Customer Reviews

Mongoose Montana Women's Mountain Bike (26-Inch Wheels, Silver/Light Blue)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I purchased this bike for my wife's birthday last year so we could ride together. She's a very small, tiny-boned woman of five-feet tall. We went from shop to shop and tried many different bikes, some very expensive, others ridiculously inexpensive. This bike really stood out amongst the others because of fit, features, and value.

A few comments based on our experience.

First, you get what you pay for. If you're looking for a bike you can beat on and ride excessively, you might want to look for a higher-quality, more expensive brand. This is a very good bike for the casual rider. When assembled properly, it rides very well on or off the road and is very comfortable for long periods of time. If you're a more serious rider, you'll probably want to upgrade the brakes or gears or look towards a different bike altogether. While the brakes and gears work fine, they aren't the highest quality. Also, the bike is a tad heavy, but for the price, it's fine.

Second, if you have no experience assembling bikes, or if you've only assembled a bike a few times, plunk down $25 to $40 and have a professional assemble it properly. There are alignment issues that can make or break a successful and enjoyable final assembly. I think a lot of the comments from others about wobbly wheels and sticky brakes are probably because attention wasn't paid towards proper assembly and alignment. We had our bike professionally assembled and it's been just fine! No wobbly wheels and no sticky brakes.

There's nothing wrong with this bike in its class. It's not designed to be the top of its class, but when looked at in terms of value, it's a fine bike that should last for many years, if properly maintained.

We're happy with the purchase for different reasons. For her, she's happy to have a bike. For me, it's nice to have my best gal by my side once again! :-)

Was looking for an inexpensive bike to do some cardio and get in shape, so I selected the Mongoose Montana. I haven't rode a bike in about 10 years so I figured that this would be a great starter bike. The bike came fairly quick and after having it adjusted at the bike shop, I was riding in no time. I take the bike out almost every other morning and haven't had a problem yet. I even ride off trail in a neighborhood park and find the ride to be great. The breaks tend to be a little tight but that's an assembly issue. Overall, this is a great bike for the price.

I have had this bike for about a month now and ride it every day, mostly in town. It's nothing fancy. I bought it (not from Amazon) fully assembled, but had to tweak the brakes. I really don't know much about bikes and had not had one in 15 years. The bike is really nothing too fancy. The frame is a little more compact and I also experienced the problem with the tire hitting my foot on sharp turns. I thought I just had big feet. It isn't too much of a problem. I like my little bike.

I purchased this bike for my wife from fogdog through amazon. I must say the service was excellent.

I did have to return the bike because it is very poorly designed. The bike's frame was so short that the pedals would hit the front tire and you could get hurt riding it. In addition to the terrible design, it took me an entire day to get the brakes and wheels adjusted properly. The wheels were way out of true and the brakes would not align properly at all. I finally got it to an acceptable point with the wheels and brakes when we realized the pedals hit the tire.

The bike seems to have the mongoose name, while the manual said Pacific. That leads me to believe it's not a true mongoose. The mongoose name and the other review led me to believe it was ok to purchase.

In closing, service was great and the bike was horrible.

This is a nice bike for cruisin' around the neighborhood, Shippiong was a bit high but the product arrived quickly and performs well.

The Mongoose Montana Women's bike arrived in a timely manner. It was easy to assemble. It is lightweight yet sturdy. The seat is can be removed or adjusted without tools. I ride it to work and for errands. It goes smoothly over unpaved areas. I have not done any serious trail riding with it. I thought it was a good buy for the money. And it's kind of pretty, too!

This is an awesome bike! I got it somewhere else that somewhat pre-assembled it. I brought it home to my husband (who owns a Canondale and knows all about bikes) and he made some well needed tweaks here and there. I've rode twice (6 miles total) and didn't have any problems with sharp turns that others have written about. I think it's a keeper if assembled right and if you trade the seat with gel seat.

I was at a neighbor's house, and there was a bike box sitting on the porch unopened (looks like it had been there a while). I asked what it was, and it was an "anniversary gift" from the company she worked for. She either didn't know how to or simply didn't getting around to assembling it. I have extensive bike shop and real-world bike tuning experience, so I volunteered to take it and assemble it.

First impressions:

1) The box had a fed-ex warning on it "heavy - 70 lb". I was like (are there 2 bikes in there??). Well that is a gross overstatement - ready-to-ride, it weighs 32 lb. Heavy, for sure, but on par with other front-suspended "value" bikes.

2) The frame seems really nice - Al, with plenty of braze-ons if you want to add a water bottle, rear rack for child seat or panniers, etc. The frame should outlast any other component on the bike... so if you like the geometry of the bike, upgrades are possible.

3) Components are decidedly cheap. Steel wheels w/out quick releases, generic bottom bracket, headset, pedals - all of which are incredibly stiff/over-torqued. A couple rides should loosen them up though. Kickstand included is a nice touch for this level of bike. Tires are cheap, but have a fairly aggressive tread - perhaps too aggressive for the type of riding this bike is designed for. Easy swap to a more street-friendly tread would likely cost $30-$40.

Assembly: Its safe to say that EVERY SINGLE COMPONENT needed to be be reassessed. I'd rather companies like this DON'T pre-assemble any part - the assumption is it can be used like that!!

1) The freewheel wasn't tight - I found this out on the first test ride AFTER I had dialed in the rear derailleur! OK, so I had to do that 2x. lesson learned.
2) 3 of the 4 cables needed to be unbolted, and re-tightened. The Front brakes were so bad they wouldn't even come close to touching the rim.
3) Front derailleur needed to be moved down 1/2" for optimum shifting
4) Front and rear derailleur's limits were both horribly off as well as the indexing (side note: the grip shifts work well!)
5) Wheels were not true and out-of-round! Ughh - 20 more minutes to fix that
6) Brakes were not balanced left-to-right, nor were the pads aligned on the rim surface correctly.
7) The good: Headset and BB were tight. BB a little too much - we'll see - its already seated in a bit, and spinning better after a quick 5 min ride.

Conclusions:
Buy this bike if you know someone like me that will take the time to assemble/tune it CORRECTLY :) Having worked at a bike shop, we HATED when folks would bring these in to be assembled. A lot of mechanics WON'T spend the time needed to set it up correctly - see all of the above!! A legit bike shop will, but I'd charge $75-$100 to do it, knowing that it will take over an hour to essentially "touch everything".

When everything was finally said and done, the bike is NICE! Certainly for the price. I'd limit it to strict pavement or hard-pack only. It is NOT designed to do ANY heavy duty.

The front fork is sprung and damped well for the size of the intended rider.

The brakes (when the wheels were fixed and pads aligned!) stop the bike with authority, and have a very good feel.

Shifting is spot-on.

The frame is small for me, but I suspect the intended-rider will like the upright seating position.

Cheers!

While I did not expect a 'rolls royce' for $180,I did expect a bike that would be fault free! The bike was received scratched and the front gear could not be adjusted to select between 1-3. The dilemma OJcommerce who sold the bike charge a 30% restock fee!

Quality of the bike was a disappointment even at $180.

well, lets keep it short.
For this money it does the job.
Just don't do to much off road
as the bike is not build as strong as one of those expencive mountain bikes.