Mongoose Meteore 29er

Its the same old story. Many spare parts lying around, need to clear, find a frame, put them on, sell the bike, recoup some money and build again. That's the plan but it always ended up stopping short of the selling part. This time, my excuse is that this will be the bike I will bring over to my Thailand home. Lets see if it will materialise.

The frame is a Mongoose Meteore 29er. It came from a friend who wanted the parts but not the frame. It was rather cheap to inherit and that has always been my preferred mode of bike building; buy them cheap and and sell them for a reasonable profit. People need to understand that the physical aspects of the bike is not everything; the effort in putting it together and making sure everything works well is something money cannot buy. Its call experience and unless you have been there and done it, be nice to your bike builder.

The stance of the bike is rather compact and it actually is. For a 29er, it doesn't really feel big like the Cannondale Tango.

The parts of the cockpit were transferred from the Marin Palisades Trail. That bike is undergoing some rejuvenation. The brake levers are Shimano Deore, shifters are Shimano Alivio 3 x 9, stem and handlebar are from Merida. 

The Suntour XCR fork was a clearance item from Chain Reaction Cycles. Its an air fork, so its actually quite light for a suspension fork. Not really plush but it works well.

At long last, the Sugino-Colnago crank is put to good use. I think it has finally found its home on the Mongoose. This is a terrific crank but its not for the weak. With a 48T chain ring, you better make sure you have strong legs to move the bike that is not on the lightweight side. A Shimano Deore front derailleur takes care of the front shifting.

Shimano Alivio 9 speed rear derailleurs do the job. Nothing flashy, you shift, it moves; that is all that matters.

The wheelset came from a Giant Momentum (http://www.momentum-biking.com/us). The rear hub was replaced by a Chosen 'loud hub' and it lives up to its name! You don't need a bell, a few backward turns of the crank and the whole world will know you're coming. More importantly, they are really smooth.

My favourite seat. Nothing more to say.

I don't really like cables that stretches from source to component. The long cable housing does not provide the 'crispiness' compared to bare cables. Tuning it is quite frustrating at times because besides the cable stretching, the cable housing is also stretching.

How it looks from the rider position.

Overall, it is a nice bike. Its not something I will hop on if I want an easy ride but I will take it on the trail anytime.