Mongoose Beast Review
I get a lot of questions regarding the Mongoose Beast fat-bike so I thought I’d post some of my thoughts and experiences.
I am going to assume most of what I say also applies to the Mongoose Brutus which I believe is the same bike in a different color and has a better gear ratio.
It’s a single-speed, coaster brake fat-bike is sold as a “Cruiser” not a MTB or All Terrain.
I purchased the bike online from Walmart in April of 2013 at a cost of $199 plus tax and shipping was free.
Since then I’ve probably put a couple hundred miles on it. I don’t really know. I don’t keep track.
Right out of the box the bike is un-ride-able. It was lacking grease. Some components were too tight and others loose. The stock gearing is terrible. Here is a crappy video of some assembly and riding the bike for first time.
The bike when I first received it. The only modifications here are the lack of chainguard, 20t rear sprocket and a few decal changes. Seat slammed for the Grand-kids to ride.
Within the first few days I greased and adjusted everything and changed the stock 18t rear sprocket to 20t and then later a 22t. I never even rode it with the stock gearing but just knew it would be tough. The 22t seems to be ideal for the riding I do.
I’ve witnessed others riding with the stock gearing and they seem to stand more than they sit.
The geometry of the bike doesn’t seem too bad. It’s fairly comfortable. Occasionally when I first hop on and before I get my feet positioned on the pedals properly, I might experience toe overlap.
I’m about 5 foot 6. In the bottom photo there is about 4″ of seat post still in the seat tube.
I experimented with different handlebars but went back to the stock bars.
I swapped out the seat only because I had a better one and not necessarily because the stock seat was no good.
For a single speed, coaster brake bike it did really well on my local MTB trails.
The bike rode great on the original ballast of abandoned railroads where only the track and ties had been removed. Still a pretty rough ride over railroad ties but do-able.
In the snow it does OK. It’s a workout in the 4+ inches of snow. I don’t think it plows through inches of snow any better than any other bike would though. If I had to stand and pedal I’d sometimes loose rear tire traction. This with 10psi in the tires.
On packed snow and ice it is really stable and doesn’t slip around like my other bikes.
On sand I haven’t been able to test it with a low tire pressure yet. I do know with high tire pressure it doesn’t do good on soft sand. Packed sand it does fine even with the high tire pressure.
The bike is really squirrely and sluggish on dry pavement with low tire pressure.
Nothing has broke or worn out on it although from what I’ve read other haven’t been so lucky.
It’ll run over a tomato or dancing Santa no problem.
It gets lots of attention, gawks and stares.
It has made me want a geared fat-bike. If my experience with this bike had been bad, I don’t think that would be the case.
I feel I’ve gotten my monies worth out of the bike. If it were to break in two tomorrow, I would have no regrets. It’s been a fun ride and taken me places I wouldn’t have ridden any of my other bikes.
As it is now. 22t sprocket, Brooks saddle, star handlebar grips, lights, bell and a water bottle cage. New paint on the bike and rims.
More on my Mongoose Beast here.