All Mixte Up
 

The add read "For Sale TA Cranks $100 - must take mixte frame they are attached to."

It seems the fellow didn't have a TA crank extractor and wanted to get rid of the mixte anyway.

http://obrentharris.smugmug.com/phot...-kL5BwZK-L.jpg

"Easy enough" I thought. "I'll remove the cranks for one of my Motobecane Le Champion projects and find someone to dump the mixte on."

But that's when the mixte began to work her magic on me. It wasn't just a frame: It still had its Simpex shifters, Mafac Racer brakes and those cute little white brake levers, not to mention the stem with the lion and some pretty nice upright bars. The stays and fork blades were pretty beat up though. That's when the idea of the saddle shoe paint job hit me. One can of medium brown paint ought to do the job; okay maybe a gold paint pen for lining the lugs too. "Besides if it looks crummy I can just dump the whole project without having spent too much on it."

The paint job wasn't perfect, but close enough to make the mixte look pretty darn cute. Next ensued a couple hours of cleaning and polishing. I had some of that fancy Brooks leather bar tape sitting around on a Motobecane fixie I had bought to restore to it's former 10-speed glory. That made a pretty posh set of hand grips.

http://obrentharris.smugmug.com/phot...-QV5Z8sZ-L.jpg

But I had to actually spend real money on the Rolls saddle from ebay. Thanks to Catnap I soon had in my possession a nice Simplex long cage derailleur. The pedals really should be French too but I had to save money somewhere and they were sitting around on the same Motobecane fixie mentioned above. The wheels came from a local friend for $50.

http://obrentharris.smugmug.com/phot...-GH3qCSW-L.jpg

Yeah I should have replaced the Suntour front derailleur with something French also, but it works fine and at this point I'll be lucky to get out of the bike what I've put into it. Cyclomondo supplied the old-style Peugeot decals which are completely the wrong era for this bike. Call it artistic liberty or further proof of my utter disregard for tradition: I think they look nice on this bike. The headbadge is missing its chrome trim but still gives the bike some more character and gave me my cue for using the red cable housing.

http://obrentharris.smugmug.com/phot...-zjJdjGL-M.jpg

http://obrentharris.smugmug.com/phot...-B8mTDFV-L.jpg

I guess I'll have to buy another TA crank set for that Le Champion.

Brent

Very cool - I just picked up a mixted of similar vintage for my wife and you've given me some inspiration.

The paint job looks really cool - I can't let my wife see this or she'll definitely expect me to paint her bike!

:thumb: Me like!

Nicely done.

I expect it's a very pleasant ride (for the right sized person).

dang! some people are sure lucky! great job of bringing it back to riding condition.

I have been trying to find a vintage built mixte or even a mixte frame small enough for my wife for over a year.

I'm new to these forums...but can't seem to find a "show me your mixte" thread. Perhaps some of you mixte owners would be kind enough to do so?

Thanks!

Sure - here is mine as purchased a few weeks ago for my wife. I'm hoping to start the rehab in the next week or two.

'72 Fuji Special Road Racer

http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps7606a373.jpg

Miyata110,

Sweet! Who is the frame maker?

Might I also ask folks who have mixtes just how to size the frame against an approximate size of 5"4" and average leg&torso lengths?

I was thinking something like a 50cm. This further compounds my search as the ones I have come across have all been 56cm or larger.

It's a Fuji.

At 19 inches it seems to fit my wife pretty well, she is also around 5'4".

That TA triple is a great crankset, and I like the half step plus granny ratio progression. Yesterday's San Diego Union Tribune ran a story about an organic chemistry professor who has been teaching here at UCSD for 50 years, which is almost the age of this branch of the university. They had a picture of him riding a mixte, with drop bars upturned 70s style, wearing a sportcoat and tie.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/...-UCSD-faculty/

I took graduate statistical mechanics at UCLA from a visiting Frenchman, who arrived every day on a Motobecane mixte.

I wonder if you can get that paint in suede texture. That is a killer bike.
Every time I see a nice mixte like that, I get the old mixte buildt itch. Just for a few minutes.
Usually, it's some kind of rash.

Zorba like! :thumb: