COPIED FROM MTBR - Talking about the 20" Mongoose Massif -
It has arrived! Initial impressions:
Its heavy, real heavy.
Rims are very heavy, but there is lots of room to drill. Spokes are laced way to the sides of the rim. Tires are not very supple.
Everything is going to need adjustment, the headset barely turns and all the other walgoose assumptions regarding lube...
Frame wise, the welds look solid enough, not elegant and a little bit sloppy, but I didn't expect much more. The dropouts are really large plates of metal, not really fancy but I bet they will work just great. Stickers peeled right off.
It's really long, 3 feet from axle to axle. Seatpost is 28.6, stand over at the seat tube is 19" with a pretty good upslope from there.
Seems to be a 100mm bottom bracket with a really long spindle. I am pretty sure that I would bend it with that much axle spilling out of the bearings, but it should be fine for a little person... 7 speed freewheel, grip shifter of some sort, boat anchor of a derailleur. Eyeballing the rear hub looks more like a 190 than a 170 but don't quote me on that as I haven't actually pulled the wheel off and measured it.
The brakes look like remarkably capable avid knock offs, but I will pull them off and do a little comparison of what is going on. The rotors I suspect will be much heavier than necessary and probably an easy place to lose some weight.
Ride wise, it is a grin inducer. Remember when you first jumped on a fat bike and felt like a kid again? This thing pulled that smile right back out of me. Not really the best tire for snow and ice which is what outside is around here right now, but you only have a couple inches to fall when you bite it! I could actually see the utility of a little snow bike, makes me think of those old Hannebrinks. Hopefully someone will come out with a little bit more practical tire for snow/ sand, but should be just great for playground stomping, dirt paths and gravel/ rail trails which is most likely where this thing will be ridden.
Overall, I am really happy. Is it of the quality one would expect at this price point? Of course it is. But it is also a twenty inch fat bike and the only player in that game right now. The on-one is a 24" and would still be too big for my 5 year old. Could you build up a bmx with 2+ inch tires and have a more practical lighter bike with effective float for your kid? Of course you could. But this is a mini fat bike, not a fat bmx bike. The chopper potential is just huge on this thing. It is going to be a fun bike and I think stripping it down and building it up with real parts (of which I have way too many lying around in the garage) is going to be a really great father/son project followed by some fun little rides.
Absolutely astounding that they can build this thing and sell it for less than 200 bucks...
