Take a Ride Down Memory Lane on a Mongoose Vintage Bike
Steve Hess built the first Mongoose bikes in his garage, but the brand soon became legendary. Employees in Chatsworth, California, hand-welded most of the vintage Mongoose bikes. The company's BMX bikes and scooters soon developed a legendary reputation with many of these gently preowned models available on eBay.
Old Mongoose bike modelsThe company built many vintage BMX bike models that were marketed by various companies, including:
- Mongoose - The company put its own name on many bikes. In the '80s, Mongoose BMX bikes were chosen by many competitive riders. These bikes, including the Mongoose Decade, Mongoose Decade Pro, and other 1980 Mongoose BMX models helped establish the company's dominance.
- Jag - These bikes have aircraft qualify frames, rat-trap pedals, racing saddles, and octopus grips on high-rise handlebars that feature a crossbar. Mongoose built a standard and a team version. Those bikes built in 1978 may be available in golden licorice black, banana yellow, apple stick green, and root beer brown with pineapple gold or root beer brown Motomag II wheels.
- Buemax - These new bikes built between 1984 and 1988 came in two types. The early iron cross-gusset models were sold mostly on military bases, while later Cali-style gusset-less models were sold mainly through department stores.
- MotoTrac - These bikes had a Heliarc frame and stainless-steel handlebars. The front tire was slightly wider than the rear tire on this BMX bike that sported blue wheels and rims.
- Racer X - These bikes built only in 1978 had rat-trap pedals, a racing saddle with a metal base, and competition-style grips on a high-rise handlebar.
If you find a Mongoose Decade for sale, a Mongoose FS1 for sale, or another vintage Mongoose BMX for sale, then you can tell when employees made the bike from the serial number. Old Mongoose bikes built in 1975 and early 1976 have a five-digit-stamped number. Those numbers started at 1,000, and the higher the number, the later the bike was made. Beginning in 1976, the serial number has a C above it. The C tells you that the bike's original frame was built in Cromo, California. The letter following the C is the month that the bike frame was made. For example, A was January, B was February, C was March, etc. Below these letters, you will see the serial number. The last number is the year that employees created the frame.
What were some unique features of the first Mongoose BMX bike?The first Mongoose BMX bike had several unique features. The first brake tabs were two pieces of metal welded together, and they were rectangular. Later, the brake tab became a little bigger, was a single piece of metal, and was oval. The caliber brake on the first Mongoose BMX bikes was also two sheets of metal, and it was thicker than on later models. The seat tube was longer on the first Mongoose BMX bikes, and the frame flared where the seat post joined it. There is also an extra gusset above the bottom bracket.
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