Comments on: Gary Fisher – Fast City – Mendota

By: Warren T

Warren T — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 22:25:07 +0000

Just checking in. The Mendota is still riding great. Like many other comments above, I did finally replace the pedals, but that’s been the only thing I’ve had to fix or repair. Keep riding everyone.

By: James

James — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 18:43:09 +0000

I have a 2010 Mendota, been commuting on it for 10 months and I love it. It has turned into the do-it-all bike for me, I haven’t ridden my road bike very much since getting this. I had the shop perform their 100-mile standard tune up back in my first month of ownership and am coming up on it’s annual service… nothing out of adjustment just taking it in for a “wellness check”.

My wife really likes the Mendota as well, we are in early stages of looking for one for her… maybe a 2011 leftover (if we can find one) or a new 2012. She considered the 7.3 FX Disc but just liked the brakes and gearing/shifting better on the Mendota. It’s a really good kept secret, this segment fits us well for commuting, recreational and fitness riding in comfort.

I mostly either commute 15 miles each way or do 25 mile fitness rides but have started to work in some longer weekend rides, the longest has been a 60 mile solo ride but will be doing more soon.

My mods are: Ergon grips, lights, computer, fenders (mostly for winter), horn, rear topeak rack with 2 mtx trunk bags, 2 bottle cages and mountain bike spd pedals.

Ride safe!

James

By: John Fondinson

John Fondinson — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 02:26:03 +0000

I guess from the dates of these posts old Mendonta riders don’t die they just fade away. I hope a lot of the problems others have experienced in past few years have been cleared up by Trek. Even though dated, great reviews and lots of great info about the Memdota. Thanks. Oh. Got a new one one the way in five days.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:22:02 +0000

Hi there, I dont know if I am writing in a proper board but I have got a problem with activation, link i receive in email is not working…

By: Matthew Weinle

Matthew Weinle — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:35:50 +0000

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.

By: Don Flowers

Don Flowers — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 14:33:14 +0000

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.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 02:18:44 +0000

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?

By: Allen

Allen — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:16:57 +0000

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.

By: Don

Don — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 18:19:07 +0000

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.

By: gary fisher city

gary fisher city — Thu, 29 May 2008 03:14:14 +0000

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