While hiking with a bunch of fifth-graders last week, my youngest son and I started reciting lines from one of my children’s favorite books. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read this thing aloud over the years — but it sticks with you. Anyway, I was riding to work on the Mendota, thinking about my hands.
The Bontrager Satellite hand grips on this bike are very comfortable. According to Bontrager’s site, the “Ergonomically-placed gel provides all-day comfort.” I know that, in the greater scheme of things, hand grips aren’t the end-all reason for enjoying a bike ride, but I like the feel of these and thought you should know. I wouldn’t go as far as to say “all-day comfort,” rides longer than 30 minutes made me have to shift my grip a few times — but these are great for a typical commute. At $12.50, I’m thinking about getting another set for my Trek.
The shifters took me a couple miles on my maiden voyage to figure out. I’m used to using the thumb on my right hand to down shift (up shift on the left hand) and my right index finger to shift up (down on the left hand). When I first hopped on the Mendota habit made me try to shift the same way; I thought I had my first big complaint. Turns out that with the SRAM SX 5 trigger shifters you use your thumbs for both triggers. Dooh!
The tekTRO brake handles are well placed and easy to get to. I believe the Mendota has the MT 4.0’s. The two finger width on the levers is a nice design; very natural and keeps two fingers on the handle bars.
All in all, a very nice configuration for the hand, hand fingers and thumbs. [“Dum ditty Dum ditty Dum Dum Dum.”]