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1979 Team Mongoose

A Goose in sheeps' clothing

I bought this bike at a swap meet about 20 years ago for $20.00. I tried to talk the seller down to $10.00 at the time but she held firm at $20.00 saying "it was worth a lot more". All these years I really only used it for a way to get around the campground in the summertime. However, recently a co-worker of mine scored a pristine 81 Kuwahara off of craigslist for an amazing $15.00! That got me thinking about my bike and wondering exactly what it was. I always thought it was a Redline because of the stickers on the forks. After posting the serial number of the bike in the BMXmuseum.com forums, I was almost immediately informed by another member that my bike was in fact a 1979 Team Mongoose. A quick ebay scan of completed Mongoose listings for similar bikes convinced me that I had something special. After all these years, my ugly blue bike with the peeling paint finally gets some respect!
After stripping off all the ugly peeling blue paint, I decided to leave it as is with the bare nickel finish. I just wouldn't want the original nickel abraded in any way to promote proper adhesion of a fresh coat of blue paint.
Besides the new GT bars, Odyessey Pitbull 2 brake lever, Royce Union pedals, Redline chain tensioner, half link chain, new decals, tires and the 2006 Mongoose replica forks, the rest of the bike is just as I bought it. Super maxy 170 cranks, Dia-Compe 890 brakes, Araya 7C rims, Sunshine hubs, Suntour seatpost clamp, unknown brand gold anodized stem, unknown brand polished fluted seatpost and Avocet seat.
On the fist test ride of my rediscovered Team Mongoose I rode it over to a nearby shopping center lot where a classic car show was under way. At least 4 people complemented me on my bike and one guy even stated that "it was the best thing he saw at the car show that day". My little Team Mongoose.....I believe I'll be keeping her.

johnng23604 · 2009-08-16 6:12am

I don't know about the handle bars being out that far, but still nice.

lseann · 2009-08-16 7:37am

Yeah I meant to straighten up the bars for the photos but in reality my 6'1" frame can't comfortably ride the thing without the extreme forward bar angle. Possibly there is a differen't stem I could put on it that would position the bars to allow for the proper angle? Any ideas?

lseann · 2009-08-16 7:40am

Maybe a laid back seat post would help too?

Roboprop · 2009-08-16 8:39am

The hard part for us big guys (I'm 6'1" too) is finding a comfortable configuration while not making the bike look too wacked. I have a laid back seat post on my Torker and it makes all the difference. That, and bars with an 8" rise. As long as my knees don't hit my ears when I pedal, I'm good.

Well done bro! Your goose is a winner in my book too!! Always loved the Super Maxy cranks.

powerserg · 2009-08-16 1:57pm

From my understanding of mongooses, if there is a T in the beginning of the serial#, it is a Supergoose. Team goose only came in colors that year, not chrome or nickle.

lseann · 2009-08-16 7:25pm

Like i said, it was originally blue and I removed all the paint as it was peeling badly. As I understand it , Team bikes in 1979 were either blue or red over nickel. Of course I could be mistaken.

lseann · 2009-08-16 7:40pm

I repositioned the bars as far back as I can live with and took some new pics. Looks a little better now.

flyinhawn · 2009-11-09 7:11pm

Cherry ride, I can just imagine when your bike was candy blue with those gold alloy rims, and now it's like being reborn shed the old and bring out the Shine!! that's why I like those old gooses with the candy color over the nickle !!