jetboy 

The pedals have a clover on them. I have 3 sets of these pedals actually- all from 80s MTB so it seems like they were standard equipment for the time. they work great and look super cool. and yeah, the wheels are the coolest thing i've seen in a while. make the bike really- even more than the chrome.

madpogue 

IIRC, the four clovers is VP brand, common maker of pedals similar to Wellgo. Often called "bear traps", owing to their unfortunate resemblance to the real thing.

And indeed, they definitely complete the look.

swen0171 

Awesome. I want every 22-24 inch 80s MTB I see, and I don't have a chrome one yet! I like that it has some rise on the stem.

cbrstar

The pedals are VP (I think the V stands for victor?) but they were the cheap knock offs BITD though Ironically they are still in business and Suntour isn't. VP were the OEM pedals for a lot of bikes.
The difference in prices back in the 80's were you could buy the VP like yours for $10, but the actual Suntour were $25. Now days a decent set like you have is worth $20-$30 where as the Suntours are over $100. Heck if you find a set of suntours NOS in a box they go over $300!!

Here's a pic of the Suntour

1simplexnut

my mongoose back in the day


my mongoose back in the day
oh wow that is a good score. I bought one of those new in 1986. Threw it off some fairly major(for the time) hills . Was great fun .
Nice to have the pro rims too!

curbtender

Does that have a 4130 sticker or is it some extra special joshiwata steel?

cbrstar

That baby is triple butted 4130!

Here's the catalog from 1985 if anyone is interested https://www.vintagemongoose.com/pdfs/mongoose_cat85.pdf

cbrstar

This story might be complete bunk, but it was told to me who by my friend who was a professional BMX racer...

Do you notice how the head tube seems a little bit unusually long?

Well in the early 80's a lot of BMX frames had the problem breaking at the head tube. They didn't realize at the time that the reason they broke was the gusset made the frame too ridged. So they came up with the "MooseGoose" with the idea that a super long head tube would make the frame much stronger and harder to break. And they also thought Adults would want to ride these crazy kids bikes if the frame was taller.



For some reason they thought they were going to sell millions of these things and ended up only selling a handful. So they were left with all this precut tubing, and it was going to cost a fortune to re-cut all this extra tubing.

Well I'm not sure who but some genius actually invented the classic 80's scooter to use up all this extra tubing.



Now this is speculation on my part... But I've always wondered with their MTB's if they still hadn't gave up on the idea that a longer head tube made for a much stronger frame and incorporated it into the design. Or just like the scooters they tought it was a good way to get rid of this extra tubing?

jetboy 

yeah, thats great! thanks for the link- its the exact bike. By that this baby is pretty much original-

Bikerider007

I recall frames not having the gusset cracking at the head tube, but my memory could be of cheaper frames. Well, that and the early aluminum stuff (PK, JMC) or crazy form over function stuff (CW Phaze). I would think the tall head tube was needed to be a little longer to get that slack angle for downhill geometry, but that's just my guess. Although they made multiple sizes I did not get why they made them so tall. I can't imagine falling from those if riding seriously but I also think in terms of bmx. As downhill bikes it may not have mattered as much. Or maybe it was influence from the tall road frames of the 70's.

I do really like the mid 80s and earlier MTBs now and have several. Many have some nice BMX touches and parts.

cbrstar

My understanding is a frame when you land the frame needs to flex and absorb the shock. So a gusset instead of strengthening the joint makes the joint far more ridged causing it to snap under high stress instead of flexing and absorbing the energy. At least that's that theory, but like you say many non-gusset frames still broke at the head tube.

Maybe the moosegoose story is one of those 80's BMX urban legends like sticking your skyway wheels in the freezer lol. I can't help to feel like they were more trying to make a bike that would appeal more to adults. It would be interesting though to find out if they really had any connection with the scooters.

jetboy 

Not a lot of changes- i just greased up, swapped RD's, new cable, and put "new" tires on it and threw a breezer saddle on- did a bit of rust removal but did not go crazy. i made the mistake last time of spending a BUNCh of time on getting the bike perfect before I actually went riding on it. This one will develop as it goes.

so far its fun! big fat 2.125 tires fit fine

curbtender

There you go.

OTS 

very NICE !
Congrats

mountaindave 

boatsinbottles

Indeed the stem is 7/8. I had a Nitto DD turned down to fit my ATB. It was a sw8 bike but I gave it to a friend who wanted to get back into cycling.

Chris Chicago

rides great. i think it's the slack angles. still on replacement wheels. i rebuilt the front proclass rimmed wheel after this pic was taken. still need to get to the rear. iirc the rear spacing is on the narrow side for mtbs

schwinn70s

Thise Bear Claw pedals are just that slip 1 time and you will find out clothing will not withstand the edges on then, neither will the skin underneath.