Mongoose Ledge 3.5 29" Mountain Bicycle, White, 18"/Medium

PURCHASEPrices for this model bike vary from $150 to $250, so it pays to shop around, especially if you are going to do the assembly and fine-tuning yourself. Mongoose bikes are sold by Amazon, Academy, K-Mart, Target, Toys R Us, Performance Bicycles, WalMart, and often the smaller dedicated bike shops.The lower prices tend to be in the big box stores, and the higher prices in the bike shops. Bear in mind that this bike needs to be fine-tuned in addition to being assembled. So if you are going to pay someone else to do that, figure anywhere from $75 to $150 added on to the price if you bring the bike to a shop, and purchased it elsewhere. But often buying from a bike shop includes the fine tuning, so in the long run it may be cheaper to pay the higher price at the bike shop just to get free fine tuning.I bought my Ledge 3.5 from WalMart because it was cheaper than anywhere else at the time – and I am going to do my own assembly and tuning. For the price that I paid, this is an awesome bike. But even at full price, this would be a very good bike for most casual riders (not for the hard core).SHIPPINGThe bike arrived by UPS, double boxed all the way to Texas from Illinois. That's from WalMart's source. I have no idea how Amazon ships it, but I assume in a similar double box. The inner box was the original Mongoose factory shipping box, and the outer box just added extra protection. The shipped package weighed about 50 lbs.The assembled bike itself weighs in at 36.8 lbs. That’s not the lightest mountain bike, but it isn’t unduly heavy, either. I can carry it with one hand, and it balances nicely, though I wouldn’t want to have to carry it very far.BEFORE YOU BUYIf you are an extreme rider, this is not the bike for you -- spend five hundred to a thousand or more on a high-end, high-strength alloy frame and wheels -- your life will probably depend on it. But if you’re an average or casual rider only occasionally tackling a semi-tough trail, then this might be a good bike to consider. It certainly is a nice looking bike.It is a full suspension bike, more for the taller rider. My inseam is 29" and my seat height above the frame is pretty low. Mongoose recommends it for riders 5" 10 to 6'-4". But it really depends on your leg length, including the sole thickness of your riding shoe -- I would say a 27" distance -- crotch to floor --is close to the shorter limit that still allows your feet to reach the pedals and also touch ground.The wheel rims themselves are 25" outside diameter. The tires have 2" sidewall, which give the wheel (rim & tires) a 29" outside diameter. The tire’s minimum air pressure is 40 psi (for riding on rough surfaces such as roots and rocks, or soft surfaces such as loose sand), and the maximum air pressure is 65 psi (for riding on hard, smooth surfaces.) I did not see a load restriction on the tires, but if you weigh more than 250 lbs., you might want to invest in a higher class tire if you are going to ride it hard on advanced bike trails.I saw a You Tube video where the wheel rims were bent doing 360s and 180s. However, the author had filled the tires with water and loaded the cavities in the bike with water, rocks, and gravel to make it as heavy as possible. So I don’t think that was a fair test, and you should be able to do some tricks without too much worry. But if you are worried, then you might want to buy some high-strength alloy rims.The handlebars are not very adjustable for height -- in fact, don't seem to be adjustable at all. But they are already high up off the ground -- about 41 inches. All but the tallest riders will have a fairly upright position. The front end steering stem setup is different than any I ever saw before. I'm not sure it is amenable to a stem extender if you wanted one.The bike comes with a nice kickstand of just the right length. The bike’s down tube has holes drilled, with screws inserted for fastening on a water bottle holder, but does not come with the bottle holder or bottle. It also does not come with any rearview mirrors or warning bells, soThe 29” bike is an unusual bike -- I highly recommend you peruse your local stores so you can evaluate it close up and personal, if possible. While Mongoose is sometimes referred to as a WalMart brand, it is actually sold by several different stores, including some bike shops.OWNER’S MANUALThe manual is a generic manual that covers several model/versions. It may or may not have in it exactly the same parts and assemblies that your bike has. Nevertheless the manual does have useful information, and you should read it before starting assembly and fine tuning.SETTING UPThe bike is shipped with the front wheel, seat and seat post, handle bars, and foot pedals off the frame. The rear wheel, chain, and derailleur system are factory installed on the frame, and should not need much