Walmart MTB Trail Test
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In the last video, we bought a $140 bike from Walmart and corrected a bunch of issues with its assembly. Today, we’re off to Amelia Earhart mountain bike trails to test out the Mongoose for real. This is my sister, Emily. She’s an avid road cyclist, but has only been mountain biking once. Emily will be taking the Mongoose on the novice trails so we can see if it’s any good for a beginner. At 35 pounds, this bike weighs about 1/3 as much as Emily does. The novice trails here offer a mix of loose terrain, mud, roots, and various other small obstacles. Emily didn’t have any problems at all on the mongoose, it must be in her blood. We rode through every novice trail here and then went back to the car to check the bike out. No issues, and no adjustments needed. The bike was in perfect working order. We went back out again but we swapped bikes this time. I rode the mongoose like a complete dick, first on the novice trails to see what it could do. The first thing I noticed was how smooth the ride was. At $140 I expected the suspension to be little more than a gimmick, but it was surprisingly plush and effective. The shifting wasn’t as impressive though. The rear worked fine, more or less, but the setup in the front was a noisy mess. The brakes weren’t great either, but they did work. Surprisingly, the saddle was comfortable and I didn’t hate riding this bike at all. Actually, I was having a blast on it, just seeing what was possible. It was time to subject the mongoose to some intermediate trails. Again, the bike performed admirably. I even dropped some locals a few times. I got comfortable enough on the bike to try this little jump, and somewhat surprisingly, it was smooth as butter. It seemed that the Walmart bike was performing as advertised. But then I started dicking around. On my mountain bike I can bunny hop on to the benches of picnic tables quite easily, but what about on the Mongoose? Success. Yes, it felt heavy, but I did this bunny hop first shot. On the way back to the car, I messed around on these skinnies, and ended up slipping off. That brought the bike to its knees. The rear wheel got knocked off to the side, which is weird because I remember tightening it real good. We went back to the car and got it back into place with my pedal wrench. I haven’t carried a proper 15 mil with me since my BMX days. After a closer check, I noticed the headset was loose, along with the hubs in the wheels. I tightened them all up and they seem to be holding now. I asked Emily what she thought of the bike, and not surprisingly she wanted to go out mountain biking on it again. Seeing how it held up just fine for her on the novice trails, I can’t blame her. So, we can say for sure that a properly assembled Mongoose Ledge is sufficient for a beginner to take on novice trails. Anything more than that, and it may need some extra maintenance. It’s also worth mentioning that we didn’t crash today. A good mountain bike will hold up in most crashes, but we have yet to see how the Mongoose holds up with repeated abuse. There’s always tomorrow. In the next video, we’ll ride some street on the Mongoose and see how it holds up. If it gets destroyed, I might actually be a tiny bit sad, but it’s all in the name of science. Thanks for riding with me today, and I’ll see you next time. If you have a department store bike, and need some ideas on keeping it maintained, here's the best resource you could possibly use: http://bigboxbikes.com This is the actual bike used: http://www.sethsbikehacks.com/product/mongoose-ledge/
Comments
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I can't believe the suspension is plush and effective. I use to work in a bike shop and the bikes we had to fix from department stores were horrible in general, but the suspension was even worse. Just a gimmick as you say. Usually they are just a super stiff spring or a piece of rubber.
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so I was going 30 an hour down a steep ass dirt road and I could of died fuck I git a very expensive bike but its worth 100 10 dolars
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Dang the trails I ride in Washington are completely different, mine have so many trees 🌲
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This trail looks like the roads of kerala
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very true man good video
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Please don't excuse department store bikes. Nobody should ever allow anybody to purchase these, regardless if it worked or not, bicycles should be sold at bikes shops and not department stores. If you're really concerned about the price, buy a second hand bike and have it thoroughly looked over by your local mechanic, or better yet, buy one of the bikes he has in his shop without any hidden expenses.
Just don't make it okay for Walmart or whoever to keep stamping these things out. I've witnessed some very unsafe practices here in New Zealand that have actually had laws enforced to prevent. -
I own a 155 $ X-fact bike(im from europe) alongside a 2.5k Rockmachine.Guys you wouldnt even believe the fun im having torturing the 150 dollars bike...and the "girl" is resisting so far.Ofc i didnt took her on hardocre trails but on some she did pretty well.When i finished a downhill course everybody at finish line congratulated the bike.(not me...the bike)
My mtb crew even named it Cinderella(its white with light blue lines).
So for a 150-200 dollars mtb just try not to venture that far with it.But you can get "them" on some dirt.....some like to get dirty.
sorry for long post....remembering my "girl" -
Hey Seth get a hard tail Walmart bike see if it is better
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Hey Seth, I've been wanting to start mountain biking and I'm 12 years old. I don't have that much money and I want a decent bike for a lower price . Do you recommend any budget bikes? Thanks.
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get ur sisters number for me ;)
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Did the rear wheel come loose because the hub wore out?
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Hi Seth love this series! Can you do a video on modifying department store bikes, perhaps buy a department store hardtrail, then put on some entry level "real bike" components like shimano drivetrain and an at least entry level proper suspension fork perhaps the rockshox xc28 or suntour xcr or something of that sort, maybe better wheels too. That would be an amazing series if you can do it!! People love the department store bikes content
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I enjoy your videos very much. Many thanks.
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Thanks for the info. You seem to have an honest, un-biased opinion. I can only afford a department store bike and thats what i got. So i came looking for an honest review and thats what i got
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do you think using some medium loctite to keep the bolts tight?
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The rear suspension is Siriusly tight or doesn't work
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All fo sho no go
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emily is so cute
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The first thing I noticed..... Nice car dude
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Can I get good even if I have one bike ?
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