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Newish Mezzo folder

Old 11-01-05, 04:56 PM
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Newish Mezzo folder

Here's a link to the Mezzo including a folding video Mezzo
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Old 11-01-05, 05:19 PM
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Plan on adding one to your collection? I would love to see a review of the hinges on this bike.
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Old 11-02-05, 04:28 AM
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Originally Posted by rgilmore
Plan on adding one to your collection? I would love to see a review of the hinges on this bike.
No, not for me I'm afraid! There'll be a full review in the next Velovision
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Old 12-22-05, 08:43 PM
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Just spotted this ... so extremely cool and not surprisingly from the UK... this bike does things no others do ...

https://www.mezzobikes.com/

Great site to, lots of video etc
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Old 12-22-05, 09:05 PM
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More on the Mezzo ... been out a year

https://www.bikebiz.co.uk/daily-news/article.php?id=4688

Friday 24th September 2004

MTB designer Jon Whyte produces folding bike range

The three-bike range was launched at yesterday's opening of London's Cycle 2004 show. Jon Whyte is an ex-Formula 1 designer, famous for the PRST-1 Whyte MTB. Marin importer ATB Sales is producing Whyte's folding bikes under the Mezzo brand name.

Mezzo is Italian for 'half'.

Folding bike afficiandos made a beeline for the Mezzo stand at Cycle 2004.

Jon Whyte said: "I spent eight to nine times more time on the development of this project than the work I did on the Whyte mountain bikes."

The top-end D-9 with folding-bike specific Shimano Capreo shifters costs £645 for the anodised-frame versio. The I-4 Shimano Inter-4 internal hub gear model will retail for £595.
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Old 12-22-05, 09:31 PM
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There was a review of the D9 in the most recent AtoB, which didn't seem too impressed. I'd be interested to read what any forum members think of it. Also, does anyone know if its available in North America?
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Old 12-22-05, 10:07 PM
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Yeah, no suspension and 16" wheels, and no mention of weight anywhere.

For the same money or less you can get <11kg full suspension with a Birdy (Red) or a Dahon Jetstream P8.

Still, the design features are well conceived in my humble opinion.
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Old 12-23-05, 05:37 AM
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There's quite a long review at The Folding Society.

I tried it out and found it fairly good. The ride was better (to me!) than the older Bromptons because of longer reach, but now that the Brompton S is out they both fit me well. The Mezzo had much better brakes & gears than the old Bromptons, but at least the Brompton brakes are good now.. But neither I nor the shop assistant were able to fold the Mezzo - that says something!!!
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Old 08-28-06, 01:29 PM
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Just found this thread in the archive, and rather than starting a new one, thought I'd revive it.

Having bought a Downtube IXFS and loved the bike but been a bit disatisfied with how large/small a 20" bike folds down to - sort of commutable with, but probably not quite the bus/tube solution I'd hoped for.

The only solution was to add v quickly to my folder collection by buying a decent 16" bike (I guess 2 folders isn't too much of an indulgence). I had toyed with persuading Yan to mail over a DT mini to the UK, but in the end decided not to, as the likely postage cost plus VAT and import taxes threatened to turn a $450 bike into a $900 bike. That meant looking closer to home - probably at low-end Bromptons - I was budgetting around £500-£600 max.

Then spotted a Mezzo d9 on Ebay brand new for Buy it Now price of £499 - about £100-£150 cheaper than RRP. Just purchased it, and looking forward to delivery on Wednesday. Certainly looks the part - much more Downtube than Brompton in appearance. Lets hope it lives up to its looks.

Will post first impressions once its in my hands. Anyone else riding one at the moment?
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Old 08-28-06, 02:16 PM
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Any ideas of prices of the i4? As much as I would like to be able to justify it, I figure the D9 would be just too much for me ... at the moment, at least.
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Old 08-28-06, 03:18 PM
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Originally Posted by clonmult
Any ideas of prices of the i4? As much as I would like to be able to justify it, I figure the D9 would be just too much for me ... at the moment, at least.
Interestingly, both retail at about the same price - £600ish
i4 price comparison - https://froogle.google.co.uk/froogle?...ogle&scoring=p
d9 price comparison - https://froogle.google.co.uk/froogle?...Search&show=dd

Rather annoyingly the website spec https://www.mezzobikes.com/downloads.html quotes volume stats but not weight for the bike - so no way of telling if there are any weight advantages in picking the i4 or the d9. But the foldingsoc review linked to above suggests that the d9 at least comes in at slightly less weighty than an SP Brompton. As soon as I get a chance to pedal one around I'll post my thoughts.