adjustment, if any. The front wheel has a hollow axel that accommodates a quick release mechanism (you can find the quick release mechanism in the plastic bag that also includes the owner’s manual.) The front disc brake rotor is already attached to the front wheel, and all the cables are hooked up at both ends. Just putting on the seat, handlebars and front wheel are pretty standard procedures. You should be able to find all the info you need in the Owner’s Manual, even if you have never assembled a bike before.I like to put on the seat and the handle bars first, then flip the bike upside down to put on the front wheel, foot petals, and fine tune. The front wheel will only go on one way – with the rotor on the wheel inserting into the brake calipers on the left front fork leg -- take care inserting the front disk rotor into the calipers, and don’t try to force it or you could bend the rotor.The foot pedals have left and a right side. You must match left to left, and right to right, otherwise they will unscrew as you pedal if you mismatch them. One has a left-hand thread, and the other has a right-hand thread. The crank and the pedal should have a sticker on them denoting L (left) or R (right.) I suggest that you do not remove the stickers as it hard to tell which pedal is which without the sticker.FINE TUNINGFine tuning consists of checking all the bolts and nuts for tightness, checking the wheel spokes for tightness, adjusting the front disc brake (that will be necessary, for sure), adjusting the rear brakes (if necessary), tightening the steering head so that the handle bars remain aligned with front wheel under all riding conditions, checking the rear wheel gear alinement so it is parallel to the drive sprocket, and checking and adjusting the derailleur controls for cable tightness, position and range of movement.FASTENERS. Most of the fasteners take either a 4mm or 5mm hex key, and the foot pedals take a 15mm open-end wrench. These are not supplied with the bike, and I recommend you buy a set, or dedicate a set from your toolbox, and carry them with you in a seat or handlebar bag in case you have to do adjustments or retightening on the trail. One thing for sure you don’t want to happen on a trail ride is for your handle bars to go one way and your front wheels to go another – and you with no means to realign and tighten them.SPOKES. The spokes on the wheel should have been tuned at the factory. What you are looking for are any spokes out of tune (too loose or too tight.) Tuning the spokes literally consists of adjusting them so they all produce the same sound frequency (note) while spinning the wheel and lightly resting a stick on the spokes. If a spoke makes a higher note than the rest, it is too tight, if it makes a lower sound, it is too loose. You will need to do this on the left side and right side of the wheel. Even a non-musician will hear the thunk of a loose spoke compared to the dink-dink-dink of equally tightened spokes. You will need a spoke wrench to adjust them properly – making only small adjustment and re-spinning the wheel and listening for the same note. You will also need to mark the spoke you are adjusting with a tag so you can find it after the spin if you need to adjust it more.FRONT DISC BRAKE. Tuning the front disc brake consists of aligning the calipers with the rotor on the wheel, then centering the rotor in the calipers so they are within 1/32 of an inch (the thickness of a business card) on both sides of the rotor. There are a couple of YouTube videos on how to do this. It is easier than is sounds. Just get a business card, a flashlight, 4mm and 5mm Allen wrenches, and follow me.Step 1) Align the rotor and calipers. Turn the bike upside down and pull up a chair on the front-brake side of the wheel. Loosen the top and bottom bolts that hold the caliper assembly on the fork. Then pinch the front brake lever completely closed and hold it there, (The front brake lever is on the same side as the disc brake. I close the brake lever with my foot, but you can also use rubber bands to hold the front brake lever closed.) If there is any open space between the calipers and the rotor -- on either side of the rotor – shove a business card or two in the space so the calipers are tight against the rotor on both sides. Then tighten up the bolts that hold the caliper assembly to the fork. You have now aligned the calipers to the rotor. You can release the front brake lever,Step 2) Center the rotor in the calipers and adjust the clearance. This is a two part adjustment – one on the static (inside) caliper, and the other on the dynamic (outside) caliper. These adjustments are done with the brake lever fully released.Static caliper. Access the static caliper adjustment nut from the opposite side of the front wheel. It takes a 5mm hex key. Using a business card for a spacing gauge, turn the adjusting nut until the caliper