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A MOUNTAIN RAT BMX
This 29” Mongoose Excursion was discovered near my apartment dumpsters, after the complex decided to remove all of the bike racks from each building. Everyone had a chance to get their bikes out before the scrapper came. There were several bikes. Enough to build several decent bikes from. The 29” rims caught my eye. The bike was mostly complete, minus a seat and seat tube, so I thought it could be an easy fix up. I was wrong.
The bike was quite clean looking and appeared to be barely ridden. Closer investigation revealed that this bike was treated pretty rough. The bike had a bent frame, bent wheels with wobbly hubs, bent derailleur hanger, smashed derailleurs and a wobbly BB.
I assessed what I had to work with, then made a trip around the complex looking for other bikes. I came across two BMX bikes. One was a Next and the other a Mongoose! I saw the bars on the Mongoose BMX bike and thought they would look cool on the 29” Mongoose Excursion mountain bike. That set the idea in mind to build a hybrid BMX/MOUNTAIN BIKE.
The frame, fork, brake and shifting equipment, headset, seat clamp, tires and tubes and chain were the only reusable items from the bike. All new parts were needed since I had very little in my stash. This is my first mountain bike, therefore I had quite a learning curve when dealing with multiple chainrings and derailleurs. Sourcing the parts that would work together was a bit of a crap shoot. Luckily, they seem to work together.
Once I got the parts sourced, the set out to break the bike down and give it some paint. I thought that this bike would be a cool go-with to my 2006 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, so I set out to find some matching paint. Light Khaki Metallic was the color needed. After a few setbacks on paint purchases, the right paint mix arrived.
Once the bike was broken down to parts, I had to address the bent frame. It was over 1/8 off in the rear. Using the string method, I got it back in alignment. Then I needed to address the derailleur hanger. I ordered an adjustment tool and got the frame back straight again.
After getting the frame straight and painted, along with the handlebars and fork, I was ready for assembly. Once sold as a non lubed Wally World bike, this was now on its way to a fresh start with all new, lubricated parts.
Once all of the parts were painted and assembled, I decided to make some BMX pads for the bike, to give it the BMX/MOUNTAIN BIKE stylings and feel. I made three options to swap out from. They were a lot of fun and I wanted to add a “hand made” element to the bike. Sewing is one of the best skills my mother ever taught me.
Finally, I got the bike all assembled, took it for a few shake down rides and then photos. The bike is fast and a bit scary, since I’m 5’8” on a 29” bike. Feels like a penny farthing. It was a fun build and I learned a lot. I also gained some skills.
Thank you for checking it out!
https://ratrodbikes.com/threads/a-mountain-rat-bmx.118310/
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