I picked up this old Mongoose yesterday. The guy had fallen on some hard times and needed to get rid of his childhood bike to bring in a little cash. It makes me feel bad because as he was explaining how his daughter wanted a pink bike..I figured this is how he was able to buy it for her...buy getting rid of his old bike. He said it was a 1981 but I think it is a 79. Can someone help me confirm. I'm adding pics. He said it is all original accept for the tires and seatpost (he gave me the original seat and seatpost separately). I've never seen a Goose frame this color...probably goe to show my lack of experience.

Anyone w/ good goose experience want to give me pointers on restore, I would appreciate it.

Michael

Michael, very nice survivor. Looks to original except the seat, post, grips, tires and pedals. The color and decals look to be original and unless you can't bear the imperfections I would suggest leaving them be. The pedals would have been Union, MKS or KKT rattraps. Winner's Circle or Mongoose grips and Cheng Shin tires along the post and seat you already have will put her back to original. You are corect BTW, it's a '79.

Here are the original pedeals / seat / seat post that came w/ it...but just not on teh bike.

Restore it, love it, ride it....

Any suggestions on cleaning her up?

soap, water, rinse. repeat as necessary. Nothing more!

Leave that sucker in survivor mode. Its damn clean. If you want to build up a shiny new looking one, there are thousands of candidates for that. There's not nearly enough survivors running around.

MadCowboy & 76 Mongeese: Thanks for the strong persuasion to encourage me to not touch the aesthetics....because i was going to. Being a new addict...you want things to look shiny, but I also am wanting to promote the hobby in its true form....I understand the desire to see a bike in its essence and its great to learn how the community appreciates bikes in their form.

Now, with that being said...what is the difference between the terms "Survivor" and "Rider". I've seen these terms tossed about.

Yeah, I would try to keep it as you got it. Looks very good. Nice find brotha.

survivor is basically an all original stock bike. Original paint, decals, parts etc.. They usually have scratches and bent spokes and stuff like that. The cleaner they are the better. You'll find out that they are worth more like that as well. Anybody can powder an old goose and put some shiny NOS parts on it. Nobody can create a survivor tho.

That is actually great logic and makes perfect sense. Thanks.

It's funny...because this is the same logic I used when I purchased my first house 5 years ago. I bought an old 1942 bungalow that needed a lot of work...however, it had all the original structure, original (real) hardwoods, crown molding, windows...EVERYTHING. When i was finished with the project, I kept everything as it was...just cleaned it. (ok...i did add a new roof and upgrading the electricity to power central heat and air...but that's different) The moral of the story, is that I put the house up for sale in April (everyone said...bad time to sell), and it sold in 2 weeks. FOR A PROFIT.

The bottom line is that other people in the area who bought the same old houses gutted the heck out of them and put in the home depot kitchens and bathrooms, etc. STAINLESS APPLIANCES...BLAH BLAH BLAH.

Now don't get me wrong....I like new stuff just like anyone, but there is a principle involved when it comes to "vintage" stuff. Once you change its properties, you can never change it back.

Yeah keep it as is, just clean it up. The blue Tuffs look cool with the yellow frame!

So I guess now is the time to ask the money question... I gave a guy 200.00 for this bike... was that too much?

You understand the essence of why we're so dogmatic about survivors. We all want a shiney new example of our favorite early BMX bike but, as the hobby has progressed we have learned from too many regretful lessons. The blue mags really look a part of that mongoose...I have a strong hunch they've been on there since the bike was new.

To me, a "survivor" is the best kind of "rider"...how more true to original can you get than to actually ride it as intended. You can't do that on a show bike...a "rider" is simply something that gets ridden...not beaten but ridden.

The guy I purchased the bike from said the only original parts that I don't have are the tires. It was his childhood bike.

You don't find many bikes that have had 1 owner anymore, especially ones that have never really been messed with. He had just started toying with the idea of restoring it, which is why the pedals, seat, and stem were off. I didn't ask him about the tires, but i suspect he tossed them when he put the new ones on.

So I need to find a set of tires, but i'm not in a big hurry for that.

Very Nice

200 bucks is pretty good for that bike.

Goose frames and parts are on ebay constantly. Old scratched up painted ones go pretty cheap and those are the best candidates for shiny new fixer-uppers. It doesnt have the nickle to de-rust and then find yourself in a quandary about having a frame that looks to good to get blasted yet, not good enough for that shiny new showroom floor build you are desiring. Trust me on this one. lol

Hmm, well my first instinct is to say that price is a little high, HOWEVER, I'll be honest with you, if I found the bike for $200 I would have picked it up too!

I feel like i paid a little too much...would have liked to have stayed between 125 and 150.00.

However, I've seen 82/83 Mongoose frames [with cranks,pedals,stems, and handlebars] sell for 117.00 - 150.00 that are fairly rusted. So I figured 200.00 for a bike that is 99% original, that is a 1979 is probably worth it. But I still don't like spending more than I want.

I'm heading to northern colorado tomorrow to look at a 1978 (serial CA8) Mongoose that is all original. Doesn't have any wheels on it. The guy sent a picture to my cell (otherwise I'd load it). It has a Mongoose Gold Stem (first one i've seen), etc.

Beautiful bike. Put it all together and ride it. It's perfect as is. You done good for $200 in my opinion. Down here in Australia that would fetch $600 no worries. probably a lot more.