(BRAIN) — Old School BMXers remain hungry for a piece of their childhood.
On Tuesday, Mongoose, a brand of Pacific Cycle Group (which is part of Dorel Sports), began selling replica editions of the 1983 and 1984 and Mongoose Supergoose and Mongoose California Special bikes. The bikes were sold exclusively on the Mongoose website.
A company representative said that within 24 hours, Mongoose sold through 70% of its inventory of 2,500 bikes. The Supergoose sold for $549 and the California Special was $449.
Mongoose thwarted scalpers and bots by making a limited number of bikes available to each consumer shopping cart. The company also used software to detect and reject bots.
Mongoose built anticipation for the launch with the release of its Dirtvana video campaign and by seeding bikes to its pro athlete team.
The Mongoose bikes were just the latest in recent releases of replica and tribute bikes from BMX's early days:
- In 2019 GT Bicycles (also a Dorel Sports brand) re-issued a GT cruiser model, with frames made by brand founder Gary Turner.
- Last year, Redline, now owned by Alta Cycling Group, worked with brand founder Linn Kasten to bring out a replica RL 20 II Pro Styler freestyle frame.
- Haro Bikes brought out replicas of its 1984 Master and Sport freestyle frames.
- SE Bikes has been offering updated retro-style versions of its classic BMX models for many years.
- American BMX Company has acquired legacy BMX brands including Race Inc., Bottema forks, and Cooks Bros. Racing and is bringing out updated versions of those brands' vintage products.
