Cosmic Mondo Alloy 21SP (2016): ChooseMyBicycle.com Expert Review

The alloy frame is stiff yet comfortable, I did have a few problems intially as the frame in the beginning tends to be a little too stiff and draggy, but after riding a couple of kilometers at the right gear ratios I felt very comfortable even with the slightly heavy frame. As always with an MTB, these bicycles are not meant for speed, I did tire my legs out initailly as i really tried to push the Mondo to its pushable limits. I did realise it is a little quicker than many of the other MTB’s I have ridden. Like I’ve said earlier, the frame is just at the right stiffness to give you an overall comfortable ride. In terms of fit and comfort, I felt pretty good on the saddle, the riding position was nice and tall, you sit nice and upright and you can easily get up and down while traversing through the many bumps and potholes that our roads have to throw at us. Even me being 6 feet tall, I felt much more comfortable riding this bicycle than i have felt with other entry level MTBs. This bicycle would be perfect for someone between the height of 5feet 4inches to 6 feet.

The Cosmic Mondo 21speed comes in four colours, named as special edition colours, the bicycle is available in a combination black/blue, black/green, black/red and black/yellow. While all the four colours were pretty striking, I got to test ride what I think was the most striking of them all, the black and neon green Cosmic Mondo. The moment I laid eyes on the bicycle i was superbly pleased with the colour combinations as well as the electric Neon green cables, these small touches really make the Mondo come to life. I think a lot of people will just fall for the way the bicycle looks. With 26 inch Wanda tires coupled with a fat downtube and overall chunky frame, the Cosmic Mondo looks very stylish and macho.

The Cosmic Mondo comes with Shimano EF51 shifters, the front and rear derailleur are both from the Shimano Tourney family namely TTY10 for the former and TZ50 for the latter. These are typically market standard in entry level MTB’s. While riding I felt on lower gears while the cadence was extremely high i felt I was putting in much more effort than what is normally required. If you ever think of starting off on highers gears I would definitely not advise you to do so, because you’re legs will be drained by the time you reach optimal speed. While riding for over an hour I really understood the bicycle and took my times between gears, gradually shifting from the lower gears to the higer gears and in no time I was flying through traffic. The Shimano EF51 shifters are extremely responsive and easy to use but I did feel at times when I wanted to shift gears the entire process took me a few pedals for the chain to shift to the new subsequent gear, this mostly happened on upshifts and was very minimal during downshifts.

The Cosmic Mondo comes equipped with standard front and back mechanical disc brakes. The brake levers are nice and chunky shimano EF51s. The disc brakes do their job very effectively giving you very good stopping power while not being too senstive, a feature that is definitely required in MTBs. As you cut through bumps, gravel and dirt you dont want hyper sensitive brakes, as you’d like to have as much control of the bicycle as possible. The wide handle-bar gives you an excellent riding position and as you can hold the bars relatively wide,this makes steering this MTB a breeze. An additional bonus are the soft grips on the handle-bar which absorbs a bit of the shock as you pummel bad roads and pavements.

Chunky, grippy and solid 26 Inch Wanda tires are nothing but a pure advantage on the Cosmic Mondo, coupled with the front suspension the Cosmic mondo gives you an extermely comforatble ride even on harsh roads. While this is christned as an Entry level MTB, I took the mondo onto much harsher terrain and actually struggled quite a bit to control the bicycle. While the front suspension was hard at work the tires tend to lose grip easily over larger potholes and slightly sandier roads.

The overall ride quality is excellent on the cosmic mondo. Though the frame is a little heavy and stiff, if you get the gearing right and take it from low to high you’ll be hitting top speed in no time. Overall a very comfortable ride.