Customer Reviews

Mongoose Placid Men's Comfort Bike (26-Inch Wheels)

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

 

 

This is your typical sporting goods/department store comfort/hybrid bicycle. It has a near bottom of the line Shimano RD-TZ30 rear derailleur, a front Falcon derailleur / Suntour crank combo, SRAM MX twist shifters, linear pull V-style brakes, an adjustable seat shock, front shock, and an aluminum frame. The seat tube length is 18", the top tube length is 21", and the stand over height is ~28 - 30" (top tube slopes down to the seat tube). From the seat tube and stand over height, this bike is sized for someone with a 30' - 32" inseam.
The bike comes partially assembled. You have to put the handlebars, front wheel, seat, and pedals on. You will need metric size Allen wrenches. The gears were adequately factory set, but the brakes needed to be adjusted.
I purchased it for occasional street recreational riding. For this purpose, this bike is average. If you want something with better components (more expensive) then look at the GT Nomad / Timberline, Schwinn Sierra / Voyageur, or the Giant Sedona.
Pros: Better price than I found at a local sporting goods chain store and free shipping. Amazon shipped it double boxed. Light aluminum frame. Comfortable seat with adjustable shock tension. Linear pull V-style brakes. Adequate for recreational street biking, which is what about 90% of us do.
Cons: Components, but you get what you pay for. Front and rear wheels are not quick disconnect. One size, if your tall or short this bike will probably be a bad fit for you.

My husband and I each ordered one of these and are happy.

ASSEMBLY There is some putting together that you have to do, but it's fairly simple. Sorry, no more details there--I left that to the honey.

HEIGHT Even at its lowest seat setting, it seems a bit tall for me (I'm about 5'2 or 5'3), but that's not the bike's fault I guess.

GEARS It has lots of gears, which is helpful for going up and down hills. We both find that the gear changes are jerky and delayed.

SEAT The seat is not bad as far as bike seats go. My husband got a wider, cushier one at Target for $20 to replace the one it came with. I think I'll stick to the one already on it.

GRIPS The handle grips are comfortable and also provide some grip, so your hands don't slide around if they sweat.

HANDLEBAR The handlebar shape is great--you can sit up straight and ride it, which is why I got it (I have a bad back).

TREAD Tires have nice tread for a non-mountain bike.

ACCIDENT Incidentally, I took mine out for a spin a week ago without my husband (who keeps me going at a slower pace). As the speed demon I am, I was rolling downhill awfully fast when I saw that the sharp curve ahead would not be navigable at my speed, so I braked quickly. The breaks work--er, well. Perhaps too well--I skidded and fell, and am still bandaging my wounds (one of which is equivalent to a 2nd degree burn--ow!). But I am convinced this was "user error," perhaps exacerbated by the fact the seat is a little too high for me. And while I have cuts and bruises in multiple places, the bike suffered only three very small scuffs. So it's surely durable.

OVERALL IMPRESSION A great value, especially with Amazon's free shipping.

I was happy to get what I thought would be a perfect bike, at a great price, and when it arrived, I had only a few minor issues with the assembly. But then I realized it was way too small for me--my feet hit the front tire on turning. I measured the frame--17 inches. I would need a 19 inch frame
Nowhere in the product descrption is there an indication of frame size, or any warning that there was no choice; so beware, if you are six feet or more, this will be much too small, and it might be too big for shorter people.

I was worried at first about buying a bike on the internet, because I hadn't tried the bike out, or even actually seen it. All I saw at purchase was what you see next to the price above. Blue, black, silver? Cool.

I wasn't disappointed when my bike arrived--it was all in one piece--that is, it was dissasembled--but nothing was broking or missing. The bike felt great, the seat was a surprise, featuring its own form of suspension. Front suspension was present as well.

