As a sport with a long history, mountain biking has developed into a broad array of disciplines. Today, mountain bikes are not meant only for off-road and dirt terrains, but they are designed to meet every rider’s needs. From cross-country trails to commuting and urban street biking, these bikes provide a fantastic experience.
Mountain biking is both fun and useful activity. While enjoying the outdoors and having fun with your family and friend, mountain biking also helps you get in shape and has many other health benefits.
Table could not be displayed.Mongoose is a mountain bike company that started out way back in 1974. They have an extremely meticulous and detailed approach when designing and manufacturing their bikes. They are producing a great number of different bike types, from all-purpose models to the bikes specially designed for downhill mountain trails.
Our Top Picks
In this article, we will review the top 3 Mongoose mountain bikes and create the Buyer’s Guide with all the features you should consider when choosing a new mountain bike. Let’s start.
1. Mongoose Maxim Girls Mountain Bike, 24-Inch Wheels
The Mongoose Maxim Girls Bike comes with aluminium-frame suspension for premium comfort and performance. The suspension fork makes the bumpy road feel smooth and allows the rider to have maximum control over the bicycle.
Thanks to its comfortable seat height and the alloy linear-pull brakes, the ride is all the more pleasant and has quite a stopping power. With the 21 speed Shimano rear derailleur with SRAM twist shifters, gear shifting is effortless and breezy. It also has a wide range of gears for every type of terrain. Equipped with 24-inch wheels, the Maxim is a great bike for both kids and adults.
Once ordered, all the parts can be easily assembled with clear instructions and labeled parts. Almost every crucial part is previously assembled; you just need to mount the handlebars, seat, front-wheel, and pedals, and inflate the tires.
2. Mongoose Exlipse Bike For Kids, 24-inch Wheels
If you want to delight your youngest, the Mongoose Exlipse Bike is an ideal gift option. With this high-quality bike from the trusted Mongoose, your youngster will enjoy cruising around, riding to school, and even exploring off-road mountain biking.
The Exlipse features a lightweight but strong and sturdy steel frame with both front and rear suspension. Thanks to the full-suspension and the knotty tire treads, this mountain bike is safe and comfortable to ride on the more bumpy trails and paths and slippery surfaces. Similar to the previous item on our list, this bike comes with 24-inch wheels, which is suitable for kids aged eight to twelve.
The Exlipse is also equipped with the 21 speeds with Shimano rear derailleur and front & rear linear-pull brakes, making it easy to tackle hills with smooth shifting and quickly brake in different conditions.
3. Mongoose Excursion Boys’ Mountain Bike
The Excursion Mountain Bike by Mongoose is made for both beginners and experienced mountain bikers, taking on rough trails and steep slopes with ease.
This mountain bike is built with a hard-tail front suspension fork and durable steel frame, tackling all the abuse of dips and bumps of dirt trails. The 21-speed twist shifters and the Shimano rear derailleur provide excellent control over speed while riding, and the wide range of gears allows for fine-tuning on the go.
The Excursion features lightweight but strong and durable alloy rims, as well as knobby tires tread, helping you experience a breezy ride even on the toughest roads. Thanks to its front and rear V-brakes and the steel 3-piece crank, slowing down and stopping even on the steepest hills is super simple and easy.
Buyer’s Guide to Help You Make The Right Choice
Typically, mountain bikes are versatile, robust, and sturdy to tackle any off-road challenge and different terrains. There is a broad range of mountain bikes on the market today, from beginner-friendly models that are great for city commuters to special models made for trail riding, cross-country, freeride, and mountain downhill.
When choosing the best mountain bike type for you, you should think about the type of riding or the purpose of your bike, the terrain you’ll most frequently use, and your available budget as well.
In any case, you will need to consider the following features:
Feature #1 Full-suspension or hard-tail?
When deciding which type you should go for, you need to consider the terrain type you plan to ride your bike on as well as your budget.
The full-suss and hard-tail are the two main bike types. The full-suss models have both front and rear suspension, while the hard-tail models only have the front forks suspension.
For off-road and bumpy terrains, the ideal mountain bike would be the one with full-suspension. The read shock in full-suss models carry the weight and provide extra comfort. This is especially important for those who have problems with back or knee pain. With the added shock and bounce, you’ll have less traction, and your bike won’t be as fast as you might like it to be. However, it will give you more stability and confidence when riding on bumpy trails.
On the other hand, the hard-tail mountain bikes are perfect all-around bikes as well as for beginners who are learning the basic mountain biking skills. As these don’t have the rear suspension, these bikes are less heavy and complex, and therefore, less expensive. Whether you are just trying to get to grips with off-road biking or need a good bike for casual touring or commuting, a hard-tail model would be a perfect choice.
Feature #2 Aluminium or carbon frame?
Generally, the carbon frame bike models are more expensive than aluminium-frame ones for many reasons. Before deciding which one you want to go for and investing a good amount of money, you should consider what each of these has to offer.
When it comes to weight, the carbon-frame models are lighter than their aluminium counterparts. If you’re looking for a bike for dirt-bike rides, you might want to go for the carbon-framed models as these allow you to minimize the weight on climbs. However, this distinction is not as crucial for everyday use and all-around biking, and you won’t notice any difference between the two models.
