Need help with valuing 1988 Mongoose John Tomac Signature

[GeoNOregon]

A friend of mine committed suicide last Fall and I took care of the estate for his family since they are all on the East coast of the US, and I am in Oregon, on the West coast. The family gave me a number of items for helping and one item is this 1988 Mongoose John Tomac Signature mountain bike.

I can only ride bikes sparingly due to nerve damage in my R shoulder and arm, so I need to decide if I should keep this bike, or sell it and buy a recumbent, which I can ride.

I've taken pictures of the labels and components, I was hoping someone could tell me how much of this bike is stock and perhaps give me an idea of what it may be worth.

I didn't take pics of the derailleurs or brakes as they are all Deore XT, and from what I have found on the Internet about this bike, those are the std components.

Both the frame and fork are labeled as Prestige CR-MO.

The tire, front and rear are brand new Bontrager Connection B's. Oh, yeah, I've never seen tube valves like these. Luckily there was a hand pump I could use to inflate the tires. Can I get an adapter for fill valve so I can fill them with my air compressor? My back and shoulder shouldn't be pumping a hand pump. What are these type of valves called?

The seat is also a Bontrager. Could someone explain the function of the spring on the seat post. It seems to me if it provided 'seat suspension', it would be necessary to allow the seat post to move in the frame, and that spring isn't big enough to hold up any weight. It's function is confusing to me.

I do know he replaced the head post(? correct term?) with the a dimension since there is still a price tag on it.

Regarding the handle bar, I can't tell if it's a replacement, but it seems the purple bar extension are an add-on.

The crank gears are Shimano BioPace, 46, 36, 26 sprockets.

Keep in mind I will thoroughly service the bike and clean it/polish it up if keep it or sell it, so don't hold the dirty condition against it's value. There's nothing broken that I can find; everything works fine, the frame isn't bent or damaged anywhere. There is a couple of rusty socket head bolts I'll replace with SS or alum, depending on their purpose.

Any help, info will be greatly appreciated. If I need to post any more pics or info, just let me know.

Thanks, in advance.

GeoD

 

[ti_pin_man]

hi there GeoD,

A few frames were marketed as john tomac signature and the like, I dont think this is one of the expensive ones to be honest but somebody who knows the mongoose/tomac stuff will be along shortly to confirm I am sure. The guys/gals oin here are like that. It might be worth also putting this into the 'how much ... ' thread over here.

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=78

The 'spring' is a hite right and was an after market spring that let riders drop their seatposts when they came to steep downhills, then they could amend the post back to the original position quickly and accurately after the descent. Again not massively expensive then or now but I have seen people looking for them.

Goood luck.

 

[GeoNOregon]

Hey Joe,

Thanks for the quick reply. I didn't think it was that expensive. I read a thread on here, I believe, about the same era of signature model with a titanium frame, those were probably spendy in their day. That was kinda early in the 'main stream' titanium products. I grew up in a small town in Oregon and ~15 miles away was a metalurgical 'town' where some of the early titanium work was done.

My cousin's husband was a machinist and got into titanium work as soon as he could. He and I were good friends and he kept me abreast of titanium's move into the non-aerospace world. He made one of the first sets of hemi pistons for Shirley Muldowney, a top fuel driver in 1982-83, something like that.

My friend whose Mongoose this is, waited until his second bike before he went big; he also had a $8,000 carbon fiber, elec shifting 18 speed road bike.

That's an interesting idea on the Hite Right. If I understood you, it's basically a way of 'saving' the normal seat height, allowing quick adjustments for terrain. Clever. I knew it COULDN'T be a suspension device... LOL

Thanks, again..

GeoD

 

[raidan73]

Re:

Hi GeoD,

Sorry to hear about your friend.

I'm no Mongoose expert but there's a little more information in this thread over on MTBR http://forums.mtbr.com/vintage-retro-cl ... 46013.html

Looks like it was $1200 in '88 so not exactly cheap!!

How do you feel about sticking around and restoring it yourself? You'll get plenty of help and encouragement here and perhaps it would be a nice tribute to your friend

 

[GeoNOregon]

Re:

Yep, 1200 is nothing to sneeze at.. more than I expected.

As far as restoring it, I'd love to be able to ride it after restoring it. That would mean I no longer have a progressively degenerating spine problem pinching the nerve roots for both shoulders & arms.

Because of the forward leaning position of a bike, my neck and shoulders get pounded when I ride; I can ride a bike for short distances occasionally, but that's about it. Any more riding than that will necessitate a recumbent and they aren't cheap, either.

The bike's in good condition, it's just been sitting in a storage unit for 12+ years in a wet climate, not unlike the UK. It was well lubricated and maintained, my friend was a very accomplished amateur bike mechanic. He fixed bikes for all of his friends and their families - he had a nice collection of professional bike repair tools. He was an engineer and owned an optical alignment company. He worked at paper mills and big printing companies, the kind that print newspapers and stuff like that. He aligned the rollers and feed equipment.

More than anything, it needs cleaning, polishing of the aluminum, perhaps some paint touch up. I've got all the equipment to easily do the cosmetic stuff, and I can repair anything it might need, I've been building bikes for myself since I was a kid, (I'm 60), and built bikes for both my kids, and numerous nieces and nephews. I just haven't done anything significant in the bike world since the mid 80's when I built myself a road bike based on a high end French frame I got for some money I was owed.

Can't remember the name, I just remember a friend of mine, who owned a bike shop, calling me names because I got an $800-900 frame and crank assy for a $50 debt.

It got me through grad school and back and forth to work for 4-5 years before I had to stop riding.

If they were 1200 new. Suppose it's worth $400-500 if I get it in top condition, all sparkly and shiny? Was it a good bike in it's day or more of a marketing scheme using Tomac's name?

Later,

GeoD

 

[raidan73]

Re:

If you visit the Mombat Mongoose History page there is a review which sings it's praises and suggests it was one of the bikes that paved the way for the racier geometry of later bikes.

http://mombat.org/MOMBAT/BikeHistoryPages/Mongoose.html

It does sound like it has the exact opposite geometry to what you would be looking for in a bike taking your condition into account. It might be fun for you to restore it though before moving it on to someone who could ride it in the way it was meant to be ridden? Otherwise I guess ebay is your best bet; start it at 99 cents with a decent description, plenty of photo's and offer to ship it and I'm sure it will find it's value.

 

[GeoNOregon]

Thanks, the Mombat info is good stuff.