Last edited by matt52; 08-28-06 at 03:44 PM.
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Old 08-28-06, 09:52 PM
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I was looking arround the Mezzo web site to see in the specifications what would be the weight of the bicycle. Not even a single reference. I need to go to the Folders' society review to get a figure for the weight of 27 pounds for the lightest bicycle, that of course is very heavy to carry on the sholder to go arround town on public transportation.
The other point I see here is the angled stem. Please structure engineers help me, doesn't this stem work like a bigger lever on the steerer tube when compared with a strait stem and angled at the top?
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Old 08-29-06, 02:14 AM
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Originally Posted by matt52
Interestingly, both retail at about the same price - £600ish
i4 price comparison - https://froogle.google.co.uk/froogle?...ogle&scoring=p
d9 price comparison - https://froogle.google.co.uk/froogle?...Search&show=dd

Rather annoyingly the website spec https://www.mezzobikes.com/downloads.html quotes volume stats but not weight for the bike - so no way of telling if there are any weight advantages in picking the i4 or the d9. But the foldingsoc review linked to above suggests that the d9 at least comes in at slightly less weighty than an SP Brompton. As soon as I get a chance to pedal one around I'll post my thoughts.
Thanks - I've just found some prices as well, and they tally - I would have thought there would have been a slight price difference.

Regardless though, thats about twice the price of the Strida, guess its more in line with comparable folders though?
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Old 08-29-06, 03:41 AM
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Originally Posted by caotropheus
The other point I see here is the angled stem. Please structure engineers help me, doesn't this stem work like a bigger lever on the steerer tube when compared with a strait stem and angled at the top?
It makes no difference.
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Old 08-31-06, 03:47 PM
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Yahay! Got my Mezzo delivered today. Will post pics soonish.

Rode it around the office (I'm one of the bosses, and its only a small bike, so its kind of ok...) and rode it halfway home from work (I took the bus halfway home to test out whether it travelled well in its folded state.

First impressions - this is definitely a well designed, quality bike. Better finish (anodised silver), smoother feel and nicer parts than my Downtube IXFS. But then I guess I'd expect it - the DT cost £200, the Mezzo £500. Initially I was bothered by some nasty creaking around the front stem, which was surprising in what seemed otherwise a well set up bike. But a bit of lube on the folding joint sorted out the source of the problem pretty quickly.

Visually, its stunning. Not quite as jaw dropping as the new Birdys or the Go-Bike (both of which it arguably shares some design concepts with), but definitely much more assertive and aggressive looking than you expect a 16" wheeled bike to get away with...

Riding home, was impressed with the super smooth ride. This feels like a much bigger bike than it actually is. Despite there being a fair few bumps in the road and the Mezzo having no suspension, it just cruised through - in some ways again more pleasant than the DT's suspension bounce. Having said that, the Shiman Capreo gearset is definitely more touchy than the SunSport set on the DT - this is a bike that doesn't tolerate crashing through gears. Having said that, the rather fab tap fire shifter doesn't really let you misbehave, and is a joy compared to the (for me) rather narrow grip shift on the DT. Frame (as you'd expect) is nice and stiff. Only slight quibble is that the handlebar stem seems to flex a bit more than might be ideal (but I guess this is a result of the slightly eccentric offset design of the thing). Gearing also seems a little low - but perhaps I'm just not used to the different feel of riding on 16" wheels.

Folding is fairly straightforward - as the video in Chop's initial post demonstrates - though took a lot of staring at the instruction sheet and practice to get right. Main problems are the need to precisely align pedals with right hand crank pointed horizontally backwards and shift into middle gears before starting to fold, and a tendency for the other side of the front wheel quick release bolt to crash into the derailleur kit as is swings down to lock. But so far only a bit of scratching caused to the Shimano decal and no other damage. Hopefully I'll get better with practice. Overall size when folded is a little bit bigger than a Brompton, but still very manageable and tidy, with everything either clipping into place or lying neatly where intended. When the folding works as you intend (and its happening more often) everything feels just right and clicks into place nicely. And carrying around in folded state is easy and straightforward, using the saddle as a handle.

Unfolding is event easier - provided you remember to raise the seatpost to avoid it preventing the back half of the bike from swinging back into place. The catches are very nicely engineered, ergonimic and super smooth in action. Although the front wheel quick clamping mechanism was a little stiff at first (something that seemed to completely throw the Folding Soc reviewer), after 10 or so folds it is working as smoothly as the rest of the bike.

Am I pleased with my purchase? You bet. An exceptionally nice bike, and one I can see me getting seroius use out of on multimodal commutes both in London and around Cambridge, where my business has just opened an office. And it isn't a Brompton, which helps it stand out from the London folding crowd.

Will I be getting rid of my Downtube? Certainly not. Its kind of hard to describe, but whilst the DT is inferior to the Mezzo in most ways - cheaper kit, larger and cruder fold, plainer finish - it is undoubtedly more fun. When it comes to plought around on a weekend, beating the bike around and then doing it all over again, the DT comes out top. But for the midweek smooth, stylish commute, I think I've found a soulmate.
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Old 08-31-06, 04:33 PM
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First pic - folded I'm afraid. More of the beautiful thing tomorrow.

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