As far as torsional stiffness, or the amount of flex on the pedals, goes, the carbon-frame models are quite a bit stiffer than the aluminum-frame ones. The bigger the torsional stiffness, the higher the power transfer, which makes the carbon-frame bikes quite snappy and fast on flat and smooth surfaces. However, suppose you plan to ride your bike on rougher terrains. In that case, the flex and softness provided by the aluminium-framed models allow for quite a more tolerant ride.
If you’re looking for comfort in your bike rides, the carbon-frame structure absorbs much more harshness of the rough trails. The shock-absorbing effect, combined with less weight in carbon-frame models, allows for faster and more comfortable long-distance rides.
But, when it comes to strength and durability, the carbon-frame models have a somewhat bad reputation. However, there have been many manufacturing and design improvements, and good quality carbon-frame bikes can easily outlast the aluminium ones if properly cared after. Nevertheless, carbon structured bikes are still much more expensive than the aluminium models, and the differences are very slight and insignificant if you’re looking for casual and everyday use bikes.
Factor #3 Disc brakes or rim brakes?
The major difference between disc brakes and rim brakes is the application of the braking force. With rim brakes, the braking force is applied to the wheel’s rim or its outer edge. While disc brakes clamp the rotor in the middle of the wheel.
For mountain biking, disk brakes are much more reliable, especially during bad weather, as they provide a better grasp. Rim brakes can struggle to grasp the wheel properly, and they also tend to get clogged up with dirt and grime of off-road terrain.
On the other hand, rim brakes are more lightweight, easier to maintain, and cheaper. So, if you’re just starting out and learning the tricks of mountain biking, rim brakes might serve you just fine. After all, once you grasp all the tricks and skills, you can easily upgrade to more expensive and heavy-duty disc brakes. You just need to be mindful of your new bike’s frame and look for ones that are compatible with disc brakes as well.
Feature #4 How much travel will you need?
The travel of your mountain bike refers to the maximum distance of compression of both the front and rear suspension, or how much force each suspension can absorb before they bottom out. The longer the travel, the higher the shock absorption, meaning exerting more energy if you want your bike to ride fast on flat surfaces. These are, however, good for rough terrains and downhill trails. For all-purpose biking and mixed terrains, less travel is more suited.
You can go for long-travel suspension, short-travel suspension, or adjustable travel suspension. 120-200 mm of travel is considered a long-travel suspension. These are suitable for mountain trails and high-speed downhill rides, as they provide more cushioning, stability and control.
Short-travel covers everything less than 120 mm. These provide enough shock absorption for smooth-trail rides and effective climbs. Avoid these for fast descents, as the less travel and shock can make steering a bit unstable and twitchy.
Finally, you can opt for adjustable travel, where you can adjust the front forks on the go. Essentially, with this travel, you can lock the suspension for long climbs and switch it back on for rougher terrains and descents.
Feature #5 Coil or air shocks?
When riding over bumps, the shock component of the rear suspension system absorbs the impact. So, if you opt for a full-suspension mountain bike, you need to decide between the coil and air rear shock.
Air shocks are generally more lightweight and easier to set up and adjust. However, since they are basically pressurized air, these are unstable under different weather conditions, including heat, humidity, as well as high altitude. Therefore, they require regular checks and adjustments.
Coil shock, on the other hand, is set-and-forget and easy to maintain. They are perfect for downhill trails as they make bikes more grounded, and they also feel more flexible and soft. On the downside, they are heavier and less adjustable.
Feature #6 Gears
Ideally, you would want your mountain bike to have a wide range of gears available. For mountain biking and steep hill rides, you’ll need a good range of low gears so you can climb more easily.
Entry-level mountain bikes usually come with a triple cassette, which means there are three cogs on the front cassette, giving you enough gear range for efficient riding while you’re building up your fitness.
The most common cassette or chainset of mountain bikes is double, meaning two cogs in the front paired with ten or eleven cogs at the rear. These should give every rider enough gear range to take on even the toughest climbs.
To Wrap Up
Check out again which are our top picks and their features in the following infographic:
We hope that with our list and the Buyer’s Guide, you will be able to select the right bike for your need and enjoy the true experience of mountain biking.
You can never go wrong with the trusted Mongoose because they always make sure you’re getting a high-quality bicycle for a fair price. With their mountain bikes, you can dig into dirt, grass, mud, and sand and savor your riding adventures.
Find out which are the most pricey Mongoose bikes on the market.
FAQs
Q: Is Mongoose a good bike brand?
A: Mongoose bikes are known for their high quality and performance. They manufacture a wide range of bike models for men, women, and kids, and for different purposes and trail terrains.
Q: Is it a 24-inch bike for adults?
A: Yes, these are perfectly suitable for both children and adults. For taller people, you can raise handlebars and seats.
Q: Is Mongoose a good BMX bike brand?
A: Even though Mongoose BMX bikes are on the more pricey side, there are some good quality pickings for a more reasonable price. All in all, Mongoose BMX is known for its wheelset and hubs.
Before you go take a look at some other models available on the market right now:
No products found.
