Description
From the manufacturer
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Technical Details
| Brand | Mongoose |
|---|---|
| Color | Black/Blue |
| Age Range (Description) | Youth |
| Special Feature | Air tires allow for riding on all terrain |
| Weight Limit | 175 Pounds |
| Number of Wheels | 2 |
| Model Name | Mongoose Expo Scooter, Featuring Front and Rear Caliper Brakes and Rear Axle Pegs with 12-Inch Inflatable Wheels, Black/Blue |
| Wheel Material | Alloy Steel |
| Frame Material | Alloy Steel |
| Item Weight | 18 Pounds |
| Handlebar Type | Adjustable |
| Handle Height | 33 Inches |
| Wheel Size | 12 Inches |
| Wheel Type | Pneumatic |
| Brake Style | Rear Braking |
| Product Dimensions | 48″L x 4″W x 33″H |
| Item Package Dimensions L x W x H | 44 x 20.2 x 11.5 inches |
| Package Weight | 11.86 Kilograms |
| Brand Name | Mongoose |
| Warranty Description | Limited |
| Material | Alloy Steel |
| Suggested Users | unisex-teen |
| Manufacturer | Pacific Cycle, Inc. |
| Part Number | R6170WMI |
| Style | Scooter |
| Included Components | scooter |
| Size | 12-Inch Wheels |
Richard L (verified owner) –
5.0 out of 5 stars Some Assembly Required
Before you order this scooter, make sure that you have all necessary tools, or buy it with sufficient lead time needed to take it to a bike shop for assembly. You may consider this a toy but it will very likely be used on Public Street and your child’s life may be at risk if not assembled correctly.
Tools Needed:
1. 6mm Allen wrench
2. An adjustable wrench or 9, 10, 14 & 15 mm box end wrenches or sockets
3. Cable cutters or sharp scissors or utility knife
4. Air pump or compressor
5. Optionally pliers, super glue, lock tight, grease, small shrink tube lighter and gloves
I paid for this scooter myself and was not compensated in any way for this review.
First, it is much larger than a standard kick scooter. It will easily handle riders in excess of 150 lbs. It is a heavy scooter and may be too big for a child under age 7. The box clearly states “Age 8+”. There is no provision for folding and I have to put the rear seat down to get it in a standard hatchback car (Nissan Versa).
Because it is bigger and has nice 12” wheels, it glides over most bumps, cracks, and irregularities. Large potholes and slotted storm drain covers are still serious hazards.
Packaging was very good. The box indicated that it should not be placed on its side and did not show any signs of having been dropped or damaged. The scooter had all parts zip tied to the frame and was a little challenging to pull up out of the box.
I used wire snips to cut off all zip ties and removed the paper and plastic wrapping to inspect the parts.
The wheels are delivered totally flat. An air pump or compressor will be needed. Be forewarned, the clamp on my hand pump that holds the chuck on the valve stem would not fit between the hub and rim. I had to use my compressor. If your bike pump doesn’t fit, take the wheels to a service station for air prior to attaching them to the frame.
Construction quality is on par with any low priced consumer good mass produced in China. In my instance, the rear brake pads were tightened out of alignment with the rim. You will very likely need to adjust the brake pads. As other reviewers noted the brake cable ferrules are not crimped correctly and will fall off. Put a drop of super glue in it and tap it in place or just wrap the wire end in electrical tape, or use a short piece of shrink tube on the end.
The handlebars are not attached. You will need to remove 4 Allen bolts and position the handlebars. I was able to do this single handed, but a second person to hold them in place would ease this task. Once the handlebars are positioned and tightened the brake cables will need to be attached. There are two cables on the right for the rear brake and one coming up out of the stem tube to be attached to the left brake handle.
Adjusting the brakes is not difficult, just take your time and tighten everything when done.
1. Loosen the nut clamping the cable at the rear calipers.
2. Route the two cables attached to the right brake lever through the handlebars and down to the upper cable stop.
3. Screw the alloy barrel adjusters all the way into the upper cable stop and slide the beaded end sideways into the detangler.
4. Hold the rear brake calipers closed against the wheel rim and pull the brake cable taught at the calipers.
5. Tighten the caliper cable clamp nut.
6. Adjust the brakes at the calipers, detangler and at the lever as necessary so that the wheel turn freely and stops easily when the brake lever is engaged.
Now on to the front brakes,
1. Loosen the nut clamping the cable at the front calipers
2. Push the cable up into the head tube until you have enough slack to reach the left brake lever.
3. Screw the barrel adjuster most of the way in and align the slots in the barrel adjuster, nut and break lever.
4. Slip the cable end into the round opening under the break lever and feed the cable into the slot on the barrel adjuster.
5. Turn the barrel adjuster ½ turn.
6. Hold the front brake calipers closed and pull the cable tight.
7. Tighten the caliper cable clamp nut
8. Adjust the barrel adjusters at both ends until the front wheel turns freely and stops easily when the brake lever is engaged.
Assembly took me exactly 40 min from the time the box arrived to first test ride. I provided detailed instructions on what is required to assemble this scooter so that potential purchasers are able to make an informed decision prior to purchasing.
My daughter’s first scooter was a $20 scooter. This was to gauge her interest and ability. She didn’t use her scooter much until about age seven. In the past 3 months, she has been using it every day and has worn it out. Since this is not a review of that scooter, I will not go into detail. Suffice it to say she couldn’t keep up with her friends and small bumps caused tumbles that left her fearful of sidewalks and some streets in our neighborhood.
Now with the Mongoose she has confidence and can keep up with her friends. All of the kids prefer her scooter over any other brand or style. As a parent, I would rate it 4 stars, for size and build quality but my daughter says “it is a solid 5” and since she is the one who rides it every day I gave it a five.
After her first test ride I removed the axel pegs from the rear, as she did hit them occasionally with her ankle when kicking. I later reattached them to the front axle, but I am not sure if I will keep them on or not.
Kristine (verified owner) –
5.0 out of 5 stars Brakes quality price
I have zero experience in scooters. Bought this for 6 year old grandson. we had 2 children and many nieces and nephews we have put things together for over the years. Have all the tools ready, there is a list which is nice. If you are and expert, great. We are not 😂🤦♀️ the brake assembly was no joke . If I had to do it again I would’ve dropped off at bike shop and picked up finished . We ultimately hired someone to come do it , took an experienced guy about hour . So prob 2.5 hours total including what we did . Price point was great . It’s nice quality . Color is rich and deep. Solid piece of equipment.
Kristin G (verified owner) –
4.0 out of 5 stars Design flaw but great customer sevice
Decent scooter which my 9 y.o son loves but there is a big design flaw. The back brake cable enters and exits on the bottom of a tube that supports the platform. This means that anytime you go over a ramp or curb, as 9 year olds do, the bottom of the scooter scrapes the surface and it shreds the cable. I called customer service and although they politely explained this isn’t covered by the warranty they shipped me a new cable for free. I drilled a few holes on the side of the same tube and rethreaded it so that the cable isn’t exposed to the bottom of the scooter and all the scraping that occurs. Scooter works great now and problem solved. I would have given two stars but for the excellent customer service.
Gary R. (verified owner) –
4.0 out of 5 stars Safer than standard scooters
The scooter is nice and rolls over most things. Won’t stop from a crack in the sidewalk or a pebble. But don’t expect much or anything from the brakes. Good thing the brakes aren’t really needed.
Ray (verified owner) –
4.0 out of 5 stars Parts
Great scooter for my grandson , box had been oper and taped back together ! Feel like it was missing parts/tools , usese a Allen for handle bars and was not in box !
Last Days Scotty (verified owner) –
3.0 out of 5 stars GREAT SCOOTER, BUT, ONLY IF you are an experienced bike mechanic.
Once I finished assembling the scooter and getting it ready, it is a truly great scooter for the price. It is a thing of beauty (florescent pink), rock solid, steady and tracks straight. My 7 year old even prefers this one to her electric scooter. I weigh more than its weight limit yet it handles me with the greatest of ease (I needed to break-in the wheels’ bearings/cones/races quickly). The price is VERY GOOD for it’s looks, construction and selection of materials. It is an excellent scooter and will be very durable. BUT ONLY because I have worked on bicycles and scooters for over 50 years. Now here’s the BAD news:
It came well packaged in a well padded box. The manufacturer took great care packaging this little beauty. Once I started to put it together, I discovered that who ever assembled this thing at the factory must have been a totally incompetent employee. I needed a great of the Special Bicycle Tools I have to assemble, fix, adjust, modify and re-adjust to make this scooter go to its potential. A person who does not have a great deal of bicycle mechanic experience would have had to pay a pro to put this thing together. It took me several hours of labor to get this scooter functioning properly. So you may want to inquire what your local shop rates are before you buy. Here are some of the issues I encountered:
1) The headset bearings/races were very loose and needed special wrenches to adjust. The lock nut was loose too (safety issue).
2) The wheel bearings were seriously over tightened and the wheels would barely spin. It would have been a miserable experience for a child to get this moving and then it would not stay in motion when gliding. I needed special wrenches to loosen the cones to make it usable. Then after a few hours of use, I adjusted the cones again. Now it rolls like heaven (for the price range that is).
3) The brake calipers were crooked and I needed a special tool to align them with the wheels (it required a special tool to bend them safely).
4) The break pads were all either loose, crooked, and/or rubbed on the tires. The pads felt oily and would not have provided safe braking, so I used 100 grit sand paper to give them some grip for safe braking. The brake pads were a safety issue.
5) The brake cables both were grossly mis-set and they were not tightened to the calipers. One cable was 4 inches too long. Both cable end caps fell off into the shipping box. I had to use a cable cutter, put on new cable end caps, and use a crimper. The rear cable housing was pulled so far forward that it kinked at the adjustment barrel. The brake cables were a safety issue.
6) The brake cable adjustment barrels weren’t even screwed in to the calipers! The calipers were not properly tightened to the frame and were mounted crooked. That means the brakes would have been always rubbing on one side of the wheel. It would be like having a partially applied brake at all times.
7) The handlebar stem bolts were partially inserted into their holes for shipping (and safe keeping until later assembly). Two of the bolts were cross threaded and crooked. Thankfully they weren’t forced too far into the holes and I managed to get them in straight.
If you are a bicycle mechanic enthusiast or pro, by all means, buy this scooter! Otherwise you will NEED to go to a bike shop for assembly and adjustments (repeated adjustments). Nothing says screw you better to your friendly local bike shop owner than buying online and then asking your local shop to fix your problems huh?
Bottom line. Heck yeah I would get another one of these scooters. I am strongly considering the adult version of this for myself (for occasional use).
If you are not a mechanic and try to assemble this one yourself, it will likely be unsafe and most certainly miserable for a small child get into motion and keep it there. Given the brake rub and over tightened wheel bearings, this scooter would not be fun for a child and likely end up just taking space in your garage. Nothing drives people away from cycling and scooter sports faster than mal-adjusted human powered vehicles. Good luck on your decision!
Amazon Customer (verified owner) –
4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good little scooter!
I got this scooter on a whim, to see how it worked. I’ve ridden electric ones (and bicycle and motorcycles), but never a manual scooter. Now, keep in mind, I’m over six feet tall, and 200 lbs. This little scooter had no problem carrying me! It does what it’s supposed to do – you push it, and you can coast for awhile. Going downhill, you can get going plenty fast – wheee!!! Uphill is a great workout for your legs.
Now, some caveats.
1. When you assemble this puppy, be sure you take your time, get the tools they advise you to use together, and buy some grease (e.g., lithium car brake grease). Do this before you start, so you don’t have to hunt for anything. I spread it out over two nights, took my time, and had zero stress. Total time for me was maybe an hour.
2. The instructions are pretty complete. If you follow them and don’t rush, you should be fine. Did I say don’t rush? DON’T!
3. Be sure to PAY ATTENTION to the details on the brake cable hookup. This machine has a somewhat complicated “collar” that allows you to swivel the handlebars 180 degrees, and more, for fancy tricks. What that means is that the cables don’t physically connect all the way from the hand-grips to the wheels. They go through a swiveling collar. It’s a neat engineering trick, but it’s also not finely machined. So you’ll need to take your time to understand how it works, adjust it, and set it up right – so you can stop safely.
4. Having read horror stories about bicycles and other wheeled beasts shipped out of China, I pumped up the wheels to the full 40 lbs and twirled them after bolting them to the frame. And … grind, grind, grind. Yes, just as others have noted – the wheel bearings are pretty poor, and worse, there is not nearly enough grease to help them move. So … you will need to take apart the wheel hubs, front and rear, and SLATHER the grease in there. Put in enough that it literally squeezes out when you screw (don’t tighten!) the hub nut back down on the axle.
There are no instructions on how to do this. You’ll have to Google something like “greasing or lubricating bicycle or scooter wheel bearings”. You do this step BEFORE you bolt the wheels onto the scooter – not after, like I did. Basically, you’ll need two wrenches, one to hold the nut on one side of the axle, while you unscrew the nut on the other side of the axle. You only need to unscrew one nut on each axle, maybe 1/2″ to 1″ along the axle – and you can then get to both bearings. Fill each side FULL of grease, then lightly tighten the nut you undid on the axle back to where it was. You don’t have to tighten them down. Finger-tight, or just a bit more should be enough. The front axle is just like the rear axle. To find out if you got it right, before you bolt the wheel onto the scooter, see if it spins freely and smoothly all by itself on the axle, without any wobble. If you are afraid to take this on, just bring the wheels to a bike shop, and they can do it for you in 15 minutes or less.
The only other cautions I’d offer are that if you are as big as I am, you will have to be particular about where you put your feet. You will only get part of each shoe on the floorboard. It’s made for smaller folks. Also, the brakes are OK, but you don’t want to depend on them to get you out of trouble. Pretend you are riding a bicycle or motorcycle, and look out well ahead of where you are going, so you don’t get surprised into a quick-stop situation. Because you likely won’t stop very quickly. The brakes on this scooter are not near as good as most bicycle brakes.
So, take your time, be safe, and have fun!!!
F. Brennan (verified owner) –
4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent product especially considering the price point.
The scooter is an excellent value. My son has been riding down a pretty steep hill to see his friends and on the bike, I am perfectly fine with it; on his old scooter, I was not happy at all. Last week, a friend said she saw him fall twice while scooting with his friends because of the small wheels his razor has. I decided he needed something new with more robust tires and with hand brakes. Ther Mongoose fit the bill.
negatives:
1. The unit is heavy compared to it’speers, however, it is rugged. I am 185 lbs and I used it for about a mile the other day with no problem.
2. The unit does not fold and takes up more space than the average scooter
3. The unit does not have a kickstand and searches do not seem to show any made for it.
4. It does take a little skill to put the scooter together. It is not impossible but you need to know how to use tools and you need to own the tools. I did not have a proper brake wrench to align the pads and took it to my local bike shop for that. The owner didn’t even charge me, I just tipped him out.
5. The brakes were tuned properly in a bike shop however they do not stop the scooter instantly like on a BMX bike, rather it slows the scooter more slowly. We need to see if they will work in and get better over time. I will update the review. the bike shop I went to for the brakes said that if in 2 weeks it is not better, he would put new pads on for $30.
6. axel pegs are an ankle buster. While a good idea, in practice, they hit my ankles way too often. I think they are there to prevent the screw thread from the tire from cutting your ankle but they stick out too far. We are taking them off and painting the thread with rubber (Plastic dip)
Positives:
1. the shape allows a real bike lock to be used on the scooter which will make it more secure than the “t” handle units.
2. the air tires seem to roll over everything without missing a beat. there was no vibration at all.
3. the hand brakes are just like the bike I had when I was a kid. they are in a good place and are intuitive.
4. the scooter is fast and responds well. The tires are thick and really grip the road.
5. the scooter is structurally strong. it holds an adult with no problem at all. My wife, son and I can all share it when we run local errands.
6. fun as hell. I haven’t used a scooter before, I will now.
7. it is a cosmetically good looking scooter. the blur is sharp and my son loves the scull.
8. hand grips are perfect.
when you buy:
1, get a bell
2.be sure to wear a helmet
3. make sure the brakes are tuned properly, $10 at a bike shop is worth it. They have tools you don’t need for anything else and are not worth buying. Your kids’ life is involved here…
4.set aside 45 min to an hour to put it together
5.make sure you have an air pump and pressure gauge. get a patch kit in case you get a flat. You may want tire armor which is a thin kevlar sleeve you put in the tire between the outer tube and the inner tube. it prevents nails and glass from ruining a nice day out.
I will update this in a few weeks after we really knock it around.
