Got the GF Mendota today. Wow, what a great bike! Question about rear derailer shifting... Is it 'normal' to shift the rear and not have the gear change sometimes? This one is bad when going into the higher gears like the 4 smallest. Sometimes you shift and nothing happens. Then shift again and it'll drop 1 or 2 gears. The same thing happened on my previous bike which had an inferior gear set compared to this one, so I kinda figured it was just cheaper derailers and such. Now I don't know. The Mendota has a Shimano M662 SLX derailer, so it should be decent stuff, no?

The bike will obviously be going back for a 'tune up' after I've ridden it a month or two and maybe it will get rectified then, but I thought it odd that a brand new quality bike exhibited the problem. Nothing I can't live with. I'd just like to know what to expect

If you are pedaling and it's not shifting then I would take it back to the shop and ask what's up with that. I've got a less expensive Trek and it doesn't do that.

Its not normal, it just needs a derailleur adjustment. My LBS will do derailleur adjustments free for the lifetime of a bike along with a 1 free full maintenance tune up, you should check if yours does the same. Even if they dont offer this at your LBS they should at the very least do this on a brand new bike. This is one of the benefits of buying at your LBS over Walmart, etc.

I get the free tune up, but as far as I know that is all. As long as I know it's not normal and expected, I will take it back to them and have them check it.

Sounds like this is a new bike so the LBS should make this adjustment for you for free. They should have done it right from the git go but things happen. It is not part of the free 200 mile (or whatever) tune up, it is part of the delivery process and you have already paid them to have that done correctly.

Ken

Take it back, and take it back again if you need to. There is NO reason a brand new bike shouldn't shift one gear for every click of the shifter. None.

Plan to call them Friday and arrange to get it back to them. Hopefully, they can either tweak it while I'm there or have it done by Saturday. I can't not ride more than one day

You may just need to adjust the cable length. Just a quarter turn of the barrel adjuster at the lever or the one at the derailleur might do the trick (actually changing the effective cable housing length but with the same result, longer housing = shorter cable and vice versa). Might save you a trip to the shop and improve your ride sooner. If the derailleur is hesitant to go into a bigger gear (smaller cog) turn barrel adjuster counter clockwise. If shifting to an easier gear is problematic, try turning clockwise. If this doesn't help, it's easy to turn them back to where they are now.

Congrats on the new bike!

Thanks for the tip. I may play with that a bit depending on what they tell me about bringing it in and how long it will take, etc.

I was playing with it some more today and what it seems to be doing is when I start on the largest rear gear and shift, nothing happens. Shift again and it drops 2 gears. Sometimes 1, but most times 2. Shift again and nothing happens. Shift again and it drops 2 gears. So, in a nutshell it seems to be shifting every other shift and dropping 2 gears at a time. When I start shifting from smaller to bigger, the first shift does nothing. Then every subsequent shift pretty much changes by the proper 1 gear. Does that still sound like something adjusting the cable might help? I'm pretty naive in bicycle mechanics, so I don't have a clue.

Im not an expert, but sound like something a 5 minute derailleur adjustment will fix.

Try 1/4 turn of the barrel adjuster counterclockwise. If that doesn't do it, maybe another 1/4 turn. If it doesn't help you can always turn it back to where it is now.

I'll give it a go tomorrow!

Fantastic! I never would have imagined that simply adjusting the cable slack would have cured the whole thing, but it did. Kudos qmsdc15! Thank you so much!

Glad I could help. Enjoy the ride!

Brand new bikes have this problem where all the components will stretch a bit in the first few hundred miles ... this is normal and needs a tune-up every now and then to readjust untill the components are broken in and after that it shouldn't happen anymore ... at least not for a long time.
A properly adjusted derailleur should always shift perfectly ... a lot depends on the quality of the cables, cable housings and shifters though ... and the cleanness of it all.