sleepyrando

Hello!

I'm considering getting a mixte to do some brevets (coz I'm small and the sloping top tube gives me enough SO clearance!). Has anyone (or does anyone know of anyone else who has) done long distances on Mixtes before?

I kindda narrowed my choices down to either the Soma Buena Vista or the Rivendell Betty Foy. I'd love love love to get the BF, but I'm holding back coz I'm not sure if the mixte can really go the distance (PBP here I come!). I mean, I don't know anyone within my small circle of bike friends who have a mixte to begin with, what more going more than 200km in a day on one. The BV would be a cheaper gamble for me to take.

Any kind advise anyone?

Much appreciated!

joewein

While I don't have any first hand experience with either the Soma Buena Vista or the Rivendell Betty Foy, I would definitely recommend something with a handle bar that offers a variety of hand positions, such as drop handles. You won't see many bikes with flat bars at brevets.

When you go much beyond 50 km you'll appreciate the variety of hand positions that drop handles provide, which prevents fatigue and also allows you to adjust your position based on speed and climbing grade.

joewein

Also you mentioned your interest in Mixte bikes is because you are small. We had a thread called "Randonneuring bike for short people here recently.

njkayaker

The only "important" difference is that the mixte frame will likely be a bit heavier. (It's not like you can't use drop bars on it.) Otherwise, there isn't any reason it couldn't work for LD riding.

unterhausen

it's the rider, not the bike. There was a woman on PBP that was interviewing people while riding a crummy hybrid. I think she finished 5 hours faster than me.

Commodus

A mixte is an excellent frame design. No reason at all why one couldn't be a good randonneuring bike.

unterhausen

too bad soma went with the dual mixte tubes, a single tube like the Betty Foy is generally superior

njkayaker

^^^^
Interesting. Why is it superior? The Foy might not be a "true" mixte frame.

unterhausen

heavier and less stiff. On the upside, more stylish. Plenty of classic French mixtes with a single top tube.

njkayaker

It's a "variation". It's not strictly a "mixte". Not that it's better or worse.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Step-through_frame
Sheldon calls it a variation but implies that it's the three sets of rear double stays that characterizes it.
https://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_m.html

It's probably not much heavier if it is heavier.

sleepyrando

Hey guys...thanks for all those replies. Yep, I've read that thread and while I'm not the height of a barbie doll I'm still pretty small at barely 5 feet with an inseam of about 26+ inches (shorter legs, longer torso).

I could resort to riding a Bike Friday or Brompton but I'm not digging those tiny wheels and I doubt I'll ever qualify the brevets in them!

It's an assurance to know that the mixte frames can be suited to LDR...coz that means my options for getting a bike has opened up!

PS. I just saw a child on a mini sized road bike! Maybe I should hunt youth bikes? Or are they really just playthings?

delcrossv

I wouldn't call a Scott 24 a plaything. Not at $700+. Someone else makes a carbon junior IIRC it's a $2k bike. At your size I think it'd be worth investigating.

LWaB

A few years back, I was riding the Elenith 300, a tough 300 in Wales with about 4500m of climb. I kept overtaking a bloke riding a mixte with butterfly bars and a wicker basket on the back rack. He mumbled something a knee (or hip, can't remember) replacement making it difficult to swing a leg over a top tube. No reason not to ride a mixte on brevets.

napoleoninrags

Since your main concern seems to be finding a bike for a shorter person, having you considered other options? For example, Sweetpea Bicycles makes bikes specifically for women's geometry. Also, I understand that Rodriguez Bikes does custom frames for smaller folks and women-specific geometries. I don't about the cost of these, but they would be something to consider.

Goodluck!

EDIT: I assumed you are a woman; forgive me if you are not!

sleepyrando

Yes! I am a woman

The smallest Sweetpea stock bike (looking for stock options before resorting to custom bikes) is half an inch too high for me but its such a nice looking bike!

This has got me wondering...how accurate do we have to be with SO? Like...if my SO is about 26.5" does that mean I need a bike NO HIGHER than that height? Or is it a "thereabouts" estimate?

aggiegrads

Standover has ZERO effect on comfort when you are on the bike. The only time it makes a difference is when you are stopped, or mounting and dismounting. If (while stopped) you can put one foot on the ground and one on the pedal comfortably with your butt of the seat, I wouldn't worry about standover.

I might even go as far as saying that if you get a diamond frame in a stock size with sufficient standover, you will be on a bike that is too small. If you really have a disproportionate leg to torso ratio, then you should be looking at mixte, custom, or dealing with "negative standover".