face just holds the business card snugly against the rotor. Pull out the business card, and you have adjusted the static caliper.Dynamic caliper. The dynamic caliper is actuated by a lever that connects to the front brake cable. A pinch bolt at the end of the lever secures the cable to the lever. Loosen the pinch bolt and pull the cable through as you move the lever so that the dynamic caliper is closer to the rotor. Using the business card for a spacing gauge, adjust the lever position on the cable so that the caliper face just holds the business card snugly against the rotor. This almost takes three hands to do, but when you have it, tighten the pinch bolt. Then remove the business card, and you have adjusted the dynamic caliper. Check it by spinning the front wheel. The wheel should spin without touching the brake calipers, until about one-third the pull on the hand lever.REAR RIM BRAKE. The rear rim brake is factory installed and should not need any adjustment. The main thing to check is that the brake calipers pads are aligned with the rims and that the caliper tongs are centered over the rear wheel so that the brake pads are not rubbing on either side of the rim until the brake lever on the handle bars is engaged about one-third of the way. You can adjust brake pad alignment by a bolt on each side of the caliber assembly. You can adjust the lever pull distance by loosening the pinch bolt and pulling more cable through it to eliminate any excess slack in the cable. After any adjustments, spin the wheel and pull the brake lever to verify you made the right adjustments.DERAILEUR SYSTEM. The chain and derailleur system is factory installed, and should not need any adjustments unless the rear wheel has been removed and replaced, such as in changing a tire. The main thing to check is that the rear wheel is parallel to the bike frame, and centered on the frame – or more precisely, the center sprocket of the crank set of sprockets is in-line and parallel with the center sprocket of the wheel set of sprockets. When the chain is on both center sprockets, fore and aft, the chain and the center sprockets should all be in the same plane, with no tendency to derail. If the center sprockets forward and aft are not in the same plane, then either the rear wheel is not aligned with the frame, and/or the wheel is not centered on the axel, or both.To align the wheel with the frame, loosen the outside nuts locking the axel to the frame, and then straighten the wheel in the frame and retighten the locking nuts. To center the wheel hub on the axel, loosen the inside nuts on the axel, and move them incrementally towards the side they need to go. Be careful not to over-tighten the inside nuts – they should just be finger tight so the wheel can spin freely (but not wobble) when all the outside bolts are re-tightened.The next thing to check is that then chain is on the correct sprockets – matching the twist shift indicator numbers on the hand grips. You will also need to do this if for any reason the chain is off a sprocket (derailed entirely.) The left-hand grip controls the chain position on the three pedal-sprockets. It has three settings --- 1, 2, and 3 – “1” is the innermost (smallest) sprocket. The right-hand grip controls the seven rear-wheel sprockets – “1” is the innermost (largest) sprocket. A 1-1 gear selection is the lowest gear ratio setting for the steepest hills. A 3-7 gear selection is the highest gear ratio setting for top speed on flat ground. You will find, if you work out all the possible gear ratios, that the sprocket combinations overlap each other, so almost no one goes through all the gears. Most people will find four or five favorite sprocket combinations that work for them most of the time.SHAKEDOWN and SUSPENSION. Now it is time to start riding. Make sure there is air in the tires. Take short rides at first to make sure everything is working right, cycling through the gears, taking a few bumps to see if the suspension is ok or needs adjustment, making sure the steering head is tight and turns the wheel securely, and making sure both front and rear brakes work. If anything is amiss, stop, adjust, and secure before continuing.If the rear suspension needs to be adjusted, there is a knob on the top of the spring that turns to increase or decrease the preload on the spring. If the rear suspension tends to bottom out for your weight and riding style, stiffen it up by turning the knob clockwise to increase the preload. If the suspension is too stiff for you, you can soften the ride by turning the pre-load knob counter-clockwise.I don’t know of any way to adjust the front fork stiffness. The main thing in jumps is try not to land on the front wheel first – in fact, baby it.RIDE IMPRESSIONSI'll come back and detail my riding impressions after I've put a little more time in with it.

Kinda heavier than I wanted but is okay overall.