rhm

My wife sometimes rides this 1965 Raleigh RSW-16 to work. She would ride it more if there were a more suitable road.



Of course, it's not a "build." It's all original with a few modifications; I swapped in aluminum rims and kool-stop pads to improve braking, which is still poor. I swapped LED light bulbs into the original head and taillight; but light is still anemic. I replaced the original seat with a B.72 but my wife doesn't trust the leather to not stain her clothes, hence the plastic bag.

700c wheels are frankly too big for many women. The handlebar ends up being too high. Novice riders tend to think they want the handlebar up high, but once they're on the bike they often adopt a posture that shows they'd prefer a lower bar position.

ksryder

Hear hear.

icepick_trotsky 

To be fair, that bike doesn't have drops!

crank_addict

^^ah, OK....
Here's our folders. No drop bars


Actually, the girls all enjoy riding the Twenty. One funny thing is the numerous swapping out of the saddle. I laugh at the 2 lbs. mattress but she loves it. I purchased a Brooks B17S Imperial, but no way does she want it on this bike. I have another vintage euro coil and longitude type springs, horse-hair padded that looks right on it and the kids don't know the difference...lol. Other than that, is original. Added gen. light set, panniers baskets, 20" road tire with redline on the sidewalls.



Forgot to mention the additional accessories that make this small bike nearly 45 pounds.
Mirror, speedometer and not shown, vintage 'Bike Bouy' cup holder, bell.

mechanicmatt

I have shown this one too much but here is my wife's bike. It's a redone Mongoose Dynametric 325 Hybrid. There are a couple mixte/low-step variants from the early to mid 90's from Mongoose that are great and cheap if you can find them. 4130 steel, good parts mix, 105/Mavic OpenSport rims, swept bars. She likes having a kickstand and I put the water bottle holder on the handlebars for easy access. I only made one mistake which I will rectify this summer, the compact double doesn't get to a low enough gearing to her liking (f34t to r32t) and I will change it to a triple that I have. She also has a Nishiki Colorado slick tire conversion I made for her 14 years ago in college. She still likes and rides it as well, sometime I will take pictures of it.

Flickr set for the Mongoose: https://www.flickr.com/photos/438829...57635708937946

Mongoose Dynametric 325 Hybrid

Mongoose Dynametric 325

Some cool inspirational builds (not mine) I have found to help motivate the build:
20121229VivaSportComplete-495

Finished state of the Miyata mixte

2010.07.02 - Lorelei in commuter mode

And this beauty which may be the most beautiful bike that I have seen:
Basso Womanracer

Photos I took in Copenhagen a couple years back:
Copenhagen2013-29

Copenhagen2013-25 by Mechanic Matt, on Flickr

neo_pop_71

Hello PaintItCeleste,

Your mum's bike was clearly a labor of love that you poured yourself into and it shows, her bike is absolutely stunning... maybe the prettiest bike I've ever seen!!! I would be elated to have built such a beauty, sir, you give Sacha White and his Vanilla bikes a run for the money!

Thanks for sharing!

-D-

p.s. Do you have a paint code for the paint job on her bike?

neo_pop_71

I love to build bikes, I'm sure most of you do as well, but to get away with some bonus builds I've built a few bikes for my wife and my little angel.

1. My 10 year old's 1995 Barracuda A2Z, custom made 12" frame for Eric Sakadinsky who was a Barracuda XX Team rider, a gift for her 9th birthday.
2. My wife's 1993 Barracuda A2Limited, her first trail bike just as the A2Z was my daughter's first 26" wheel trail bike.
3. My wife's bike for the farmer's market or trips to the grocery store, nothing special just parts from the spare bin, I would shed no tears if it were stolen!
4. My 1989 Nishiki Alien 96'er with Hunter SuperCrown fillet brazed fork, some PAUL components, and some XTR too, claimed by my wife as her first grab even before her Simonetti with Campy 10.



Please forgive the hideous KORE stem on the A2L, I was waiting for the NOS gold Tioga stem to arrive in the mail so it would match the gold Mavic/XT wheels and the gold White Brothers fork. Also, you'll have to excuse the progress shots on the High Sierra grocery getting, the photos of the completed bike wouldn't load for some reason.

IsleRide

I bought her this Schwinn LeTour in '83 as a present when she earned her Master's and revised it three years ago into a nice town bike with a triple ring crank.
VO bars, Shimano bar ends on Paul Thumbies, Tipo Hubs laced to NOS Mavic G 40 rims. Brooks B72.

