mixte frame
 

I am going to build a mixte up for my wife. No real timetable, I have had a discussion with Easthill and she is going to be gracious to keep a heads up for a frame and fork or complete rebuildable bike in not basket case condition. I need to educate myself in the world of mixte frames as I don't know squat about them. What are some things to look out for? What are some of the better builders and brands and what kind of value is usually put on them? Are they more pricey due to the lack of them or are they a bit less desireable than the norm. I'm getting some nice ideas on this build so far. I don't care about the color as it will be powdercoated in a green that she showed me which hopefully someone can replicate. She does however like my elkhide bar cover from Velo Orange so thats going to go on this bike. Are these bikes normally drop bars or something else like a comfort bike. I need all the info I can get thanks. Oh and EH you rock I know my wife is gonna love this bike and if not I'll ride the thing myself :)

Several manufacturers made mixtes...

The same plusses and minuses as standard frames.

French may be nice, but weird threads. Schwinns have strange stem sizes...

Chromoly is better than hiten steel. The number available in chromoly seems to be low, but not exceptionally rare.

From what I have seen, they were available with both drop bars and upright.

Otherwise, I have never heard of a mixte that isn't worth redoing/riding unless you have an aversion to the heavier tubing of the non-chromoly bikes.

The thing I personally look for in mixtes is the tubing juncture of the two slender long tubes and the seat tube. Some will simply be TIG wleded while others have more favorable unique lugs of their own.
Here was a nice one that just went for higher than I expected http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=330217201535

Yeah, that one was nice, but the price got a bit insane, IMO. Says it comes with the original French cups, but you're still on your own to build up a French BB. And if the original cups are the thin ones, that just makes it harder.

I've been selling complete, clean mixtes for less than that - maybe I should just strip them and sell the framesets on eBay. :D

I used a Raleigh Super Course Mixte MK II (531 main tubes) converted to a Nexus 7 speed w/ coaster brake (her request) for my wife's ride. She likes it very much. Fenders, rack & handle bars came from a trash picked Peugeot mixte. The wheels are 700c w/ 32mm tires. I removed the basket since this shot was taken.
When we talked about getting a bike for her, she was adamant that she did not want a multi-geared bike as they were to hard to operate in her opinion. The Nexus was a nice compromise as it is east to shift, you can shift when stopped and have enough low gears for the hills around these parts.

[IMG]http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k2...nsPictures.jpg[/IMG]

That Super Course mixte is very cool. I used a mid-80s Raleigh Marathon frame for my wife's mixte, powdercoated purple with 6-speed transmission, Planet Bike fenders, 700c wheels, chainguard, Albatross and front WALD basket.

http://web.mit.edu/nlerner/Public/Bikes/TABMixte.jpg

Neal

I'm building up a Centurion Le Mans mixte intro a 650B bike equipped with a Nexus 8 speed and a Sturmey Archer front drum brake. Going to get the frame powder coated at Sycip soon
The Centurion mixtes I've found are relatively easy to find, Tange cro-moly and some nice lugs

Well, if any of you in the Bay Area have any mixtes that are too beat up to sell readily, let stringbreaker know. I'm going to be down there at the end of March, and I'll be driving. It wouldn't be too difficult to throw in another bike as I will be bringin only the Sachs.

East Hill

I've got a Univega Nuovo Sport frameset, with a chrome fork. Paint's a bit ratty, but the frame is straight and sound. Needs everything but a headset .... :D

Stringbreaker, how does that sound?

East Hill

The Bianchi mixtes all seem to have that seat lug-- or at least the hybrids do. However, instead of the two lateral tubes, they have a single lateral tube joined at the seat by a lug, and then two lateral tubes welded to the lug continuing back to the dropout.

http://members.aol.com/midorihatch/bianchi4.jpg


Every other mixte I've seen has had the lateral tubes welded to the seat tube.

That should be high quality-- cromo, right? And probably double or triple butted cromo at that.

I’ve seen some old Schwinn Le Tour III’s that were set up with the Mixte stays (extra set of seat tube stays) and just a single drop tube; all welded to the seat tube. I was reading in another thread and a person referred to these bikes as “Near Mixtes”… I kind of like that name…:)

I have a circa 1985 Fuji Mixte made with the VALlite tubing… It has the narrow twin drop tubes with a dedicated lug for the seat tube/drop tubes joint. Not a top end frame, but seems pretty well built to me.

Motobecane made those single tube mixtes as well. I've got a Grand Touring in that configuration, and I've seen a Super Touring set up like that too.

I've got a valite Fuji mixte as well. It has a lug at the top of the seat tube, where the seat stays attach. Is that what you're referring to, or do you mean another lug, where the twin lateral tubes are attached to the seat tube?

The beauty of a mixte is that you can have drop bars (which is how mine are set up), or upright bars. Either way is perfectly acceptable--although Dr. D will tell you it is heresy to have drops.

But I find drops more comfortable, so drops it is for me.

East Hill

Speaking of Centurion mixtes...

bigbossman what size is the frame? My wife is diminutive in stature 5' 2" so its gotta be pretty small probably not bigger than a 47cm or 48cm max. EH what size do you ride? I think Mrs Stringbreaker is a bit taller than you

This Schwinn, on the other hand, is not a mixte.

Blue order I saw that one its too large. Sure is nice though. What might something like that end up going for?

After searching high and low for the 5'1" Ms. Blue Order, I can say they're hard to find. The Bianchi hybrid mixtes are 47 cm, and maybe some of the Japanese frames, such as East Hill's Centurion, and some Nishikis will be in the range you're looking for.

If I can ride it, so can Mrs. Stringbreaker. I'm 5'0'' , so there's not a lot of difference in our heights.

East Hill

My guess is $200- $250, including shipping. East Hill has a Centurion Le Mans in a smaller frame size, I don't remember what she paid for hers, but she can probably tell you.

Mine was $125 for the Centurion, but I only paid $25 for the beautiful blue Peugeot which got re-homed with Blue Order.

So, big variation. I would guess around $125 would be a reasonable amount for an entire bike.

East Hill

Just saw a nice looking (well the pictures arn't too good) on e-bay I had to look under womens on complete bikes and frames. Check it out see what ya think http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-MIYATA-W...ayphotohosting

Looks like it might be hi-ten (I can't quite make out the tubing stickers, but it looks like "1024"?). You can still build up a nice ride for Mrs. Stringbreaker with that bike, but you can also find a higher quality ride if you're patient. There was a nice Motobecane Grand Jubile mixte frameset on eBay recently, but it wasn't cheap.