Poor man's 650b mixte: Use a bunch of weird parts
 

Picked this up. It's the heaviest thing I have (even heavier than all my mountain bikes) but the fat 26X1.5 tires make this cushy. These are "as is" photos. Can anyone tell me about:
the crank (Sugino LP): Are these touring cranks and are they fairly new?
brakes/lever (Dia Compe MX?) These look like they're for BMX's.
shifters (Suntour thumbies?) Are these part of a particular group?
wheels(Maillard 500 on Mistral and Winkel rims) Never heard anything about these brands except the legendar Maillard Helicromatic.

They aren't original but they are eclectic and an unsual mix.
By the way, is it safe to use brakes that have so much reach? I feel like I can put fenders for fenders on this thing.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6123/...16467a6b_z.jpg
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6171/...29e1fed3_z.jpg
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6155/...6a893ee1_z.jpg
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6180/...e178ca52_z.jpg
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6180/...053cd945_z.jpg

That *is* an odd "gruppo" and I think you're right about it coming from a touring bike. That's certainly a half-step plus bailout setup on the cranks. Can you provide a tooth count for me, and on the freewheel?

The Maillard 500 is a quite a good hub. What are the rims like?

I'll try to get an accurate tooth count tomorrow when there's daylight. Rear freewheel is a pretty wide 6 though which the Falcon derailleur seems to be handling. Need to find some more elegant bars though.

The rims are Minstral(front) and Winkel(rear). Both hubs are Maillard 500 sealed mechanism hubs though. I thought they were cheap rims but they are aluminum with eyelets and stainless(?) spokes. Pretty nice.

It seems to have more BMX and Touring characteristics than road.

Crank is a 48-44-28 while the freewheel is a six speed 15-32. Looks to be a Suntour unit.

Also I found that the shifters are Suntour XC and both wheels are Mistrals. It's also got some Schwinn Paramount character.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6174/...c3e5e48d_z.jpg
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6153/...4e7940bf_z.jpg
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6171/...53bf5386_z.jpg
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6151/...0c9c6e32_z.jpg
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6153/...9d1a4585_z.jpg
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6172/...36167f6d_z.jpg

Schwinn put the paramount Label on EVERYTHING in the late 80's

Should make the bike quicker.

I think it's pretty cool.

Wow! Bride of Frankenbike for sure ;)
I'm thinking the original mixte was built for 27" wheels. I used those brakes on a couple of different BMX cruisers back in the late 70s, they are better then nothing...
if it were mine, I'd throw on some 700C wheels, fenders, and some Northroad bars, and call it good.

Cheers,
Chris

Fitting them on to see how they look. The bike is beginning to grow on me. Next step, find some fenders and handlebars.
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6169/...fab5c4a4_z.jpg
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6016/...c8aa61d4_z.jpg

Sugino LP cranks date from the mid-80s and are a lower-budget alternative to the "Mighty Tour" crank. The arms are "melt-forged" (i.e. "cast") rather than cold forged like the Mighty Tour but I've had a set on my commuter bike for over 20 years with no problems.

Finally some dependable information on the cranks. Velobase didn't have them and there wasn't much online. I suppose they match the "budget" theme of the bike bike.

Nice shifters. I have a few pairs of those. Should last forever.

Ummm, those racks are probably getting old and fatigued by now. Send them to me for safe disposal... :innocent:

Cool Frankenbike!

Very cool project! To be honest though it almost looked like a bmx bike the way you had it setup with the 650b and the saddle tilt...

The handlebars don't help at all. I wish I could start tinkering with it but I don't even have an adjustable wrench anymore!

Came off someone else's fixie. Maybe hipsters can be good for something.