I have recently bought a second hand Mongoose Malus and since then there hasn’t been a single day I didn’t ride it.
I have a very short commute (a little over a mile and a half both ways) and a fat bike is great since about half of the distance is riding through a moderately bumpy trail which is not plowed during winter (I moved to Maine so I expect plenty snow).
I can only keep one bike and snow capability is very important for me, even if it means less optimal performance during the rest of the year.
I take the bike on trail rides during weekends and sadly this is where it becomes apparent it is a walmart bike – the axles are bent already, brakes are barely slowing me down during descents and even after installing a 30t front chainring and 34T megarange in the rear I still wish for couple lower gears, especially when trying to climb in snow. The thing also weighs like 50LBs.
At first I thought about getting a Mongoose Argus 26 COMP: https://www.mongoose.com/collections/fat-bike/products/argus-26-comp
I love how it looks (I am a sucker for purple paint, especially color-shift). Being an absolute noob in bike components the specs look good enough, especially for someone that is afraid to do even a smallest drop – I prefer to have both of my tires touch the ground at all times.
I assume this bike should cost about $1200, but it is not available for sale at the moment and Mongoose can’t tell me when I can expect it.
Then a friend recommended me to check out BikesDirect and I found the Night Train 27.5 COMP – comes with a shock and a dropper post but it has 4.5″ tires rather than 4.8″ on the Mongoose. People seem to not recommend them because of ten year old geometry, but is it really such a deal breaker having the aluminum frame, the components and the price in mind?
I looked at Norco, Borealis, Surly and some other recommended bikes but to be honest I absolutely hate how their frames look, and all the pastel colors are absolutely not helping – if it’s not dark purple I want it to be somewhere on the black-gray-white scale. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Any opinions?
bikeguru76 on
The tires are 4.5″ because they are 27.5″ rather than 26″. The Trek Farley 9 is grey and comes with racks and bags.
icannotfindagoodname on
Looks like a decent deal. Mastodon fork is awesome.
6 Comments
I have recently bought a second hand Mongoose Malus and since then there hasn’t been a single day I didn’t ride it.
I have a very short commute (a little over a mile and a half both ways) and a fat bike is great since about half of the distance is riding through a moderately bumpy trail which is not plowed during winter (I moved to Maine so I expect plenty snow).
I can only keep one bike and snow capability is very important for me, even if it means less optimal performance during the rest of the year.
I take the bike on trail rides during weekends and sadly this is where it becomes apparent it is a walmart bike – the axles are bent already, brakes are barely slowing me down during descents and even after installing a 30t front chainring and 34T megarange in the rear I still wish for couple lower gears, especially when trying to climb in snow. The thing also weighs like 50LBs.
At first I thought about getting a Mongoose Argus 26 COMP: https://www.mongoose.com/collections/fat-bike/products/argus-26-comp
I love how it looks (I am a sucker for purple paint, especially color-shift). Being an absolute noob in bike components the specs look good enough, especially for someone that is afraid to do even a smallest drop – I prefer to have both of my tires touch the ground at all times.
I assume this bike should cost about $1200, but it is not available for sale at the moment and Mongoose can’t tell me when I can expect it.
Then a friend recommended me to check out BikesDirect and I found the Night Train 27.5 COMP – comes with a shock and a dropper post but it has 4.5″ tires rather than 4.8″ on the Mongoose. People seem to not recommend them because of ten year old geometry, but is it really such a deal breaker having the aluminum frame, the components and the price in mind?
https://www.bikesdirect.com/products/motobecane/fat-bikes/fat-bikes-night-train-comp-275.htm
I looked at Norco, Borealis, Surly and some other recommended bikes but to be honest I absolutely hate how their frames look, and all the pastel colors are absolutely not helping – if it’s not dark purple I want it to be somewhere on the black-gray-white scale. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Any opinions?
The tires are 4.5″ because they are 27.5″ rather than 26″. The Trek Farley 9 is grey and comes with racks and bags.
Looks like a decent deal. Mastodon fork is awesome.
https://youtu.be/m8jeoo5qBFE?si=oyxfqi6xUnTSOXfj&t=2
For your needs…this is the perfect bike. Might get you in to trail riding as well. It looks capable
Mulefuts and a Mastodon are key, you can upgrade anything else on that in the future without breaking the bank.