Dicka24 (verified owner) –
4.0 out of 5 stars Had to improvise during assembly, but happy overall
I bought this for my 7 year old (who loves it). The scooter looks and rides great. I docked 1 star for assembly which can be a bit tedious. The real issue is for me was the handle bar socket would not tighten enough when the 4 bolts were completely screwed in. The handle bars would move forward and back which made the scooter inopperable. To fix this I took a sheet of alluminum foil and folded it over about 4 or 5 times with about an 1.5 inch fold (slightly wider the the socket the handle bars are secured into) and wrapped it around the bar (bottom bar of the handle bars where it is socketed and bolted to the scooter) to artifically “fatten” the thickness of the bar itself. This thickened the bar a bit and made it so that the handlebar stayed in place when I tightened the 4 botls all the way. Maybe it was just my unit, but for whatever reason (be it the bar not being fat enough, or the bracket being to big) the handlebar to bracket connection wasn’t stable when fully tightened, so fattening the bar with alluminum foil was what did the trick. I’d imagine a piece/strip of something rubbery would work as well.
FYI, I found a video online of a guy who put this exact unit together which helped a lot. Especially with the brakes which can be a PIA with bikes and scooters. Just search this scooters name under videos and it will come up.
As for the scooter itself, my kid loves it. It looks really nice, and my son repeatedly said it’s “OG dad”, as his smile brimmed from ear to ear. For the eighty’ish or so quid it is well worth it.
Kindle Customer (verified owner) –
4.0 out of 5 stars Worth it, but be aware of all the possible issues so there are no surprises.
Good and bad with this product, but I also knew what I was getting into because I took the time to read a lot of reviews. So up first is the cons: like other reviewers said, there were parts missing. I bought this knowing it was a good possibility and mongoose did not dissapoint. We were missing two retention clip washers (the washer that hooks to the axle and connects to the frame, making it nearly impossible for the wheel to come off). This was a vital piece in my opinion because using the scooter without it could be very dangerous. The other part that was missing was the break cable that hooks up to the front break. This piece I felt was "less" important as there is a back break as well (that was included) and I felt that being my son is only 8 and still getting use to hand breaks, it would be safer for him to only use the back breaks so he doesn’t go head over handlebars when making a quick stop with the front brakes, but still a very important part. Beware if you are buying as a gift for someone in your house as it does arrive in a clearly marked box with a huge picture of the scooter. Someone had mentioned that, so i was able to schedule the delivery and intercept the box before my son came home from school. The scooter is fairly heavy, but that makes me feel like its sturdy, so don’t know that it is a pro or con.
Now the pros:
The scooter arrived in perfect timing, right when they said it would. There were no bent or broken or warped pieces like others have mentioned. I think it looks very cool, definitely a style that a lot of 8 year old like my son are into. Assembly wasn’t as bad as I expected. It came with only the wheels and handle bar unattached. I say this was easy assmbly but keep in mind one of the brake cables was missing. I did have to hook up and adjust the back brakes, but it wasn’t complicated, just took some fiddling around. I can’t imagine the front brakes being much harder, the instructions are pretty clear with pictures and parts labled. Once put together (maybe 30-40 mins alone) I emailed customer service about my missing parts. I then went to my local bike shop where the guy working gave me some spare retention clip washers for free. I chose not to deal with the front brakes because of the safety issue I mentioned above, but I was still sore that it was missing parts, I would have installed if it had been there but its not worth it at this point. I will see how things go and if I feel it’s needed, that too can be purchased at a bike shop or even Walmart. I checked my email about 3 hours after my complaint was sent and was happy to see a response from amazon already. In my message I explained that the scooter was out together minus the missing parts and I would not be returning it as it is a gift for my son’s birthday in 4 days, so I either wanted the missing parts sent to me for free via expedited deliverary, or a partial refund to purchase the missing parts, if or when I felt the need to. To my surprise amazon quickly apologized for the missing parts and explained that they would not be able to send the needed parts, but would give me a partial refund within 2-3 days in the ammount of 60% which added up to $66.96, over half the price I paid. I was extremely happy with that, because I expected no more than $10 or so to be knocked off, so they exceeded my expectations by far in terms of prompt response and fairness in my request. I will try to update once my child has had a chance to play with this a bit, but for now I think I can confidently say that this is a good purchase, IF you are aware of the issues you may have. I was aware of the possible problems, but I was willing to take a chance knowing I may have to purchase extra parts or even possibly return it altogether.