Thanks all. Working on it now. The girlfriend is in love with that bike.

I just want to thank big chainring for holding on to that beautiful Bottecchia for my girlfriend and I. It's sitting in the car right now and I'm excited to get it out in the sunlight and get a good look at it.

Thanks again!

...

I love a happy ending.

I love it! I now own a bike that is older than I am.

Hey, great to meet you guys. I was just telling my wife about you two. On a cross country adventure, carefree, seeing the country. Brought back some good memories from some of our travels. Enjoy your trip and your "new" bike.

Have a great holiday!

Sorry to drag an old thread up but the problem was so similar I couldn't resist!

My girlfriend is 5'10" and I wanted to build her a mixte for faster and longer beach riding than her cruiser provides.

I saw an craigslist ad and bought the Nishiki Sport mixte (1985 apparently) below to fix for my girlfriend, thinking I'd beautify it with a nice saddle and upright bars and eventually flashy paint (the original is in good condition but a very drab grey).

I jumped on the purchase because the frame is nice with cro-mo main tubes, the components al worked smooth with minimal rust, and it has good lugs including a beautiful lug at the top/seat tube connection which many japanese mixtes don't have.

The frame was advertised at 22" but when I got it home I realized the size was incorrect and is not ideal: 20.75" seat tube (c-t), 21.5 effective top tube. A longer head tube would be nice. I have seen all the mixtes on the forums with huge amounts of stem showing and would prefer not to do that, I'd rather get a 22 inch frame. I've seen forum members help others out with this and thought I'd give it a shot in case anyone is interested in a trade/sale.

Or if folks can convince me to keep the bike, throw a longer stem and seatpost with some setback or whatever on, I'm open to that too. I know there aren't many 56cm mixtes out there. I am not open to getting a shorter girlfriend, thanks, though.

Nishiki_Mixte.jpg

I have modified many bikes to help with fit. It might be possible to do this. You may want to try different handlebar styles. There are various reach, rise, and drop options in handlebars, as well as stems.

As it turns out, larger mixtes are surprisingly affordable. Keep your eyes peeled and if you find something, take a tape measure. Good luck in your quest. I hope you can find something that will work for her.

Hate to post something that will expire, but this cl ad shows that mixte's can come in large, or at least medium. 56cm is my ideal frame size, and I'm 5'10". If it wasn't a 2-hour drive, I'd pick this up for myself. It'll probably go quick.

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/bik/1848635444.html

Seems to me that if the frame on that Motobecane is structurally sound that it's a screaming good deal.

I know these are not mixtes, but some lady's model Raleigh Sports bikes came in 23". I've never seen one myself, but there was a discussion here not too long ago about someone finding one in the flesh up in the Minneapolis area.

Here's something else that's not a mixte -- a 74 Raleigh Sprite that measure to be about 20.5" or 21", but look at the size of that head tube:

What a great thread!!!!!!

Schwinn made some nice "lady's" bikes that weren't twin top tube frames. Le Tours and Paramounts with 4130 and 531 tubing.

The Schwinn le Tour lady's bikes had some interesting features including a decent quality alloy crank set and center pull brakes. Many had steel rims, but it looks like the one on ebay has aluminum alloy. Catalogs that I've looked at show 1020 carbon steel, the 4130 must be a later bike. I don't think these were made in Chicago -- very few lugged frames were made in Chicago.

Mixtes are hard to find, and tall ones are even rarer. If you really want one, be prepared to pay full market via ebay, or drive a long distance to get one.

I have yet to have found a large frame mixte, I have found six of the medium size.

thrifty bill

I'm either built weird, or my Mixte is set weird. Because I am 5' 11" male (in shoes 6') and I ride a Fuji Mixte that has a 19 1/2 inch seat tube, and have plenty of room to be comfortable. Granted I changed the handle bars to North Road type bars, and the seat is thick padded seat off of a cruiser type bike, but I still have about a fist worth of seat stem showing when the bike is set to my liking.

The funny thing is, the geometry of the Fuji Mixte seems so laid back, that even when it had the original seat and drop bars on it, I still felt comfortable riding it. I think with the laid back angle of the seat tube that most Mixtes (not all) have it gives the illusion of a longer virtual top tube length even though the seat tube doesn't need to be as long in order to connect to the top tube that's not there anyway. On a diamond frame most of the time the larger the frame the longer the top tube, and therefore the longer the seat tube. But, a Mixte can have a long virtual top tube length and still not have a long seat tube because it's not needed to complete the diamond. Or, at least that is what I think anyhow. There are so many variations on the "Mixte" frame that I've seen it seems everyone of them is a little different than the others.

because they are sort of unisex maybe? I have been thinking of one myself but being a bike snob I have to have a DB ChroMo frame and RD hanger so for a 58-60 my options are limited.

in the early '90s Univega made a few 'false' mixties and one real nice on the Via Carisma but I have not seem one in some time.

56cm Puegeot mixte.

The only mixte that I'm aware of that had good tubing was the Raleigh SuperCourse MKII which had straight (not butted) 531 for the frame. I'm not sure about stays and forks, but I don't think so. I have a SuperCourse 51 cm (or so) diamond frame out in the garage and I'll see if the sticker is still there enough to explain. Also, the Intercourse II did not have a derailleur hangar as part of the drop out. It had a decent Huret derailleur, but it had a claw. I know the derailleur isn't bad because I took one off the Super Course and put it on a 10 speed Nottingham Sprite that we recently acquired and with a SunTour 14-28 ultra -6 and the shifters from the SuperCourse the Sprite shifts like a dream. I'll tell you what, that Sprite, not a Mixte but a straight lady's model is a very good riding bike and it can haul some fat butt -- i.e. mine.

Anyway, good luck finding a top quality mixte -- I'm sure there is one out there with "Bianchigirl" written on it.

I flipped a 57cm Raleigh Grand Prix mixte. The buyer was 5'11" tall.

I am not sure if you would consider this 'good' tubing but the Univega I was thinking of (I still can't recall if it was a true mixtie) but the '95 Via Carisma (but only a 45cm) was DB ChroMO frame with the BiAxial power oval tubing.

I have have my eye on the Soma Bunea Vista, Tange Prestige. I have some funds tied up in a pawn for a BFr and as soon as he picks it up I am getting one.



now that I think of it Bishop bikes has a 'crimped' Alle tube set maybe he can.....

The VO mixte is DB 4130. I think it's more expensive, but it is lugged.

the Soma is $500 so not much difference there. the Soma is a 58 v 57 for the VO. I don't see color options on the VO and I am not too hot on that blue.

Yeah, that Soma, and the VO too, look like very nice, high quality frames. I was thinking in the context of all the mixtes that we see from the 70s and 80s.

For a "ladies" (their word) frame there is also the Miss Mercian. The current description says it has a "single top tube" and they don't have a photo, but this is one from their photo archives. 19" to 26" and it has a hanger. 770 GBP + shipping, but it's nice.

I think I have that same catalog. that is a beautiful frame! "size to order 19" to 26" " WOW