Is your MTB too heavy? Probably not

Look familiar? We torture tested this Walmart Mongoose back in October, and since then I’ve made a few little improvements. Even the front wheel is straight now, thanks to the highly malleable nature of steel rims. And no, that is not a Rockshox suspension fork.

The reason I busted out the Walgoose is so we can do an experiment on weight. I get a lot of comments from people who think their bike is too heavy. For example, they’ll say, “I’m trying to wheelie, but I can’t lift the front wheel because my bike is too heavy.” I’m going to take a wild guess and say they’re not talking about a beautiful downhill bike with a double crown fork. No, more likely these individuals are riding something similar to this Walgoose. While they probably could benefit from a nicer bike, I’m not so sure it’s the weight that’s preventing them from improving.

At 34 pounds, the Walgoose is only about 2 pounds heavier than my full suspension. To do a proper test, we need to get it a little closer to 40 pounds, to match the weight of the beastliest department store bikes. My idea is to pack the handlebars, seatpost, and seat tube with paver base. To prevent the sand from getting into the bottom bracket, I’m using a carefully measured piece of terrycloth, precisely rammed into the seat tube with a calibrated broomstick. As you can see, this is not an exact science.

I’m also adding this water bottle, since it doesn’t really throw the bike off balance. After all this the total weight is just under 39 pounds. I expected more to be honest, but this is still very heavy for a small trail bike. We’re still well within downhill bike territory, but this is not that. Let’s take the Walgoose out to the streets and see how it performs.

Well, not much has changed since the last time I rode this bike. It feels like a Walgoose. Of course, it’s no problem for me to wheelie this bike, and even get up into a manual, although I can’t really balance for long. I was even able to bunny hop it on to this trailer first shot. As expected, bike handling has a lot more to do with technique than weight does.

Also, when we’re talking about bike handling it’s important to compare the weight of the bike to the weight of the rider.

Based on this, the Walgoose weighs about 25% what I do. For a 200 pound rider, a 50 pound bike would hinder them in a similar way. If you weigh 100 pounds, a 25 pound bike would be similarly difficult to manage.

So based on this test, a bike 25% of your body weight isn’t going to outright stop you from doing anything. You probably won’t be winning any races, but it will most certainly not prevent you from doing wheelies or bunnyhops.

This test was interesting but I want to have some more fun. Time to get creative.

I’m pretty sure that pumping the tires full of water would make this bike prohibitively heavy. I figured I could submerge the base of this bike pump in water to do this, but I was wrong. The entire thing needs to be underwater for it to work so I can’t just use a container in my yard.

It’s over 90 degrees today, so this is actually a nice break after throwing this heavy bike around. The show must go on though.

Let’s do another weigh in and take this piece of crap for a ride. At 48.5 pounds, or 22 kilograms, the Walgoose now weighs 1/3 what I do. That’s significantly more than the Ebike I tested last week, and well within the realm of the heaviest downhill bikes. This time, we’re gonna set out by car. Something tells me that I’m not going to be riding this bike home.

Very surprisingly, these tires don’t feel all that much different filled with water—that is until you try to accelerate or lift the front end. I can barely wheelie this bike now, and manuals are hopeless. It’s a known fact that the weight of your wheels, or spinning weight, has a much bigger impact on performance relative to frame weight. Since the weight we added is in the wheels, it’s particularly effective in making this bike feel sluggish. Still, I can get the front end up.

360’s anyone? Not on this bike, not here. I would need a much bigger jump for this, and even then I’m not sure what the outcome would be. After bending the rear wheel, and bending it back, I decided to scale back on my ambition and try a 180. Well, that’s the end of our test. This time it’s not going to bend back.

Turn on closed caption (CC) to see the rest of the transcript. YouTube doesn't allow it to be longer than this!

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[CanIHasThisName]

Carefully measured cloth precisely rammed into the seat tube with a calibrated broom stick.

That's some bike maintenance gold right there :)

[ajbulan]

Carrying my bike is like carrying a conversation with my crush.

[chyu]

Me: My bike is too heavy, I cant lift it.

Seth: Probably not.

[MartinAston]

“Wal-Goose” 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Kinda sad though.... Mongoose used to be a legit BMX brand.... surprised they now sell Wal Mart bikes

[GarryNichols]

This turned out to be an amazing demonstration, thank you! The reason the tires deformed is because water is NOT compressible. Air is however and can absorb and disperse that energy. At first I was little surprised to see that happen but considering its full of water not unexpected once you think about it.

[Ryan_Chang]

Dang it’s been 3 years. I’ve probably watched this like a million times, when I started watching you I was a beginner, all your vids had inspired me to be a better rider and that it’s not the bike it the rider

[SkillsWithPhil]

Easily one of your most funny and informative videos!

[MrCaiofern]

lol, this video should be included in MTB History. It is a Classic. Thanks for that.

[klbakii]

"I can't wheelie" trying to wheelie on 5th gear

[m.perfekt]

I laughed so hard when the back wheel turned to play-doh! It just straight up gave up on life and turned into a pringle :-D

[Leo_Inclan]

When this video came out, I was riding a mongoose hardtail and I remember feeling motivated to work hard at it.
I'm still not great at manuals or wheelies, but I can bunnyhop decently and I've hit some pretty decent drops over the years. I now ride a full enduro beast of a bike and I can´t thank my mongoose enough for all that learning.
Sadly, my heavily upgraded mongoose was stolen last year, but it did what it was meant to. It got me into real mountainbiking.

[mattbonaccio]

Jeez, Seth's just crankin' out the videos! Thanks man, love watching your stuff!

[DYLLY]

2:17 the girl to the right of seth lmao😂😂

[jabird]

"Precise piece of terry cloth, rammed in with a calibrated broomstick" best thing i've heard all day

[joebailey]

The "calibrated broomstick". Comedy gold Seth.

[PedroCruz-yhcs]

That was one of the most motivating MTB videos I've ever seen 👍

[hitjuulsnotkids]

At age 10, I weigh 60lbs. I ride a 30lb hardtail, and I can wheelie no problem. I can’t hold one very long (maybe 4 or 5 seconds) but getting one up is simple. Practice is soooo much more important than your bike.

[thomasduffyjr]

God. 5 years later this is still one of my favorite Seth vids.

[astom]

Thanks for making this video. The humor value was great and it was also very informative. Keep up the great work!

[Zephyrr]

"Before it goes we need to remove anything of value" - Seth. Take off the bottle with concrete in it "there we go"