Around 2000, Mongoose bikes embraced ugly, to be fair it wasn't just Mongoose, it seems all BMX bike manufacturers thought BMX should tone itself down after the bright and colourful heyday of the eighties and nineties. The 2000 Mongoose Brawler 24 originally rolled out of the bike shop with an uninspiring gloss gunmetal grey frame, forks and low cruiser bars. Some of the old school vibe however was not lost, the black anodised rims were laced to high flange polished alloy hubs. Many other parts were hidden under a layer of black paint. This Mongoose Brawler 24 would have been built in 2000 and appearing in bike shops (not K-Mart) in 2001. The frame is chromoly CR-MO and Hi-Ten steel for strength, it's...
The 1994 Mongoose Expert BMX frame is a classic Mongoose loop tail frame design. Mongoose began making the loop tail frame in the early 1980’s and this design was popular with many BMX brands through that era including hutch and SE bikes. In 1997 a few bikes featured the Mongoose BMX loop tail frame including the Expert 20″ and Expert Pro 24″ cruiser as well as the Menace and Menace 24″ cruiser. In 1998 Mongoose phased out the loop tail frame design and began looking at completely new frame designs. For this 1994 Mongoose Expert I wanted to take what was a pretty standard original BMX and make it desirable again. Creating custom colour rides is the thing I like most. I purchased the bike as frame, forks, bars and stem with...
Recently picked up two old 1984 Raleigh Magnum BMX bikes (and an 86 Raleigh Mini Magnum). Both Magnums were in very rough condition and only part complete, but I had plenty of era correct parts to be able to restore them faithfully back to their original glory. I believe the Raleigh Magnum was made by the Merida Factory in Taiwan, the giveaway is the serial number structure starting with M - I'm also pretty sure the Magnum was made for the Australian market only. That aside there were a couple of features on the frame that stood out for me that made these Magnum's special and worth restoring. The top tube length on the 1984 Raleigh Magnum BMX is 20" - by...
The Mongoose Sniper Mag BMX was the low cost, Hi-Ten steel freestyle bike in the 1998 Mongoose catalogue. However the addition of the 3 spoke, Skyway made, Mongoose Motomag Tuff wheels and blazing blue paint job really made it stand out. The Chrome 1998 Mongoose Sniper BMX was definitely the more available option from BMX shops back in the late 90's - the blazing blue frame is now, just that little bit more rare. The frame had rust removed but the original patina or weathered character was intentionally retained. This looks great against all the shiny chrome and black. The frame and fork decals are all original and still have their rainbow holographic glow when viewed in the sun. This classic mid-school freestyle BMX...
