Arguably, that Mongoose hired ‘Magoo’ at this point was a milestone moment for the brand and one which helped to maintain the company’s trajectory and popularity. The man was and is a stalwart of the BMX scene, having remained relevant over multiple decades and having been behind the scenes of many different companies, events and products in BMX. Skip Hess started BMX Products, Inc. out of his home in Simi Valley, California in September 1974 with his first product being the famous Motomag One wheel. According to Skip “When the Motomags were the first and only product I produced, I could remain working from my home and garage in Simi Valley. I bought a van to transport the Cragar made heat treated castings to shot peening and then to the machine shop where after machining, the wheels were boxed and shipped.
After a couple years at the company and having progressed as far as the role would allow, a resignation was in order and the scene was set for Magoo’s next move, taking up a marketing and product management position at Mongoose. This article will highlight some of the key moments in the history of Mongoose BMX, touching on some of the ground-breaking products, the key characters, controversial moments and finally, the status of the brand and its presence in modern day BMX. Old school bmx decals for all your Mongoose and BMX Products bikes, including grips, pads, & seats.
We have spent decades gathering information from many, many sources, including our friends at bmxproducts.com, bmxproducts.com.au, vintagebmx.com, bmxsociety.com and bmxmuseum.com. We don’t claim to have all first hand knowledge, we just wanted to condense all the information out there into one place for all of us to enjoy. In fact, most of the product descriptions are taken from BMX Products Inc. catalogs and are available to download in the catalog section on this site. So if you see something that just doesn’t seem right please email us, and we’ll do our best to clarify the inaccuracy.
SmartStart bikes are engineered to outsmart physics so kids in motion stay in motion. Ya but the carbon frames and the kinesis frames were usa, thats what I was referring to. Clearly there were many awesome US built frames, My MCS, Patterson, or my JMC cruiser are good examples, but realistically, those were not the same market niche as a Californian, a 500B, or a Mach 1. I dont own any American bikes, but I love my Taiwanese rides.
Plus, the new Supergoose offers the same unique Mongoose Pro Class drilled aluminum rims for superior performance that won’t weigh you down. The 80’s are back, baby – live it up on the iconic Mongoose Supergoose. From the perspective of present day Mongoose, the machine grinds on. After a significant team revamp in 2010, the current roster is seriously stacked and a big reason as to the ongoing success. For example, the freestyle team is spearheaded by some of the craziest and most prolific riders on the circuit, including olympian Pat Casey, Kevin Peraza, Mykel Larrin, Greg Illingworth and Ben Wallace. And in a similar stroke of genius to the hiring of Magoo as team manager, the current TM (Leigh Ramsdell) is also a legend of the game and someone with a deep understanding of what makes BMX so awesome.
It is perhaps overdue at this point to mention that the name Mongoose was the result of Skip, and interestingly, was taken from 5 x national drag racing champion Tom ‘The Mongoose’ McEwen. Pretty awesome to think that the very early roots of BMX have drag racing ties, as well as a more obvious association with motocross and skating (which was also taking off at the time, and also schwinn electric bike in southern California). Click the microphone in the search bar to try again, or start typing your search term. Identifying the serial numbers on the early Mongoose frames is actually quite easy and intuitive with this guide. The Mongoose Legion L40 Bike is ready for the beginner to intermediate level BMX rider. Features such as a sealed bearing mid bottom bracket and s…