Mongoose Wanderer AL Tandem Bike (26-Inch Wheels)

by Mongoose

Product Features

• Tandem bike with oversized 7005 aluminum frame
• SRAM 4.0 21-speed shifters and SRAM rear derailleur
• Sure-stopping alloy linear pull brakes; rigid fork
• Supersonic Alloy 36-hole rims; Mega Range freewheel
• Weighs 57 pounds; 1-year warranty

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Whether you're riding with a family member or a friend, the Mongoose Wanderer AL tandem bike is a terrific choice for casual rides in the city. The Wanderer AL offers such features as an oversized 7005 aluminum tandem frame, a rigid fork, and sure-stopping alloy linear pull brakes. The SRAM 4.0 21-speed shifters and SRAM rear derailleur, meanwhile, make it a breeze to shift gears. Add in lightweight Supersonic Alloy 36-hole rims and a Mega Range freewheel with overdrive and you have a tandem bike that can conquer almost any terrain. The Wanderer, which weighs 57 pounds, carries a one-year warranty.

Product Description

R5006 -Blue frame with black tires. -Oversized 7005 aluminum tandem bike frame. -SRAM-40 21 speed shifters . -SRAM 4.0 rear derailleur . -Accomodates 2 riders. -Mega range freewheel with overdrive . -Alloy linear pull brakes. -Mongoose brand MTB riser bar stem.

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 79 x 9 x 27 inches ; 70 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 70 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B000K0UZ7S
• Item model number: R5006
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #136,594 in Sports & Outdoors (See Top 100 in Sports & Outdoors)
  • #4 in Sports & Outdoors > Bikes & Accessories > Bikes > Tandem Bikes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Value for the money spent, June 14, 2007

By 

Bill B. "Bill the old biker" (Bartlett, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mongoose Wanderer AL Tandem Bike (26-Inch Wheels) (Sports)

My wife wanted us to purchase a tandem bike. I ride quite a bit but my wife does not due to a balance problem. I was not crazy about this but I bought the Mongoose Wanderer. I have been plesantly surprised!

The bike was shipped and arrived in perfect condition, no damage and all pieces were received. I assembled in less than an hour but I have a fair amount of experience in working on bikes and I have a repair stand and a good supply of tools. Brakes required some adjustment as did the front and real derailleurs. Park Tools "Blue Book of Bicycle Repair" is very helpful with this.

The ride of a tandem is better than I expected. I've only ridden one tandem in the past and it was less than pleasant. We rode in a charity ride recently (appx 18 miles) and the bike worked perfectly! We got quite a few comments and most were very surprised at the low price paid for this bike.

The quality is very good for the money spent on the bike. Frame is excellent and total weight is not bad; appx 39 lbs. I did replace the knobby tires with higher-pressure smooth tires. (Much better ride.)Got a different seat for the wife. Seats seem to be more of unisex seats, which is understandable, mine was fine.

There are a few other changes I plan to make but nothing big. All in all, I'm very happy with purchase. And most important, my wife really enjoyed the ride!

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good frame, parts are just OK, September 29, 2009

By 

Thomas D. Kehoe (Boulder, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mongoose Wanderer AL Tandem Bike (26-Inch Wheels) (Sports)

The Mongoose Wanderer AL tandem has a good oversized aluminum frame. The same frame is sold in steel under the "Pacific" brand name. Assuming that the frame fits you and your partner, I doubt you'll find a better frame even if you pay far more. The frame is light and feels solid.

The steel fork and components are inexpensive but serviceable.

You'll have to take the bike to a bike shop to assemble, unless you're an experienced mechanic. Every bearing needed to be adjusted, and both wheels needed to be tensioned and trued. This is the way all bikes come from the factory.

The weight out of the box is 41 pounds. By replacing some of the steel parts with aluminum we easily lowered to weight to 37 pounds. You could lower the weight further without great expense.

The annoying thing is that the Mongoose choose parts that save a dollar, but cost a fortune to replace.

- The most important part to replace are the tires. We put on 1.4" Tom Slicks and it felt like a different bike.

- The seats and pedals are cheap plastic. No big deal, I always replace the seat and pedals when I buy a bike.

- The bike has a threaded headset. A threadless headset would have cost the manufacturer a dollar more, but for the consumer to upgrade to threadless (fork, headset, stem) costs about $200.

