and bars – the same things most people change! I also changed the gearing, but again personal preference) I reckon it’s a solid bike and worthy of the Mongoose name.
The main difference between the two is the way the bike performs when going backwards. For an experienced person that is already capable of performing most tricks and has previously owned BMX bikes then a high-end complete bike, or full custom would be suggested to meet the demands of this rider, these bikes are priced from £700 plus. The Mongoose Legion L60 Bike is a good entry level BMX bike for someone on the slightly taller side.
The Mongoose 3-piece cro-mo (Solution?) cranks however were not. Ya but the carbon frames and the kinesis frames were usa, thats what I was referring to. In the end, the quality of the frame does not have much to do with the country of origin, so much as the quality of materials and personnel who build mongoose fat bike it. There certainly have been plenty of Mongoose models with all Cro-Mo frames over the years. Clearly there were many awesome US built frames, My MCS, Patterson, or my JMC cruiser are good examples, but realistically, those were not the same market niche as a Californian, a 500B, or a Mach 1.