Mongoose Salvo

This review is for the Mongoose Salvo mountain bike, size large frame.I purchased this bike to commute to lunch during work hours and for the occasional off-road riding.The bike comes in a large box with a few parts requiring install such as: handle bars, front wheel, reflectors, seat and pedal wheels. Everything is wrapped and protected for shipping. It did not come with assembly instructions but did come with a nice owner’s manual. Installing the parts without assembly instructions was fairly intuitive. The package did not come with tools for the install. You will need a decent assortment of allen wrenches and a ¾” wrench to install the pedals. It took me a little over an hour to unbox and assemble. The allen screws appear to have lock-tite on them from the factory, that is a nice touch ensuring they won’t unscrew.I am 6’-2” tall and weigh 180 pounds. The large frame fit me perfect. I would say a shorter person could fit on the large frame as well as the seat is lots of room for adjustment. The bike is fairly light which makes it nice to pick up and maneuver if need be.I have never owned a geared mountain bike so the shifting gears depending on the terrain slope was new to me. Be careful when continually downshifting the gear for uphill riding, the chain will shift off the gears. This happened to me and it took some work to get the chain back on the gears. Proper understanding of the shifting and realizing there is second lever for upshifting will eliminate your chain and gear problems.Overall the bike rides and feels great. It is very sturdy and the shocks really do a good job dampening the rough terrain. The front and center shocks are all adjustable to your liking. I see myself riding this bike for years to come. The front and rear brakes have some serious stopping power I might add.I purchased the black color which has a semi-matte finish. It's sleek and a really good looking bike.

Shipping was fast, but the box definitely incurred a lot of bumps and bruises. I was pleased to see I wasn't missing any components as there were a couple of holes in the box itself. The frame did sustain a few scratches in the same area. Wasn't happy about that, but they are minor and I am sure I will put on way more after riding it on the trails.It looked like a good base frame bike to buy and then maybe add some upgrades, but I don't want to change a thing! Quality components give it a smooth ride. Gears/shifters are responsive and handle well. Aggressive tread also helps with climbing rough terrain. I haven't been able to take it on speedy downhills yet, but so far it feels very stable for what I have done.Assembly wasn't difficult, but do follow the instruction manual. It gets a little confusing because the manual refers to some parts that do not come with the bike (not needed), so that can be a little confusing. I am a fairly handy person and I did not have any troubles with assembly. You will need a couple of tools. I used my Allen Wrench set and a adjustable wrench. Very excited to hit some more trails!

The frame and geometry Rocker Link Suspension is an open canvas. Well design and strong material Tectonic T2 Aluminum Frame... Make it your own project to build. The rest of the bike is plain simple an entry level trail bike. With some upgrades such as the front fork and rear shock and drive train, this bike can compete with the high end and priced name brands at around 4K to7K range. These are some of the upgrades I made to this bike: Handle bar, Stem, Headset. Original handle bar did not offer adjstment for riser or upsweep and back sweep. The stem was too shor and flat. The new stem upgrade offered me 90mm in lenght and 17deg. uprise which it quickly made the difference in handling the bike on the trail with confort better fit and control. The headset bearings are not sealed bearings, they are open case retainer style, I upgraded to seal bearings which they dont require any or little maintenance and will perform and last longer. The seatpost is straight upright zero offset and not much going on for adjustment. The upgraded seatpost offered me adjustment to the rear by about one inch as well as a thicker aluminum wall to 3mm for stiffeness. The original seatpost did not come with a quick release clamp. This is an absolute big NO NO. This was also upgraded to a quick release clamp. The problem with this was that the frame, right at the top of the seat clamp neck, the paint and the anodize is not there its unfinished and it shows bare aluminum all around for about 1 1/2" inch wide. Why they this this? IDK...The original drivetrain is just not the right combination for this bike if you are only riding trails with some moderate down hill, and technical swithch backs with mininal uphills. The 12 speed cassette is an over kill on almost any terrain. I upgraded the drive train to shimano HG400 9 speed mountain bike cassette as well as a 9 speed Shimano Acera RD-M370 rear derailleur with shimano CN-HG93 116 link 9 speed chain and shimano Altus ST-EF505 hydraulic brake/shifter combination, just to make it suitable for the trail systems you will find in North Texas. (DFW Area). The Shimano BR-M201/BR-MT200, hydraulic, aluminum, 160 mm rotor brakes work well and do the job just fine with good stopping power and there is no need for and upgrade. The original shifters are pretty decent and at least a great name brand (SRAM) these you can keep they work really great with crips response paired up with the SRAM rear deraillure. No complaints about these two componets. Then again these got replaced due to the unnecessary need of the 12 speed factory setup. The SRAM 175MM. crankset and bottom bracket also got replace due to the incorportated 30T single speed sprocket. This does not allow you to add a chain ring guard to protect the single sprockett. The new shimano M5100 Deore 175mm. 32T single sprocket crankset allows you to add the chain ring guard to protect the single 32T sprocket. This new crankset was paired with shimano BB-Hollowtech II bottom bracket since I could not use the factory SRAM Powerspline bottom bracket. The factory pedals are garbage which is understandable, most people upgrade these anyway. Replaced them with Venzo CNC-CR-Mo forged 6066 sealed SPD clipless Pedals. Great price for these nice looking and highly recommended. Handle bar grips also got replaced with silicone grips and grip locks. Some of the quality issues to be noted on this; 01- Factory Headset Star Nut inside the front fork steer tube was broken or intalled incorrectly. Had to purchase a Star Nut Setting tool and new star nut and re-install. 02-The paint and anodize on the seat tube near the quick release neck was unfinished exposing bare aluminium and potential for rust. 03-The headset retaining ball bearing set, with little or no grease. Now on positive notes; the pricepoint for this bike is on a fair and low range. I was able to pick up this bike on sale for $1,163.84 plus tax (Amazon.com) The regular price was $1999.99. The frame geometry makes this bike a really fun bike to ride and it handles really well on switchbacks and some medium down hill trails. It's also fun to work on it and make it your own project to build without breaking the bank with medium range components and name brands. This was my absolute intention from the beginning, after doing my research on this bike and the great potential that offers. I am not a proffesional mountain bike rider but I do love to ride and keep myself in great shape and throught my 20 plus year of experience riding trails in different states I beleive this is is the best way to do it. I Love to ride every time I get the chance and this bike will be a part of it for a long time.

This was the second “higher end” Mongoose mountain bike that I have purchased and I could not be happier with this brand. I ride these bikes all the time on the trails in Arizona and have had nothing but great experience. This model is good for just about anything that you throw at it. It has mid range SRAM and Shimano brakes and shifters, and the rear shock works very well once you dial it in by setting the pressure. I do wish that the front shock was an air shock as well, but this one works fine and you can replace it if you really want to. It’s not a heavy bike at all, but I could see some people that put high value on bike weight having a potential concern with this. Regardless, I have nothing but positive things to say about this bike and I recommend it for anyone from street riders to trail/mountain bikers.