- It has a freewheel, not a cassette. This increases the stress on the rear axle, increasing the possibility of breaking. And it has a "Mega Range" 7-speed freewheel, which is a 14-24 6-speed plus a 32-tooth cog. 14-32 is a good range, and 7 gears are adequate, but the shift from 24 to 32 teeth causes the pedals to increase in speed suddenly and the stoker loses her feet off the pedals. Replacing a cassette is easy but replacing a freewheel is harder. First I found a 14-28 7-speed freewheel on an old bike. Then I found a deal on rear wheel with a 7-speed cassette. Then I upgraded the rear wheel to a 9-speed cassette with 40 spokes, which was expensive but is a real tandem wheel.

- Both wheels have 36 spokes. 40- or 48-spoke wheels would have cost just a few dollars more, but for you to upgrade the wheels can cost hundreds of dollars.

- The spokes were undertensioned, which will increase spoke breakage, so you need to have a skilled mechanic spend some time tensioning the wheels. This isn't simple, you have to true, tension, and re-true the wheel; go for a ride; true, tension and re-true again, etc. After doing this four times the wheels stayed in true.

- The bike only has mounts for rim brakes. Disk brake mounts would have cost another dollar, I guess. The ProMax brakes work acceptably, but if you want to upgrade to better brakes (I put on Avis Single Digit 7's) you'll need brake boosters. Without brake boosters you get squealing and shuddering, because the fork and frame aren't as strong as the brakes.

- Both seat tubes are standard 27.2mm, but the captain has a 25.4 seat post with a shim, to fit a 25.4 stoker steam. These non-standard sizes increase your cost to upgrade.

- The handlebars, stems, and seat posts are steel. They're functional but heavy, using aluminum would have cost only a little more.

- The SRAM 7-speed derailleurs and shifters work perfectly well.

- The cranksets are functional, no-name-brand, square taper, and work perfectly well.

I wish that there were a more expensive model with this frame and a threadless headset; 8- or 9-speed cassette; 48-spoke wheels; and standard-sized aluminum handlebars, stems, and seatposts.

All in all, this is a good bike if you just want to do easy rides in the park with your sweetheart, or if you are a serious cyclist with the skills and time to upgrade parts. If you want a quality tandem but don't have skills or time to work on the bike, go to a good bike shop and get a Burley or Santana.

The frame measurements are:

- Captain's seat tube 18.75", top tube 21"
- Stoker's seat tube 17", top tube 24.5"
- Wheelbase 68"
- BB height 11"

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun per dollar - of the charts!, March 28, 2010

By 

Gestures are all I have "Gus" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mongoose Wanderer AL Tandem Bike (26-Inch Wheels) (Sports)

I looked at tandems all over the price range, including used ones costing much more than this new one, before deciding on this. It's perfect for our needs as new tandem riders. Yes, its a lower end bike. But it is a fraction of the cost of a higher end bike, and even a fraction of the used ones we looked at. A new Kia is a better car for most people than a 15 year old Mercedes - and this bike is better for most people than an older higher end tandem.

Many of the reviews I read on this bike said it was hard to assemble. I didn't think so. With some metric allen wrenches and a pump, it was ready to ride in about an hour. Most of the time spent was removing protective packaging and making minor adjustments to get the seating position right and brakes adjusted. Simple stuff that most anyone can do.

I didn't find a lot of info on sizing, so here is some. I'm 6'0''. The captains perch fits me OK, but it's a little on the small side. The seat is about as high as it goes in the adjustment range and the bars are three inches or so lower than the seat. That's fine for me since I'm a road rider, but many people may want to swap out taller bars or stem. My wife is 5'4". The stoker perch fits her perfectly. The seat is about in the middle of the adjustment range and the bars are comfortable for her.

Like most people, I'm making some changes to make the bike fit best for us. I've already replaced the stoker seat with a gel padded one so she's comfortable. I'm replacing tires with a smoother tread pattern to make it roll easier and with less vibration. And I expect to upgrade other things like pedals over time, but it works fine as is. The SRAM shifting works perfect, and the brakes are much better than I expected considering they are slowing a heavy bike with two people aboard.

All in all, I couldn't be happier with this purchase. The fun per dollar quotient is outstanding, and it allows us to get out and ride together with each of us working as hard as we choose, and it allows for easy conversations as we ride.

One tip - I did some reading first on tandem etiquette. The best articles I found came from Santana - the bike I'll upgrade to if we decide we want a higher end bike. The Golden Rule is "the stoker makes no mistakes". With that in mind, my wife is confident that she can do no wrong on the bike, and I'm reminded that everything that happens on the bike is my responsibility. I like it, because it definitively answers any questions, and minimizes the chance of quarrels.