The 29-inch Street Performer is a big-wheeled beauty with a retro front triangle frame, double wall rims, and fully sealed bearings. These specs are just a little better than the mongoose fat bike run-of-the-bike-life mill. The only things that would be notably different would be the tyres (larger volume and knobblier), fork (more travel) and seatpost (much, much longer).
One of our most frequently asked questions in freestyle is, which rear hub do I want, a freecoaster or a cassette? Most experienced riders know their preference, but if you’re new to the sport it can be difficult to know which choice to make. The older I get the more I realise I am very particular about the configuration of my bike. The Pro XXL mongoose bicycle frame was the right length for me but there was a significant difference in the handlebar, stem and crank sizes compared to what I use. Sure I could have changed a few parts around but instead I passed it off to bmxultra.com team pilot and BMX guru Paul Knox. He was very interested, not only as a complete bike, but also as an OS20 conversion.
The title line is eight sizes deep (Micro, Mini, Junior, Expert, Pro, Pro XL, Pro XXL and Pro 24). The smaller sizes (Expert an under) retail at $299.95, while the larger sizes retail at $319.95 ($329 for the cruiser). Mongoose also sells the Legion 18 for children between 3-feet-8-inches to 4-feet-8-inches. We are proud to work with our partners to bring you expanded selections and exciting products you can order online – all at tax-free, military-exclusive pricing.
Kevin Cortez is an editor for Runner’s World, Bicycling, and Popular Mechanics covering reviews. A culture and product journalist for over ten years, he’s an expert in men’s style, technology, gaming, coffee, e-bikes, hiking, gear, and all things outdoors. He most recently worked as the Style Editor for Reviewed, a top product recommendation site owned by USA TODAY.
Freecoaster hubs feature a “Slack” before engagement while pedalling forward. This means that you can turn the crank a set amount (Usually an adjustable amount) before the drivetrain engages. This is referred to as the “Slack”, when riding backwards you must keep your feet positioned within the slack, if your pedals rotate too much the drivetrain will engage and your pedals will start to rotate. The smaller the slack, the harder it is to keep your pedal positioned within it while riding backwards. This means that certain tricks are harder to perform, especially those that rely on pedal pressure, for example Tire Taps. The main difference between the two is the way the bike performs when going backwards.
Green
is a 16 inch kids BMX complete bike which is equipped with an U-brake to keep the handling for starters as easy as possible. The
Mongoose “Legion L16” BMX Bike – 16 Inch
Mongoose Bicycles are distributed in Australia by PSI Cycling psicycling.com.au. For more information about Mongoose products check out int.mongoose.com. Singletrack uses affiliate services called Skimlinks and which means we may earn revenue if you buy a product after clicking a link to a retailer on our site. Overall, I feel the spec is pretty darned well thought out. Not so cheapy or cost-cutting as to impair the bike handling but not so verly fancy as to make you worried about(ab)using this bike the way it’s supposed to be (ab)used. Our experienced testers spent many hours and miles using these bikes for their intended purpose.