Hmmm... so the consensus so far is that... there's no consensus. This doesn't really surprise me. I mean, I know I have to make the final decision here.

The thing about buying a mixte on CL and changing it around is that I don’t even know enough about bikes to feel comfortable with that. Will any mixte frame take an IGH? That's the biggest change I'd be making to the average frame, I think, so that's my biggest concern going that way.

And yes, southpaw, I do have a connective tissue disorder. Mine is Benign Joint Hypermobility Syndrome, which sounds like no big deal but it’s the absolute bane of my existence right now. Especially as I’m on a trial of new sleep meds (sleep disruptance being one the big issues with this disease) and I keep typing letters backwards from grogginess and brain fry. I did manage, after three years of trying, to get in to see a specialist recently, so that helps. There’s only one guy in the US who specializes in this disease, and though he was retired, he agreed to see me. Fortunately, he’s only a few miles from my house. Unfortunately, I’m one of those lucky individuals who gets all the pain and exhaustion and illness of these diseases without much hypermobility. I mean, I’m hypermobile, but not so that anyone would really notice. Until my finger pops out of joint, like it did this weekend, while I was gardening. Just pulling weeds, minding my own business and… huh, my left index finger is completely numb… <pull off gardening glove> … Oh, the knuckle is purple. That would explain things. Sigh.