90s Mongoose Iboc road bike - worth it?
03-22-20, 05:47 AM
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little ring
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90s Mongoose Iboc road bike - worth it?
Hey all-
Currently a broke student studying in Australia, looking for a bike I can both bum around town on but also take on longer rides. My unicorn bike back in the States is a hefty 90s Bianchi Axis Pro that took me cross country and later served as my commuter bike, and I'm trying to find something similar here... sadly this appears to be the land of Giants.
Anyway, I found a "Mongoose Iboc" road bike on Gumtree (Oz's Craigslist) for $150. Can't tell if it's the Crit or Champion based on photos, but it looks very much like this one. It's a bit of a Franken-bike, with Sachs New Success Ergo shifters/derailleur, 8 speed cassette (or freewheel - can't really tell from the pic), and Shimano 600 cranks.
Here's the rub: I need a triple on the front, especially if this bad boy turns out to be cro-mo or the downtube is filled with cement. (I have bad knees, don't laugh.)
He's asking $100, which seems decent - again, haven't seen it in person so for all I know 9,000 fire ants have made it into their summer house and the tires (or tyres, as it's spelled here) are dust. My super duper noob question: how difficult would it be to put a triple on this baby? Obviously it may need a new derailleur, but in terms of the crank being different species, will that be an issue? (Also, new bottom bracket??
) I wouldn't be doing the work myself, but I feel like if I can source the components for cheap, it could be done fairly inexpensively and I'd have a nice steal-proof commuter/touring bike.
Muchas gracias - or cheers, as they say here.
Currently a broke student studying in Australia, looking for a bike I can both bum around town on but also take on longer rides. My unicorn bike back in the States is a hefty 90s Bianchi Axis Pro that took me cross country and later served as my commuter bike, and I'm trying to find something similar here... sadly this appears to be the land of Giants.
Anyway, I found a "Mongoose Iboc" road bike on Gumtree (Oz's Craigslist) for $150. Can't tell if it's the Crit or Champion based on photos, but it looks very much like this one. It's a bit of a Franken-bike, with Sachs New Success Ergo shifters/derailleur, 8 speed cassette (or freewheel - can't really tell from the pic), and Shimano 600 cranks.
Here's the rub: I need a triple on the front, especially if this bad boy turns out to be cro-mo or the downtube is filled with cement. (I have bad knees, don't laugh.)
He's asking $100, which seems decent - again, haven't seen it in person so for all I know 9,000 fire ants have made it into their summer house and the tires (or tyres, as it's spelled here) are dust. My super duper noob question: how difficult would it be to put a triple on this baby? Obviously it may need a new derailleur, but in terms of the crank being different species, will that be an issue? (Also, new bottom bracket??
) I wouldn't be doing the work myself, but I feel like if I can source the components for cheap, it could be done fairly inexpensively and I'd have a nice steal-proof commuter/touring bike.Muchas gracias - or cheers, as they say here.
Last edited by CykelFlicka; 03-22-20 at 05:56 AM.
03-22-20, 06:01 AM
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If your in Australia and looking at shipping a bike from America just hold out for a nice Volpe to fill your needs.
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“One morning you wake up, the girl is gone, the bikes are gone, all that's left behind is a pair of old tires and a tube of tubular glue, all squeezed out"
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“One morning you wake up, the girl is gone, the bikes are gone, all that's left behind is a pair of old tires and a tube of tubular glue, all squeezed out"
Sugar "Kane" Kowalczyk
03-22-20, 06:09 AM
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little ring
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Ha, I wish! Mine is in storage and it'll cost several hundred more than this to get it here... plus with flights getting axed by the day, it may not arrive until 2025.
03-22-20, 06:19 AM
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OH "Like this one"
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“One morning you wake up, the girl is gone, the bikes are gone, all that's left behind is a pair of old tires and a tube of tubular glue, all squeezed out"
Sugar "Kane" Kowalczyk
“One morning you wake up, the girl is gone, the bikes are gone, all that's left behind is a pair of old tires and a tube of tubular glue, all squeezed out"
Sugar "Kane" Kowalczyk
03-22-20, 06:36 AM
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Thread moved from C&V to C&V Appraisals.
03-22-20, 06:42 AM
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cb400bill Should I change the thread title? Not really looking for an appraisal of the bike, but more of "Can I change out these components or is it not worth my $$"? 
03-22-20, 06:58 AM
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If you have to have a triple it won't work. Those shifters weren't designed for a triple and your expense will skyrocket replacing shifters. These mongoose are pretty sweet for a brand that has a bad rep today, this setup is a great one. Those are a campy chorus shifter but set to shift Shimano, they probably changed the crank since the Sachs crank was a lot of dead weight and used an Italian spindle like campy did.
With this one I'd skip the whole triple which will also require a new rear derailleur as well as front, crank and shifter and just put on a compact. A 48/34 would work fine and the front shifter isn't single click, so it'll move the der the way you want. If that was local to me I'd spend the 100 and know I got a steal.
With this one I'd skip the whole triple which will also require a new rear derailleur as well as front, crank and shifter and just put on a compact. A 48/34 would work fine and the front shifter isn't single click, so it'll move the der the way you want. If that was local to me I'd spend the 100 and know I got a steal.
03-22-20, 07:22 AM
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Thanks Russ! I'll look into that. Will keep you guys posted, not even sure if the bike is still available. Bikes get stolen here so having something that doesn't look expensive or visually appealing helps a lot with preventing sticky fingers.
03-25-20, 11:22 AM
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Almost anything can be changed. The question becomes how much are you willing to spend, how resourceful are you, and who is going to do the work.
A resourceful person that does his own work can make massive changes to a bike, pulling parts off a donor bike, or out of the personal bin.
The other extreme is someone who has to buy all the parts, and pay someone to install.
Myself, I bought a Mongoose IBOC just for the parts. Bike was cheap. Donated the frame to the co op. As I recall, mine had a lower end 8 speed Campy group on it.
I would not buy a Mongoose IBOC as a keeper bike. I really have no interest in Mongoose road bikes, and I don't like early carbon either. Since I have a pile of frames, that Mongoose group ended up on a vintage Trek which I sold.
One thing that can't be changed is tire width limit. Road bikes tend to have a limit on how wide of a tire it can handle. Every bike is different. I don't memorize specs on bikes, and particularly bikes that have moved on. I would not be surprised if the Mongoose couldn't handle a very wide tire.
A common work around on gearing is to go with a compact crank instead of a triple. That eliminates most of the changes and gives you close to triple gearing.
A resourceful person that does his own work can make massive changes to a bike, pulling parts off a donor bike, or out of the personal bin.
The other extreme is someone who has to buy all the parts, and pay someone to install.
Myself, I bought a Mongoose IBOC just for the parts. Bike was cheap. Donated the frame to the co op. As I recall, mine had a lower end 8 speed Campy group on it.
I would not buy a Mongoose IBOC as a keeper bike. I really have no interest in Mongoose road bikes, and I don't like early carbon either. Since I have a pile of frames, that Mongoose group ended up on a vintage Trek which I sold.
One thing that can't be changed is tire width limit. Road bikes tend to have a limit on how wide of a tire it can handle. Every bike is different. I don't memorize specs on bikes, and particularly bikes that have moved on. I would not be surprised if the Mongoose couldn't handle a very wide tire.
A common work around on gearing is to go with a compact crank instead of a triple. That eliminates most of the changes and gives you close to triple gearing.
