Customer Reviews

Mongoose Slade Boy's BMX/Mountain Bike (24-Inch Wheels)

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4 star:		(2)
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2 star:		(1)
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I got this bike for my 10 yr old son who has after a few loops through our local trails decided his BMX bike was too difficult to ride on MTB trails (single speed no suspension). So as a long time MTB'er I had to agree with him. Now before I dump $500 or more on a 24" bike that he will outgrow in a year I thought this was the way to go. It is not a bad bike for the $$$ but I have started to replace parts already to maximize his experience off road. So first I replace the AWFUL back brakes and the cheap Stem and bars with a better ones. Next will be the seat post (all with parts I had laying around. The bike is heavy but that is not a bad thing when going down hill - uphill is a hot mess as the bike is close to 30LBS. I hope to shave off about 3 lbs with new parts. Over all if your child is about to take their first steps toward MTBs this is not a bad place to start. It will make going downhill fun due to it's weight but uphill will be a pain. We lean more toward DH here but if you are looking for an XC ride for your little one this is NOT the bike.

My son likes it, although he is small for his age and it is a little too big for him I'm afraid. As far as the bike goes, it isn't perfect but I'm not sure what mountain bike is at this price point. I've looked at a lot of the bikes offered for sale on Amazon and other stores. For anyone who complains about a geared bicycle in this size for under two hundred dollars has unrealstic expectations about bicycles. With bicycles you get what you pay for and you should expect to spend almost 2x as much to get a bike that is built better. I'm sorry but ALL new bikes will need to be adjusted and tightened after they are ridden the first few times. If these sub $200 bikes are ridden hard, they will require you to constantly tinker with them to keep them running smoothly. If you don't want to do either of these then you must buy from a local bike shop so they can do it and/or spend more $. Many of these shops will do the 1st tuneuup for "free" (that is why most LBS bikes are more expensive).

Onto this bike. This bike doesn't have much of a front shock - feels very firm - and my son is so light that it is essentially a shockless fork. The bike works great and he can go over a lot more bumps and hills than his single speed bike. It is heavy but, again, most of the sub $200 bikes weigh too much. The gear shifting isn't the best but it works, especially if you keep it lubed up. These gears are more susceptible to being nocked out of wack so if your kid throws the bike around & onto the ground (never a good idea for a mountain bike anyway) expect to have to adjust the gears or end up with bent deraileurs. I will update this review if I have any problems but so far so good, especially if you get it on sale!

I'm not happy with this bike. Especially after paying this price. You would think that you are actually getting a great product, but the workmanship on the already assembled parts is not great at all. We got this bike for my son for Christmas and on his first morning of riding it the piece that connects to the back tire/chain area bent and broke during gear shifting. We contacted Mongoose directly and they said that there have been some issues and sent us a new part. Upon removing the original part we discovered that the people that assembled it initially stripped out parts that cannot be replaced. Now I'm having to contact Mongoose on Monday to see if they will be able to send a whole new bike because that part is attached to the main frame of the bike. If not, I guess I'll be disputing this purchase with my credit card company in order to get my money back so I can turn around and order him another one. I'm really disgusted with this whole situation.