Originally Posted by
tiger1964
I'm guessing I'm a decade or so from needing considering a mxite, but, reading the posts and looking at the photos --
So, Shifter locations: I see downtube shifters, stem shifters, bar-end and I guess thumb shifters would be fine with upright bars. Has there ever been "downtube" shifters somehow mounted on the, hmm, "upper downtubes", the twin ones? I guess either a very specialized clamp-on, or have bosses brazed on. And the routing for the RD would be straightforward enough, but the FD... one of those with the cable entry from the top? And would the results be a natural hand drop from the bars to reach the shifters there? It seems possibly better, no interference, than the traditional downtube mount.
Start looking now, especially if you need a tall one. I have since learned that Raleigh made a '70s model named Super Record (no relation to the Campy stuff) that was available in a 24" mixte. Found one in Nashville and one of the very similar home-market Wisp versions, also 24" on the other side of the goddam Puget Sound, fer chrissakes. I'd have loved to get either one of those.
If you take a smaller frame you qualify for the nicer-tubed Reynolds and Vitus bikes out there by A-D and Motobecane.
Never seen "lateral shifters," what I guess you'd call downtube shifters mounted on the twin lateral tubes of a mixte, or "upper downtube" shifters if they were on one of the Motobecanes that use that configuration.
Seriously if you think you'll need or want one in a decade start looking
NOW.