Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 3,520
Likes: 12
From: Colorado Springs, CO
Bikes: 1959 Bottecchia Milano-Sanremo (frame), 1966 Bottecchia Professional (frame), 1971 Bottecchia Professional (frame), 1973 Bottecchia Gran Turismo, 1974 Bottecchia Special, 1977 Bottecchia Special (frame), 1974 Peugeot UO-8
Originally Posted by
Batman_3000
This will make me unpopular, but here we go : irrespective of Rene Herse having made some mixtes, living in France and having mostly grown up here, there is the man's bike, for men and for women who race or may want to prove that they are no different from men; there are women's bikes for normal women (the definition of normal woman, I admit, has changed a bit since 1970); and there is the mixte which I have only seen used by women wanting the absence of high TT with a more sporting or whatever ride, and older men who may have difficulty in lifting a leg over a men's bike. Any other definition of post war mixte, you are being fed a tall and embellished story, likely as not by somebody who has a commercial agenda. Doesn't of course mean that mixtes can not now be considered fashionable or efficient or anything you like. Those are just the facts.
Hey, quite that Batman...you're destroying my imagine of a normal French woman being Catherine Deneuve in the 1960's riding a mixte along the streets of Paris. By "women's bikes for normal women" I assume you mean a step-through frame. I know it's politcally incorrect today to refer to women's or girls' bikes but that's what we called them back in the day. I don't think I heard the term mixte until much more recent times. Admittedly, if you must have a bike without a traditional top tube I find them far more elegant than a step-through. My wife looks quite fetching on her white Peugeot mixte
BTW, the 1952 French Peugeot catalog shows a PH55 "mixte" frame however it is simply refered to as a "Model Dame" or Lady's Model with "cadre triangule ou berceau" - Batman, little help here with the translation?
edit: The 1950 Peugeot catalog also shows a "mixte" Model Dame PH65 with triangulated frame. The next earliest catalog I see is a 1936 and it shows a traditional step through frame. In the 50's Peugeot's lineup shows many "hybrid" type frames which look like mixte frames but with the triangulated tubes going down at a steeper angle and then bending at the seat tube to connect to the rear dropouts. They are still just refered to as Model Dame.
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1959 Bottecchia Milano-Sanremo(frame), 1966 Bottecchia Professional (frame), 1971 Bottecchia Professional (frame),
1973 Bottecchia Gran Turismo, 1974 Bottecchia Special, 1977 Bottecchia Special (frame),
1974 Peugeot UO-8, 1988 Panasonic PT-3500, 2002 Bianchi Veloce, 2004 Bianchi Pista
Last edited by Kommisar89; 09-13-09 at 05:34 PM.