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Gary Fisher – Fast City – Mendota
by Warren T
I’ve been off the Mendota for a couple weeks. Peter T, my 19-year-old son, is back home for the summer and I thought it might be a nice chance to get a fresh perspective on this bike from someone who has ridden a box store bike for his entire life.
Peter and I have taken several rides on the bike path during this last year and I’ve always been out in the lead, looking over my shoulder to make sure I wasn’t out-pacing him too much. When we got on the trail this time, with him on the Mendota, it was a completely different story; he was the one out-pacing me and turning around to make sure I was okay… I checked the data after that ride and we’d bumped up the average MPH for the ~20 mile ride by 4 MPH.
Peter’s review will follow, but I wanted to take another ride on the Mendota after a couple weeks back on my normal ride. My thoughts:
So. Incredibly. Light. I’d forgotten just how light this bike is until I lifted it off the hooks in the garage. Wow! I’d been asked to weigh the bike in an earlier review but my scale at home is a magic scale and it would probably tell us the bike weighs -2 pounds. I just grabbed the scale at work and it indicates this 22.5″ frame version weighs in at 20 pounds (9 kilograms). Note: this cannot be considered an official weight, but I gotta believe it is close.
Durable. Even though the bike is light, it feels incredibly sturdy. I rode it like I’d drive a rental car and it took a pounding and performed like a champ.
Shifting, breaking and pedaling — the key word is smooth.
The Mendota is a beautiful bike and fun to ride. Is it worth the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price of $929.00 U.S.? In my mind it is, and I’m a pretty frugal guy.
One thing I’d like to see is a 25″ frame version; that is what I’m used to riding and that was the one reason I enjoyed getting back on my Trek. Don’t get me wrong, the 22.5 worked well with the seat raised to the proper height, it’s just that those of us who are around 6′6″ might appreciate this ride a little more if it were available in a 25″ frame.
Here are a couple more shots taken in my office.
And Peter’s review:
- A lot faster than my cheap bike. Doesn’t use nearly as much energy to go fast.
- Smooth – A really smooth ride.
- Doesn’t take long to adjust to riding this bike. I didn’t have any stability issues whatsoever.
- Fun
- With how fast it goes and the small amount of energy expended, it is just a really fun bike to ride.
- I would definitely consider purchasing the Mendota.
It’s been a year since I got the Mendota. I only logged 400 miles this year, but I thought I would give an update. The bike in stock form is adequate, but there have been some issues.
The most significant was a persistent shifting problem, that was finally attributed to a bent crank. The tech at my LBS is a moron, he agreed that it was bent, but said it was “not that much out of balance that it should be replaced.” I ended up buying a new crankset and BB from Ebay and what a difference.
Most everyone complains about the pedals, and I am no different. I am more casual, so I went for the MKS Grip King pedals sold by Rivendell. Way Kool!
As for the saddle, I had to go retro and I bought a Brooks Champion Flyer Special and it is AMAZING! If you can’t afford any other upgrade – GET THIS SADDLE!
Other upgrades: SRAM X.9 components (shifters, F&R derailleurs), Schwalbe Marathon Plus 700×35 tires, Avid BB7 brakes, Topeak Rack, Planet Bike Cascadia fenders. I also changed the handlebars to a 25mm riser and it fits me perfectly.
I must say that now, with all the upgrades, the Gary Fisher Mendota is one very nice bike.
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Like the bike, fitted conti travel contact, for trails, and unmade roads. A set of 28mm conti gators, for road. I’ll get some spare rims soon. The brakes are good, just need setting up as per the sram web site. The stock saddle is terrible. I had bontrager race lite saddle but this was too narrow. I finally put on a Belair RL. I have added some Ergon grips with those mini bar ends, cut down the bars about 30mm each side, added some cow horn bar end between the grip and the brakes, and put on cork tape. This gives me about 6 hand postions. I’m about to upgrade to hollow tech bottom braket as I’ve has the creaking noise from the bottom brkt, I weigh about 102kg.
You need to back off pedaling to shift gears. The frame flex and fork flex is a worry. I’m guessing this is why it’s not a good hill climber. I’m looking into Winwood blade forks.
The cable under the frame get pulled with the frame flex, and causes gear changes some times. Needs good setup. Going to look at a different cable route for the re derailer.
I am currently 64 and got a GF Solstice (26″ wheels, hybrid) back in 2003, the most I had ever spent on a bike as of that time. I rode it sporadically for a couple of years but in the Spring of 2006 began riding a 14 mile round trip mostly level paved trail almost daily for fitness purpose (overweight, high blood presure, all that stuff), lost almost 80 lbs, and came off all meds. Anyway, I kept up with riding and last year decided to get a road bike – Trek 1.2. I loved riding that, it took a rack and I was able to use panniers on it to run errands around town. However the shifters were terrible.
This Spring I thought I was being clever and traded the Trek 1.2 for a 2.3. This is a great (for me at least) road bike, but it can’t carry panniers so I am limited in the errands I can do while riding it. I dusted off the old GF Solstice, but after a year on road bikes, it is like pedaling through molasses. Long story cut short, my bike shop is recommending a Mendota as an upgrade from the Solstice. Iknow it is a much more capable bike, but will it it serve as a ‘run around town to go shopping’ bike? Or perhaps more importantly, how much overkill is involved?
Chuck, the Mendota is a great bike for fitness rides, short commuting and light errands, but not as an errand specific bike. I have a Topeak MTX Rack which allows quick interchangeability between a Topeak basket and the Topeak trunk – I find that I use the basket most of the time. Forget panniers as the front end is too light as it is and your front wheel will probably lift too much.
I have crammed some Schwalbe 700×38 Marathon Plus tires on it and it rides better than any bike I have ever owned, but I realize its limitations and I think if I do get the LHT, then I would go to back to the 700×35’s
I still love my Mendota and while I don’t plan on trading it in, I am seriously considering a Surly Long Haul Trucker as an errand specific bike. If you can only have one bike – I would recommend the Surly or perhaps a Raleigh Sojourner – not the Mendota.
I have had my Mendota for 7 months now and it has done a lot of city riding in that time. Apart from a small adjustment to the front disc caliper it has not missed a beat. I have not noticed any problems with the Shimano Deore gears or the Octalink drivetrain – perhaps my 62Kg just does not push hard enough…
The bike is stock except for Shimano SPD pedals and ToPeak rear pannier (I really treat it like a cart horse). After a quick ride on my girlfriends 7.5FX I am very tempted to put 700 x 28/32 slicks on it since these are very noticeably faster. In conclusion: a much better bike for me than the Bad Boy Ultra that I had for a lot less money.
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Cool post I will continue to look out for anymore of your future posts.
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