Standing flat-footed while straddling your bike just isn't something you will be spending much time doing.

njkayaker

Here's how you measure your standover height.

https://www.rivbike.com/kb_results.asp?ID=41

People often think that their standover height is smaller than it actually is. (Some people use their pants inseam as the measurement, which is smaller than actual.)

You want some clearance but (beyond that) standover height is not the most important frame dimension.

(The general rule is you want more clearance for a mountain bike used off road than for a road bike.)

Your pubis measurement has to be greater than the standover measurement indicated for the bike.

Keep in mind that the standover measurement for a bike is at the middle of the top-tube (important to keep in mind if the top tube slopes). For sloping top-tube bikes, you probably want a bit more clearance (the gap between the top-tube and your pubis) than you'd need for a horizontal top-tube bike. This is because you'll often straddle the bike forward (where there is less clearance) of the middle of the top-tube.

You get more clearance wearing shoes (compared to being barefoot). And you get less clearance with wider tires (something to keep in mind if you plan to use 32-35 mm tires).

Italuminium

Over here on ye olde continent, most women I see riding around on the trails with rando/touring bikes seem to rock mixtes, with the most popular domestic choice being the Koga Randonneur.

sleepyrando

I measured my PBH a few times based on the rivendell method and have come up with readings between 27" and 28"!!!

Is this method only accurate for rivendell frames? Or all frames? Suddenly, I feel as though my options for frames has opened up and I can reconsider bikes like the Salsa Vaya (which would be considerably cheaper than a betty foy).

njkayaker

It seems that people often don't try hard enough and get numbers that are less than the actual measurement.

It's a measurement of you. It indicates how tall you are "under there". It applies to all frames.

If the standover height of any bicycle is less than that, then you should be able to straddle the frame.

The classic way to determine whether a bike fits (for standover clearance) is to straddle it and then pick it with both hands (one hand behind and one hand in front of you) up underneath you.

The Vaya 50 cm has a standover height of 698.1 mm. It has a sloped top-tube, which means the standover height is higher in the front.

If 27 inches (685.8 mm) inches is accurate, you won't be able to straddle it.
If 28 inches (711.2 mm) is accurate, you'll barely be able to straddle it (it would still likely be to large).

You need to stand over some hard-to-find bikes.

trescojones

Im building a lugged mixte at the moment for myself out of columbus spirit and zona tubing for audax and randoneurring/all road exploring. Will be completed in a couple of weeks or so. I wanted to see how a mixte out of high end contemporary materials (nicer than manufacturer spec) would ride. Length is the critical thing, standover height wont kill your back/shoulders/make the bike handle badly

knobster

My wife has the Soma frame but hasn't built it up yet. The one thing I noticed that would make it less than ideal is there is only one water bottle cage mount. So you'd need to either carry something like a camelback or bottles in a tail bag.

sleepyrando

Embarrassing! I feel like Chicken Little

So even if I take the highest possible at 28inches (barefeet), I still won't be able to clear the Vaya on 650b wheels?

It's so frustrating (I'm sure you hear alot of short people with this rant) that I have to order blind as there are no test bikes out there for shorties like us

napoleoninrags

Hey sleepyrando, since you aspire to ride the PBP one day, have you contacted your local rando/audax club and asked around? If I were you, I would start with contacting the local rando club and asking as many people as possible (better if they have an online forum for the club) to find out what bike shop they use to build their bikes. I would then go to that shop and describe the predicament. If the shop is pretty good, they would have an adjustable fit bike that is used to determine your fit - frame size, reach etc. Once they know your measurements, they should be able to find a frame, perhaps with 650b wheels, that would fit you, mixte or otherwise.

When I straddle my rando bike, I barely clear the top tube when standing in my shoes. Unless you are a fairly new cyclist, you shouldn't be too concerned about the standover height as long as you can clear it without any pressure on the body while standing in your shoes.

sleepyrando

Well, we had an audax club but I think it's gone defunct recently as the guy running it left the country. Bike makers here are not very good with randos/tourers as most of their customers are a share of competitive roadies and leisure weekend riders. Hence my rationale that I should get a reliable stock frame then add the components locally instead of going custom straight off.

When I ride my friends' larger bikes, I usually just tilt the bike when I come to a standstill on it. Either that, or I look for a raised pavement to step onto. A bit awkward but it works! I was advised that after riding 100km, I might be too tired to remember to tilt the bike when doing an emergency stop and as a result injure myself in an area that doesn't heal quickly.

My own bike is a foldable...which automatically gives it a very low stand over. I love it to bits...but it doesn't "ride well" beyond 80km at a stretch.