Mongoose Juneau Men and Womens Fat Tire Mountain Bike, 26×4-Inch Big Fat Wheels, 16-Speed Trigger Shifters, Adult Aluminum Mountain Frame, Blue

I was able to get a pair of these bikes for $410 each in Jan 2024. This is the best purchase, and the best _value_ purchase, I have ever made with regards to bicycles. I got them to extend our bike riding season, and it has completely changed the way I look at winter. Not just for snow, but also mud and sand are all now fair game.
The fit is perfect for me at just under 6′. My wife at 5’4 is a little stretched, we will be looking at a shorter stem or swept handlebars for her.
If you consider that most important factor for a bicycle is the frame – everything else will sooner or later be replaced – then you are already ahead because this is the best, lightest frame Mongoose makes. Likewise the alloy rims will last forever and are significantly lighter than steel. The whole thing is shockingly light – given the perception you get from the big tires you expect it to way a ton, but I can easily one arm it over big logs etc.
Component wise it is exactly what you _should_ expect at this price point. Of course mechanical disk brakes are weaker than hydraulic, I would not be confident on a steep grade (but this is a fat bike! not an enduro racer). The shifting out of the box is skippy. A 2x drive train may seem antiquated but it’s not like most people need room for a dropper lever on a fat bike, so why not take the extra range? All of these “drawbacks” are things I can totally live with now, and upgrade when I need to make replacements.
The one thing I replaced immediately was the saddle – as others have said, I did not find the stock saddle comfortable. I put the cheapest Planet Bike ARS “taint saver” saddle on there and blood is flowing where it should now
I am all about supporting my LBS but they will be the first to tell you they don’t make big margins on new bikes; their bread and butter is tune ups, repairs and upgrades which I will have a lot of!
Bottom line: just do it. You will not regret it.

I had seen this bike for close to their list price for a while, then I happened to see it at $426, and I bought it. Great bike for that price. Acceptable bike for a few hundred more. But at less than 500, this is a lot of bike.

The bike rides pretty well and I’m happy I bought it and would buy it again for that price.

I looked at the various Mongoose mountain bikes and bought the Juneau because it has a front derailleur, rather than being a 1x. (Pronounced “1 by”.) Reviews for the other bikes (Dolomite, Aztec, Malus) indicated that people couldn’t climb hills b/c the bikes were geared too low. This is true. The Argus is a 1x, but you can climb with it b/c it has a 42 tooth (or thereabouts) gear in the back. Just compare the photos of the Argus to the other 3 and you’ll see they all have a tiny cassette of gears in the back. The Juneau also does not have a big gear in the back, but with the extra small gear in the front due to the 2x setup, you can still climb.

This is a good bike. It’s quite light for a fat bike that cost me less than $500. The components are not great. The brakes in particular… they do stop the bike but if I were going to use this thing over time I’d want to replace those with hydraulics. I wouldn’t got down anything too steep + long (like a 1 kilometer
consistent steep descent) with this either, because those brakes feel like they could burn out and leave you helpless. But for just riding around on some local trails, without trying to win a race, they’re okay. And the bike itself performs well. The gears too and shifters are basic, but work. I didn’t need to tune them. They worked out of the box.

I took it on a regular trail that is not frequently ridden by bikes, and overgrown. The bike did well. I went right over a bunch of stuff. The bike performed fine on some basic hills, and roads.

The seat is not comfortable. That will need to be upgraded. Luckily I have some lying around.

The handlebars are… this is always a personal thing, but to me they’re too straight. I’d like to get some a little more swept back.

You can mount a single water bottle to the bike, but not more. That’s a bit lame.

Overall, for the price, I’m happy with the bike. An aluminum fat bike that is less than 40lbs at less than 500 bucks is nice, even though the brakes and gears are only basic.

The manual that it came with was hidden in the seat box. FYI on that. Since I know bikes, I put it together myself without the manual, which was easy enough. (FYI, if you have ever had to take a bike apart to pack it for an airplane trip in a bike bag, then you can assemble this without a manual no problem. You’re just putting the handlebars on, adjusting the stem to true, putting the pedals on and the seat in the seat tube. Really easy.)

(For reference, I ride a lot and have an expensive Canyon Spectral trail MTB and a carbon gravel bike, and then a number of cheaper bikes. I’m not a super expert, but I know what I’m doing. I bought this Juneau mainly because I wanted a fat bike to try riding in the snow in the winter and I’ve heard from friends that they don’t really like fat biking, so I figured I’d buy a cheap one before spending 2k on a “real” one, knowing that if I like it I’ll want a spare for a friend to ride anyway.)

It wasn’t too hard to assemble, but needed some adjustments to make it work properly. I like the frame. It’s rugged but not too heavy. I wore out the smallest sprocket in less than 3 months, and the rear brake pads in less than 6 months, though I ride more aggressively and faster than most people. I got hit by a truck that ran a stop sign, throwing me and my bike to the pavement, but the damage to my bike was all cosmetic, so I was able to straighten my seat and ride it away with no further work.

Fantastic frame and starter components. If you know what your doing you can build a bike worth twice the money for half the price. But as is comfortable and fun.