Shifting worked out of the box and functioned well. To be honest, I don’t think my son has ever used a front derailleur until now. One-by systems mongoose mountain bikes have all but taken over the mountain bike market. I have a 7 speed Shimano thumb shifter and aluminum mountain bike pedals on the way.
Very few bike companies build 24-inch fat bikes. I don’t know of many that go smaller from there either. In addition, with 24-inch wheels, my son’s bikes are getting big enough that I am able to ride them without damaging anything. I’m not taking them off jumps or going for sustained rides, but just trying to get the feel and experience of the machine.
They slowed my son’s riding down when needed but functioned as any mechanical brake set would. They are not hydraulic and even I could feel that when testing myself. The job is getting done but there is more arm pump and fatigue when wrestling more weight with a lower grade brake system. The rear end of the bike also has quick release dropouts with 190mm hub width.
With that said, the bike handled as a fat bike should. My son was able to adapt his riding to match the needs of the machine. My son is also still a child and I don’t want to torture him too much. We will definitely stick to mountain biking mongoose fat tire bike with his Trailcraft, but I am excited to get my son out on some decent snow rides. It could be swapped for a shorter stem to add some downhill stability. There aren’t many kids fat bikes on the market, and generally this is for good reason.
There is also a steel version sold at a slightly lower cost. Get special offers, exclusive product news, and event info straight to your inbox. Luckily, we have tow ropes to mitigate the complaints. Fat tires tend to make riding very stable. A Sunrace cassette and KMC chain round out the drive train. A cycling community enthusiastic about mountain biking and all things related.
That said, there are plenty of families who need a kids fat bike for niche riding either in sand or in snow. For those select families, there is the Mongoose Argus Trail. Hopefully some training will allow him to be able to climb on his own for some of the ride. Sticking to flat nordic type trails for fat biking in the snow might be our best bet. The components as a whole function as they should.
Fat bikes are heavy and not ideal for every day riding. That isn’t to say the ride was all sunshine and roses. There were a couple of aspects of the mongoose bmx bike Beast that made it a challenge to ride for extended periods of time. For instance, I wasn’t overly fond of the stock seat that comes with the bike.
They actually look like they’ve come off a small car and on more than one occasion I had someone stop me to take a look at them. Those tires provide a bit of a floaty ride but they also allow this bike to simply roll over just about any obstacle. They’re designed to roll through snow and sand without any problems and I’d say they perform surprisingly well. I can’t attest to how well it rides in the snow (It’s still quite warm here in Austin), but I did ride through sand and deep sawdust, without missing a beat. Those big tires practically ignore rocks and logs on the trail too and they still manage to transition back to the road without too much of problem.
Parker is our resident tester and inspiration. One of the main components of any bike is the drive train. The Argus’ drive train uses a 2×8 system with a Microshift derailleur in the front and a Shimano Tourney in the rear. Most mountain bike steerer tubes are designed for tapered headtubes. If the diameter is 44mm then Cane Creek does make a headset to adapt a tapered fork to the headtube. Keep posts and comments free of disparaging remarks.