Iowegian--many thanks (again!)! Actually, I wasn't looking for a mixte at all. It caught my eye on CL because it's so beautiful. I actually prefer, as far as I can tell, the horizontal top bar. It just "feels" better--that is, if my sampling of other people's bikes (that don't fit me) is any way to judge. I decided, on balance, to keep looking. Today I am going to be exploring all the commuting advice I can find on this site. My goal is to buy a bike I can work up to a 20 or so mile commute (way back is pretty much uphill, so that'll be a while) on, and if I do that, to buy myself a new (new) bike, given that I'm not likely to learn to be my own tune-up etc mechanic.