A Mongoose is NOT always the 1500 to 3500 dollar bike that we adore. Recently I bought a mongoose for under 200 bucks. It came with what I call cheap wheels and tires very similar to those found on cheaper bikes..When you pay under 200 bucks you can't expect to get the stainless spokes and an almost perfectly tuned bike. I am guessing but I believe most of the cheaper Mongoose bikes may have some generic parts. For example my tires look like cheap 10-15 dollar tires. They are stamped with the load range at 198 Lbs.. HOWEVER, for a low priced bike I am HAPPY with mine and the tires are holding up well. I had to tune the bike and will soon take it apart and grease the bearings and cables. Both derailleurs front and back were not set correctly and she shifted like a dog. The front tire wobbled so badly it would rub on the brake shoe with each revolution and setting the hand brake was almost impossible. I fixed it by simply truing the wheel using a small wrench on the spokes and... Read more

PROS: A lot of features for a very low price. Shocks on the front, spring loaded isolation from real wheel, on-handlebar twist-type gear shift, 21 speeds, nicely constructed.

CONS: You get what you pay for. Wheels, components, and handle grips are mediocre quality. I had to spend about two hours adjusting the brakes and derailleurs before it was ready to ride. But that puts it in the category with my $500 road bike when it arrived. I was a little annoyed that the adjustments were so far off, and being an inexpensive bike it takes three hands to squeeze the derailleur the right way and tighten the cable bolt. After a little trial and error, I finally got it. And those little crimped caps on the ends of the cable kept coming off because they had been improperly crimped at the factory. There seems to be no place for a bottle cage or frame pump. My bike had poor threads on one crank so it was impossible to install the pedal without cross threading. Also, the plastic guard on... Read more

This is an excellent bike for $150. Worth every penny. Assembly took a few hours to tweek everything perfectly such as brakes and shifters. Next assembly would take about an hour if you have all tools and know what you are doing. Assembly instructions are not the best and could be simplified in 3 pages.