Problems arose when I rode on the bike. I had a lot of trouble changing the 1-2-3 gears, but I eventually figured out just how hard I had to twist the handle. The only major problem I had with the bike was the pedals--I don't know if I need to fix it, but the cranks kept "snapping" when I "stood" on the bike to gain speed. I.E., when I took my butt off of the seat and pedaled hard, the crank snapped. When the crank snapped, it would simply give way to my weight for a movement, making a bit of a banging sound.

Overall, I'm satisfied with the bike. It needs some fine tuning, but it came at a great price, and I can see myself riding it for years to come.

The ride of this bike is like floating, bumps, holes and whatever the bike trails could throw at the Placid could not get my rearend sore after a full days ride 28 plus miles. The front suspension holds up and does not wander. The seatpost suspension is a real help on bumpy rides. All in all a great bike for the money.

I bought this bike and its twin for my wife and me last summer after our gastric bypass surgeries and the large weight loss, as a present to ourselves, and apart from the cold of Vermont's winter, I've been riding it just about every day. The bike is very comfortable and with a little maintenance rides smooth and easy.

It comes partially assembled and it took me about an hour to put it together. It should have been about twenty minutes, but the manual is shared between a lot of models, and you have to do a lot of picking through complex directions to find the relevant ones. The manual is not always clear during assembly and sometimes refers to terms without defining them. (However, it's a great manual otherwise, particularly the section on tuneups and maintenance, once you figure out the terms and which directions do and don't apply.)

The ride is comfortable, though the seat could be a little bit better, but otherwise it's smooth and steady. The construction is solid; it has no problem with my still-high weight and never feels like it's even challenged by me. The brakes and derailleurs needed some adjustment, but once they're adjusted they run pretty smooth. (Though 21 gears seems a bit silly; I almost never use anything but the top four or five.)

I've used the bike on a bike path, various roads, some dirt paths, and some of Vermont's infamous dirt roads. Also taken it travelling; it was wonderful on the Maine seacoast. The tires are good at handling all these terrains.

There really isn't anything I'd do differently about this bike. It's as good as bikes two or three times the price, and better than some. The only room for improvement is in the manual (and maybe the seat).

I bought this bike because I read about it in consumer reports. They ranked it fairly high and it was priced right. I was expecting a little more but it is not bad. The shifting could be smoother

The good: I bought this bike because it was the cheapest aluminum-framed comfort bike with 21 speeds that I could find anywhere. Indeed, it weighs 31.6 Lbs fully assembled, which is featherweight for a cheap bike. It looks fine except that it's plastered with cheap decals (which I pulled off). The paint and welds look better than expected.
The bad: If you're expecting to take this thing out of the box, put on the bars, front wheel, and ride off into the sunset, you'll be very disappointed. Everything needs to be lubed and adjusted. I had to dis-assemble, lube and reassemble front and rear brakes and then adjust them. The rear brake is still being fussy. The front derailleur was mounted too low, and not parallel to the chainring. It took a long time to adjust both derailleurs so that I could shift into all gears. It does not shift smoothly, but it does shift. It uses a mix of SRAM shifters, Falcon front derailleur and Shimano rear derailleur...all are very low end parts, including the chainring. Both wheels are in need of spoke adjustments and don't roll true yet. The shocks work great on the street, but are way too wimpy for any off road use. There is no quick-release skewer on the front axle as indicated in the amazon photos.
The ugly: If you're not mechanically inclined, you WILL wind up taking this to your local bike shop for tuning. You'll probably end up spending $100 for the work. But you'll end up with a decent, very light bike for about $250...and you'll pay at least $350 for any bike at a local shop. I believe any bike you order online will need the same level of tuning. I paid $160 delivered from Amazon and I would buy it again, but I do my own tuning.

Quite happy with this mountain bike. It's fairly light-weight and has a comfortable ride. Would have preferred to have quick-release hubs but that would have surely increased the purchase price. All around good value for the money. Item arrived even sooner then Amazon estimated. Another positive experience with Amazon.com.

We bought the men's and women's and they are very comfortable and very fun to ride.