Soody

PaintItCeleste

@neo_pop_71 Thank you for the kind words! It was a joy to build and I find myself still adoring it when I visit my parents haha. Might have to find another one of those frames (I just love that swooping mixte). And yes, I do have that Bianchi color: RAL 6027. It's a near identical match to the Jagwire celeste cable housing. It obviously tends towards the blue-ish side of things, as opposed to the more green. For the next project, I think a pearl clear coat would just send this thing over the moon.

oddjob2

@Soody, not exactly what we're looking for, this is a non drop handle bar thread. BTW the rear wheel disc is a scream!

John E

I am glad to see so many classic mixte frames represented in this thread.

My wife is 5'6" tall, as well. When I was working at a Peugeot-Nishiki dealership in the early 1970s, I scared my boss when I told him that I wanted to buy her a bicycle, because he jumped to the conclusion that she would want a white 22" UO-18, a model and size for which demand greatly outstripped supply. He relaxed greatly when I told him she wanted a conventional diamond/gents' frame.

I bought a bare 21" UO-8 frame and custom built her a bicycle with a 52-42 TA Professional 3-bolt crankset, a 16-18-21-24-32 SunTour freewheel, my old SunTour VGT rear derailleur, Schwinn TwinStik shifters, the original wheels from my Nishiki SemiPro (Sunshine high-flange, Araya aluminum rims), and the same upright handlebars Peugeot was putting on many of its UO-18 mixtes. I later built a mountain bike for her, since she prefers to ride away from traffic, and I took over the Peugeot as my beater / daily driver. When I put close ratio gears and drop bars on it, she commented that I had gotten rid of the "nice handlebars."

neo_pop_71

Hey PaintItCeleste,

Right on man, thank you for the prompt reply with the paint code! I really appreciate the help, I love the different variations of Celeste over the years, but I've never been able to track down the paint code for the blueish Celeste. I've been after that color ever since my buddy Mark, a shop owner and Bianchi team rider, was given his custom order Ti-Mega titanium road frame. The Ti-Mega was such a unique frame and the blueish Celeste really set it off. I had bike envy for years! As far as that beauty you built, I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for one of those frames. I've never liked the look of a mixte frame but after seeing your mum's bike I'm totally sold on the idea!

Thanks for sharing plus a couple pats on the back for an amazing build... can you say calendar material?

Peace,

-D-

Velocivixen

@oddjob2 - have you decided anything? What will you build?

oddjob2

Working on it, will have version 1 photos tomorrow I hope. I just need to add fenders and a saddle.

Velocivixen

Uh huh...I see. Keeping everyone in suspense? I never knew you to be so cruel.

oddjob2

The Mother's Day deal was too good to resist, about what a BSO costs at Target. It is still sitting in the carton, but it would probably take less time to assemble than removing all the packing material.

oddjob2

Bought December 2014 in the shadow of the bridge that made Chris Christie infamous. Bought cheap, looked very rough but cleaned up nicely. New VO bar and cork grips, new saddle, Shimano 600 crank, Shimano SIS RD, Kenda cream tires, new chain, new MKS touring pedals, new cables, Jagwire titanium housing, plastic fenders. All parts on hand, but for new fender mounting bolts. So much lighter with new single crank and alloy pedals.

Before


After

oddjob2

1983 PH18 Peugeot - This was on CL for about 2 weeks at the asking price of $85.

Before


After

icepick_trotsky 

Love this. Do you have any more photos of this bike? I'm especially curious how upright the riding position is with these porteur style bars, as I'm considering a similar build. Any photos of your better half riding it would be very helpful.

Velocivixen

I prefer #2 option vs #1 . I have ridden the newer Mixtes by Linus, etc & they seem like driving a huge tank. I'm by no means an aggressive rider but I don't like to feel like I'm in a Benz station wagon. I prefer a little nimbleness. Post option #3 then I will offer my final vote. How flexible is your wife? I presume since you built it she can get her leg over that top tube.

noglider 

@oddjob2, that Trek 720 is quite handsome as you have outfitted one. I had one briefly, and I found it too heavy. How much does that bike weigh? I assume you didn't weigh the frameset alone.

IsleRide

Thanks for the kind words. Here's another view. Don't have one of her riding it. But, she wasn't too fond of the riding position so I swapped the bars with the VO Milan. That's a nice bar too and maybe a little more "normal". (kind of North Road-like) Keep in mind the Porteur bars have a drop to them and are more straight sided like a Raleigh Tourist.

So the Porteurs are now on a '78 Schwinn Superior that I built for myself. Also used the VO Guidonnet brake levers which are so cool following the curve of the bar. I never tire of moving things around and "rebuilding" builds. I'll take photos of the Superior this weekend.

thumpism 

Also not a build, but a mod, is my wife's Peugeot Orient Express in Watermelon. Added the Softride stem and a rear rack, changed the saddle and gave it Club Roost Cross Terra tires. That's about it.

pb2400c

here is my wife's small wheel