bicyclridr4life

beats walking.

ThermionicScott 

It's worth noting -- just for the completeness of this thread -- that mixtes were originally designed to be unisex bikes, and only after a while did their marketing turn predominantly toward women.

Velocivixen

Here's a pink Mixte for you. Has everything a bike connoisseur would disdain - steel rims, auxiliary levers, chrome spoke protector, all original reflectors, stem shifters, as well as an older style saddle mount. It's an original condition 1977 Schwinn Le Tour II in "Violet". I will ride it soon - even in the rain.



I've ve seen a few gents in "Utili-kilts" & know of one who wears one as a custom when he participates in the Portland to Coast race! On the right guy, they can look good. I think in real life he rides a recumbent (not in a kilt).

Sixty Fiver

For city riding a step through frame makes a great deal of sense... dismounting and bailing out are much easier and less dangerous.

Sixty Fiver

Riding my recumbent in my kilt would give people more than they were asking for... it works great for my Raleigh 20 and have also worn them on standard bikes with no issues.

brianinc-ville

Sure, ride what you like. There's only one practical concern I can think of: I've seen a lot of step-through frames where the seat tube has bent toward the rear of the bike where it joins the top tube (or upper down tube, if you prefer). If you're planning to put a lot of weight on it (cargo or rider), you might be better off with a diamond-frame bike.

Number_6

I rode a 5-speed burgundy women's Nishiki for the first part of my college career, I reckon it was the best bike I'd owned up to that time (that was almost 25 years ago and I was around 30). I needed one, and a friend gave me hers since she never rode it. The Sun Tour VGT ratchet shifting derailleur was much appreciated, and it was not heavy. The frame was too small (I'm 6'5") but it served me well for my level 10 block ride to the U. of Ky. and for the errands I had to run, since I was carless at the time. I wish I'd not tossed it now.

If it's a good quality bike and the price is free or a steal. I'd grab a ladies model again..

RunForTheHills

After I am done with my Raleigh, I plan to buy and build a Mixte for my wife to ride. I think I will have to put an IGH on it. She has an 18 speed mountain bike right now that has been in the garage for more than 15 years. She says she doesn't ever remember riding it and doesn't know how to shift gears. She did ride it though. When my daughter was younger, I had a trailer I put her in and we went on a few family bike rides.

-holiday76

i ride this womens bike

Uncle Randy

$225 for that clunker? Put the cash into that Guerciotti you got for free.

icepick_trotsky 

Clearly you're not as seduced by the siren song of the filet braze as I am, @Uncle Randy. It started at $250, so maybe he/she will come to his/her senses over the course of the winter.

And don't worry, I plan to sink plenty of $$$ into the Guerc.

Uncle Randy

You'll find something better than that step-through. Seller's name is Steve and he lives close to the Botanical Gardens. Steve may be offended if you call him a he/she.

zandoval 

Male or Female the most enjoyable neighborhood bike in our house is a Franken step through Ted Williams...

We all love it and it has well earned its place in our stable,,,

Ramona_W

Still makes me laugh that the Splendid Splinter's name was on bikes and all those other sporting goods at Sears. Are there any pix extant of him on or even near a bike?

zandoval 

Not that I have seen... Odd that American Icons of Ted and Sears had to replace most likely the labels of Austro-Daimler for marketing a bicycle made in a country literally sitting on the front porch of the cold war...

Its not a Girls bike, its a Step Through... Of course, if I ever have to ride it in a skirt it will be most convenient...

Ramona_W

Kilts. See the earlier discussion.

Uncle Randy

@icepick_trotsky, did you see this Peugeot mixte for $75?



Peugeot bicycle

eisnic

Nice to see an old PX10. I had three of those back in the 70's, and the second of them would have been considered to have 'WSD' geometry as it had quite a short cockpit. Interesting also to see it juxtaposed with that Litespeed Bella. I've been trying to find one of those for a few years. As a very short guy who has gotten alarmingly shorter with age I have no reservations about riding a women's bike. I only hope to be able to find one worth riding. That Bella, like the late lamented Lemond WSD bikes, had effective and proper geometry. Sadly, those former WSD standards have largely been abandoned by manufacturers who will no longer make short cockpit bikes that can steer. Rather, they drop the head angle to decrease toe-over contact with the front wheel. My second Peugeot had that problem -- if you want to call it a problem -- though nobody in the racing world would have thought so. Tort Lawyers have different and highly profitable view of the matter though, and that's why we no longer see short-coupled, highly efficient frames that steer properly. Instead we see short cockpit pseudo-WSD bikes with such low head angles that they steer wretchedly, making them dangerous in anything approaching a high speed turn.

So, to answer the question: yes! I'd gladly ride a 'women's' bike, which is simply to say I'd ride a bike appropriate for a short physique -- if I could find one. The only caveat is that it be properly designed. Such bikes are exceedingly rare, and nobody -- not Litespeed nor even Georgina Terry, is making them any longer.

79pmooney

oddjob, you might consider changing the shifters to any other system. That stem shifter is OK for women, but you should think long and hard about the potential consequences of say hitting an opening car door as a male. I met someone who had his sex life ended by those shifters 35 years ago.

Ben

clubman 

C'mon Uncle Randy...look at the front end!

mountaindave 

I little cold setting back in place and you're good to go!

oddjob2

[QUOTE=eisnic;17407324]Nice to see an old PX10. I had three of those back in the 70's, and the second of them would have been considered to have 'WSD' geometry as it had quite a short cockpit. /QUOTE]

Beisdes the bent fork, it is UO-8 mixte, I forget the exact model designation, but not a PX10.

eisnic

Quite so. Sorry, I should have been clearer -- I don't jump into online discussions often, and I thought my comments would appear in obvious relation to the particular entry to which I thought I was responding, but I guess I was just joining the general thread. I had clicked to reply to gioscinelli's entry way up thread in October, where they included three photos, one being a PX10. Anyway, this gave me good reason to read through all the thread. Some pretty funny stuff.

I appreciate the point made that mixte's were originally considered unisex. When I worked a shop floor in the early 80's there were lots of mixte frames available, including a nice, cheap, flatbar Nishiki model called the Olympic. Sold lots of them and thought them quite superior to squishy step-throughs. Having said that, as one of the smallest kids in the neighborhood I would not have learned to ride a bike when I did were it not for borrowable girl's step-throughs.

Aside from a handful of rigid frame MTB's I now have four older, fairly good steel bikes: two Cramerottis, a Marinoni, and a Miele (Canada, eh?). I was told these were custom made for the rather short women from whom I bought them. All have quite reasonable performance characteristics because the builder didn't lower the head angle, or did so minimally without ruining the steering response. One in particular of these, a Cramerotti Tour d', has been a bit of a revelation as the closest thing to a proper fit that I've ever ridden. So, not only would I ride a 'girl's' bike, that's all I do ride now. And I wish for the sake of all smaller riders regardless of gender that short cockpit, performance-oriented frames were commonly available.

mooncountry

My "starter bike" that I bought last fall is a mid-80's Nishiki mixte -- a Riviera. I actually like it a lot, though I think it's lower-level Tange cro-moly and lower-end SunTour components. I love the way it rides and the way it looks, but I keep my bikes inside and up 3 flights of spiral stairs, and a diamond frame makes it infinitely easier to haul bikes up and down stairs. I also just found an '87 Trek Elance (feat. horizontal top tube) for the same I paid for the Nishiki, so I think it's going to take priority as my around-town ride.

Velocivixen

@mooncountry - my Mixte is also a Riviera - a 1985 and was all original. Do you know what year yours is?