Originally Posted by
jade408
That being said, I have seen quite a few men sporting mixtes. It isn't 50/50, but it might be 70/30 women/men around here.
Where is here? I've owned a few mixtes, mostly that I rescued from thrift stores and garage sales, and gave to friends or sold for cost +beer.
Anyhow, yeah the whole idea of mixte was that it was unisex, but somehow that was forgotten. I'm too big to ride them as my correct frame size is a 25", and they are almost always small. So I have no choice. I did have one that was a 23" frame equivalent. Great bike, with jubilee derailleurs, stronglight, campy, etc. High end mixtes were rare, but they did make them during the bike boom. The mixte style with the double overlapping middle stays is especially stiff and responsive. In some respects mixte is a superior design to a standard "men's" diamond frame in standard gauge tubing.