Customer Reviews

Mongoose ShowTime Boy's Bike (16-Inch Wheels)

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

 

 

I should have listened to the other reviewers....bacause this baby is heading back to Amazon right now.

The instructions are impossible. Forget about trying to follow the book, because the bike you are putting together is not in the book. Now, my husband used to race mountain bikes, so he was able to go ahead and put it together, until we saw that the fork is bent and there was no way to fit the front wheel assembly into it. Tried to reassemble the wheel, so that it did go in, but with the odd number of washers and nuts included, there was no logical way to do it. Ball bearings fall out of the weird wheel assembly. In other words, you get what you pay for. A big disappointment to my little boy who loved the way the bike looked. We were confirmed in out belief that the best thing to do is to go to your local bike shop or toy store and buy a bike you can test and try.

Also--this bike is super heavy! it would be hard for the kid this size to lift this bike if it falls.
I guess it does deserve a star for good looks, though.

I saw this bike at Toys R Us for 120$, I google goggled it, and found it cheaper online (88$), so I bought it. I saved over 50 bucks, when considering tax and that Toys R Us wanted to charge me if I bought it assembled. (They are all assembled.) I read that some reviewers had a hard time putting it together, but I thought it was pretty easy. I just looked at the picture on the box, put the pieces where they belonged and screwed together. Really, it's not much harder than assembling an IKEA bookshelf. Any person with common sense can put the pieces together. It's all pre-assembled, all you have to do is allign and screw in the front wheel with the handlebar assembly, screw on the pedals and pop the seat in. As far as allignment issues are concerned, (another reviewer stated the wheels were not alligned) I can't see how it can possibly become misalligned unless the assembler bolted the wheel assembly crooked. User error is the reason for the crappy reviews on this otherwise awesome product.

As far as the end user experience is concerned, my son LOVES this thing. We searched everywhere for a bike for my boy's 6th birthday: Target, Toys R Us, Sports Authority, even Walmart... *gag*. This is by far the most awesome looking bike in this price range. The colors are electric, it looks very durable, and everything about this bike says "AWESOME!!!" Yeah, you can probably spend a couple hundred dollars more and get an authentic BMX style bike that you kid will outgrow in the next year, and if you've got the disposable income to do that, great! For everyone else, buy this bike- you will not be dissappointed.

I was a bit skeptical based on other reviews regarding building instructions. But my son really wanted it so I decided to order it anyways. And guess what, reviews were correct, instructions to build are almost non-existent. I suppose if you're used to step-by-step instructions with drawings (like IKEA furniture) this will be total disappointment. What I ended up doing was just look at the parts that are available and try to to see how it will work and put to gather myself. Seem to have worked without any issues. As there aren't many parts to attach anyways.

Once I built my bike and glanced through the manual again, even though they don't have picture instructions for each step, they have mentioned about all the complexities of each assembly (verbose and buried in lines of paragraphs). So, if I were to just "learn" how bikes are generally assembled and take an individual approach based on components I had in front of me... that would have worked as well... so who has time for that?

Once bike is ready, its very nice to drive, its built strong. I'm glad I went with this bike as my son is enjoying it very much. I
would definitely recommend it to my friends (since I can walk them through build instructions for this bike). I'm also going to recommend Mongoose to add one sheet just showing drawings on how to assemble this bike... As I mentioned there aren't as many parts so shouldn't be that difficult to put together something quick.

I was a little skeptical buying this bike from reading some of the reviews. It is a great bike and can't beat the price. My son loves it. Also, I don't know what people were complaining about with the assembly. Yeah, the instructions are generic but all you have to do is attach the seat, handlebars, front wheel and pedals. Took me about 15 min. Maybe they made it easier since there were several complaints.

The Mongoose Showtime 16-inch Boy's bike is really a decent bike overall--it is well designed, quite rugged, and has aesthetic appeal your child is sure to enjoy. And it seems like a very good deal for the price. That being said, there are definitely some issues to be considered before purchasing this bike.

First of all, the assembly instructions are absolutely terrible. They are a generic set of instructions for multiple models of bicycles, not a specific set of instructions for assembling the Mongoose Showtime, and are still bad instructions on top of that. So unless you are vaguely familiar with how to assemble a bike and make initial set up adjustments, I recommend either steering clear of this bike, or contacting a bike shop (or someone you know to be handy) in advance to see if they would assemble it and what they would charge to do so before purchasing.

Secondly, all of the bearings in the steering shaft, rims, and crank seemed to be overtightened and covered with cheap grease to me, because these things did not turn as freely as they should have out of the box. I had to disassemble these parts, grease them, and then put them together at the proper tension so they weren't "grinding" the bearings. Therefore, again I recommend staying clear of this bike if you are not mechanically inclined and handy with some basic tools--or figuring in the cost of having a bike tune-up done by a bike shop/handyman.

Lastly, the pedals that come on the bike are very cheap and do not rotate well even after lubricating. So far they have not presented a problem, but I do anticipate having to buy a pair of pedals for it within a year.

Again, I reitterate that this is really a decent bike for the money if you are willing to deal with the short commings in the assembly instructions and having to do some tuning up out of the box. My son really loves his bike, and I feel that it is rugged enough to last him until he outgrows it in a few years, and perhaps even for a few more boys use after him.

Love this bike! purchased for my 4 yr old son, he loves it works great we are both very happy, the only thing to note is it is a heavy bike, my son is now 5 and still uses the training wheels because he is not strong enough to balance it, however we can both happy with the bike

I agree with all the other reviews. The instructions stink, but you can figure them out with a little sitting down and really reading. DON'T Mess with the brakes unless you have too! We got the 1st one and thought it was mandatory to redo the brakes, and one of the brake wires snapped. We sent it back and got another and didn't mess with them and it was fine. I am disappointed in the way the stickers were put on it. Looks like they didnt really take care in putting the stickers on so they are already starting to peel off. Very cool looking bike, but its also very heavy. I would rather my child have a heavy bike then a cheaply made one though. All in all a great bike and works well, just wish they would work out some minor issues.

Great bike for a beginner. My son loves his bike and won't stop riding it.

I bought this for my 3 1/2 year old. It's a nice size for him to grow into, and he has no issues riding it. Like the another reviewer said, the owners manual is for 3 different bikes, which was odd and a little confusing at first. I was expecting it just to tell me how to assemble the one I bought, not every type of mongoose. Assembly is minimal, I had to put on the handle bars, front wheel, training wheels, and seat. I do not think the seat is very comfortable my son is always grabbing at his bottom after riding for a while, probably more style than comfort. The training wheels are sturdy, and the pegs are probably unnecessary for a 16 inch bike. Oh yeah, the shipping was very fast as well. It only took a few days with the super saver shipping - less time than they projected.

We purchased this bicycle for our 4 year old son and the girls version for our 5 year old daughter this week. They were shipped from different locations and came one day apart but in a timely manner. Both boxes showed up looking like they had been kicked down the block. My daughter's bike came in acceptable condition with the exceptions of some scratches and red paint scuff marks (no red on the bike) on the main frame. While not ideal, it was acceptable and no way we were going to send it back for some minor cosmetic issue because of how excited she was. I had no problems assembling the bike and we were off an riding in 30 minutes. My sons bike was another matter. The Show Time handlebar plate came cracked in half. The front wheel also had a bearing that was going out. Needless to say we sent it back and went with my first choice and slightly more expensive Diamondback Mini-Viper.