I have acquired a red Batavus Mixte Racer. I believe it to be a 1970 something model, but I would like to know the exact year! To that end, I offer the following information! Serial number is 355008. It has a Shimano Eagle RDer and a Shimano GTO Thunderbird FDer. The shifters are stem mounted Shimano 333. It has centerpull brakes with Dia-comp levers. The handle bar stem is ATAX. It has WECO hubs wiith Mavic rims and big wing nuts to hold the wheels on! The fork tips on this Batavus ARE NOT chromed! The last, and maybe the best, clue is on the back side of the head tube, right under the headset is the number “78” and right below that is O! I accept that “78” could be the year of manufacture! However, prior to finding the “78” I believed the bike to be early 70s because of the winged axle nuts! I could venture any number of guesses what the “O” represents! So what year do you guys think this bike is?

I offer the above info to anyone who wants to venture a guess as to the model year of this bike, and with the hope it will prove useful in dating other Batavus bikes! Maybe some of the other readers can post similar info on their Batavus bikes.

I realize it is not a “top shelf” bike but it is in excellent condition, appears to be original with the exception of the tires and seat, (which appear unused) and the price was right. Besides that, Mixtes are cool looking bikes!

I hope to post pictures soon! Thanks in advance!

Al