mongoose on ebay

While it does appear to be a mongoose, some of the angles just caught my eye. Mongoose seat posts are angled back further than the headtube...this particular frame seems to be angled forward a little more.

The biggest ??? I see is how the chain stay lug comes in low on the bottom bracket. This lug comes into the middle on every '76 I've ever seen. They didn't come in low like this frame until later.

Not questioning the sellers knowledge or sincereity. Just wondering if there is more to learn about these frames or is this one a knock off?

Looks like an old mongoose to me. Can't imagine what else it would be. If you look at old mongoose frames from around the 1976, this mongoose seems to match (BB gusset, brake tab, seatstay mast, and chainstay yoke). If it's not, then someone did a lot of work to fake it.

I bet whoever paid 299 for it sure hopes it is.

If it is, then its a previously unknown 76 model that will spend the rest of it's days pampered and worshiped within this community. I saw it and thought seriously about buying it but I figured someone else would appreciate it more than I would, plus the unknown factor of it. You just know if it was an existing member of this community, theyd be advertising that thing in giant flashing red fonts telling us the rarity of it.

Its def a mongoose! Some of the early 75-76 frames came with that added gusset.. the question is,is it a full chromoly frame or not,i wish i could see the brake bridge thats the only way to tell..

*unless someone has a minimal amount of welding skills and just posts a single non detailed photo of it for the auction.

He either a) doesnt know what he has or knows what he has and is trying to hide something. Pretty much the only possible scenarios, short of just being nuts.

I'm with Joe on this one...

I've never seen a '76 without the chain stay lug hitting the middle of the BB. Also the seat post tube on this one does not extend as long as a '76. Even the very early 77's all had those telltale characteristics.

We've all seen knockoffs of the '76 and this is probably another one IMO. Another way to tell would be the welds and of course the serial number. A couple close ups and the serial number on this frame would be the definitive answer.

ALL 75-76 frames came with the bottom gusset..To my knowledge, NO '75-'76 production frames were full chromoly..There was not a brake bridge on any of the 75-76 frames.

We have seen quite a few fakes here in recent history so, my guess is that it is. NONE of the gussetted frames had the lug meet the bottom of the BB like on this frame. This was actually the end result of raising the bottom bracket on the late '77 and newer frames.

Or this could possibly be a late '77 - early '79 that someone added a bottom gusset to.

Like Pete said, need to see some welds and a serial number.

Ditto on the chain stay coming into the bottom bracket in the wrong place for a '76... however, I do have a question regarding the transition to the '77 models where the early ones still had the welded gusset... was the bottom bracket low on them like a '76, or was it raised?

Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker

My understanding, whether thru osmosis or an educated guess from information mostly collected on this site, is that the bottom gusset was dropped when the BB was raised. If the features ever co-existed, it probably wasn't for very long...possibly another rare transition frame. Still no way to know without closeups and a serial number.

The gusset/BB placement on the Jan/feb 77 geese is identical to the '76 model (in the middle of the BB shell) If that frame has a CB7 or CC7 serial # That would make it a rare transitional frame, any other S/N would make it a later model with the brake bridge removed and a gusset added. Meaning someone going to a lot of trouble to make that frame look like something that it is not.

I've always been fascinated with the "last of the extra gusset" or the " '76/'77 crossover Goose" timeline... BTW, they all have the signature chain stay lug hitting the center of the BB and the extra long top portion of the seat post tube among other features already mentioned by Joe and others...

To my knowledge, the first "full chrome moly frames" were the very first Team frames which only came out in the latter half of '77. "Tri- Moly" was the standard Goose frame up to that point. That information is all available on Waza's site: www.vintagemongoose.com for anyone who may want to look into it.

Technically speaking, I don't believe any "full chrome moly" Mongoose frames were ever actually made. It's my understanding that all Mongoose frames had Hi-Ten headtubes and bottom brackets, including all Teams and Supergoose models. This is a very technical point that someone else may want to expand upon.

Anyhow, for quite a while it seemed RCain had the last known all original (or survivor) "extra Gusset Goose", CA7 32286.

Then not too long ago, CB7 32487 appeared on Ebay. I believe Ken C might now own that one. It then became the last of the "crossover" '76 - '77 Geese known. Essentially, it has all the features from 1976 including Motomag 1's.

Since that time, I believe Waza has found an even later version of the " '76/'77 crossover Goose" in Australia (odd because they were not originally available there in '76 or '77) and the serial number is only slightly higher than CB7 32487. I can't find the exact serial number in my records but Waza could possibly tell us. The only difference in this last one Waza purchased, is that it has Motomag 11's if I recall correctly. That would make it the first known Mongoose to have come equipped with Motomag 11's. Interesting stuff... At least to us Mongoose nerds! LOL!

Here's a couple pics of CB7 32487 as it appeared on Ebay (last known '76/'77 crossover with Motomag 1's):

That one is CB7-32748 and is owned by a mate in Oz now.

It's all part of the Aussie's master plan to buy up all of the old Mongeese! It's called "frame-drain"!

Mongeese today, the world tomorrow!

Were the serial numbers stamped other places? Nothing on the BB shell at all. Guy is selling one local I know of, has old clamp/bolt on folding free style pegs on the forks, but forks are right, bars are wrong for sure. But dead sure about the frame looks like a goose has the front gusset, but no brake tab on rear and no serial # at all anywhere. Guy wants $50 for it but leery of buying because of all the unknowns.

DaWump, they were only stamped on the BB. If it's not there, it's not a mongoose.

So, the one on ebay was a '77. That makes since, 'cause it definitely didn't look like a '76...did your buddy know it wasn't a '76 when he bid? Is this a transitional frame or was the gusset added later?

That is funny!

I do own the 77 short that Pete posted above, I just need to get the time to clean it up.