Bike reviews

Mongoose Amplifier Boy's 16-Inch Bike

Great bike

My son loves this bike! It wasn't the easiest to put together though. The directions were pretty hard to understand. But it's worth it when I see the look on my 4 yr old's face.

great bike!

I bought this bike as a present for my 5 years old son. He started riding it right away. Easy to assemble, good quality, easy to ride. Down side- too heavy for him to carry, you will have to help to bring it in and out of house

Great Purchase!

We got this bike for our son's 3rd birthday. It was very easy to assemble and is quite sturdy. He is tall for his age so we wanted a bike that would last him for a while but also be something he could ride right now. At the lowest seat position his feet just touch the pedals and he wasn't used to coaster brakes but with just a little practice he is able to cruise around on it without problem. We are very pleased with our purchase.

Very Poor Quality

I'm not a person who bashes products. Read my other reviews. I'm fair. My wife purchased this bike for our child, based on positive reviews she found on the web. I think it is only fair that this negative review be out there for everyone to see in order to make an intelligent decision. Let me list the items I've found SO FAR, indicating the extremely poor quality of this model (Amplifier), and possibly the brand (Mongoose): 1) The handlebars were welded crooked on the stem. When I mounted the handlebars, and lined up them up with the front wheel, the misaligned stem was obvious. There are no adjustments; this is simply poor alignment during welding. 2) The front wheel, which came assembled, but not mounted on the frame, grinds terribly. Before I opened it up, it would not even spin twice before grinding to a halt. I pulled the axle apart and found the cone nuts too tight against bearings with lots of play, and very little grease. I was able to improve it a bit, but not much. 3) The rear wheel has the same problem as the front wheel, but also exhibits about 1/2" of runout. For those of you not familiar with the term, runout refers to how much the wheel wobbles back and forth, viewed edge-on, as it turns. This wheel has so much runout that the bike is unusable with the rear brake. The rear brake cannot be adjusted such that one side or the other is not hit by the wheel as it wobbles. I disassembled the rear wheel to see if I could fix it. I found a cone nut which was not symmetrical, but the runout is caused by something else which I cannot find or fix. The bike simply needs a new rear wheel, right out of the box. 4) Pedal friction. I don't think the pedals have any bearings in them at all. It feels like they have plastic bushings and that's all. You can turn them, but not spin them AT ALL. 5) Stripped screws. At least three of the philips head screws on the bike were stripped, presumably from over-torquing. I feel really bad for my son, as this was a birthday gift for him. He got on the bike, and tried to ride it down the driveway. The wheels and pedals have so much friction that he gave up, 1/2 way down the drive. This was after I had tried reducing the friction in the wheel bearings. If I could give the bike zero stars, I would. Please consider this carefully before buying this bike, and possibly any bike from Mongoose. This Chinese-made product is very poor quality.

Average Bike

Bike looks nice, rugged, and a good beginner bike. The bike arrived with a broken reflector bracket. It was easy to put together, and the price that I paid for it was well below other more expensive bikes with fewer features. After opening the box, the fumes from the bike were pretty bad with greasy parts, as is most stuff from China. Nice seat that adjust easily. Tires have deep tread, but with the mongoose name as the tread. Handbrake needs adjusting, otherwise, the pads will always rub on the rim making your kid work harder. The training wheels are basically worthless. The brackets holding the training wheels bent after a few months use by my 4 year old. I had to buy new training wheels. Stickers peel off, and I'm still trying to figure out the need/purpose for the trick tubes that screw onto the front fork since this bike is for small kids.

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