Commuting on something like this...
 

http://images.craigslist.org/3m13p83...2660881985.jpg

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Who does it? Do you like it, not like it? If you've commuted on something more road-ish (roadie/touring/whatever), how does it compare?

I really don't have the money for it, but being the addict I am, I really want this bike. It's just so pretty. If I cruise along at 16-18mph on my steel touring bike, do you think I could expect to stay at or above 15mph on this with similar effort? I don't have any experience commuting on something like this, and I'd feel bad if I bought a bike I wouldn't use.....

http://fresno.craigslist.org/bik/1950979932.html

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=169785

This is what I use to commute. It's a 1972 Ficelle mixte. 10 speed
I've replaced the tires with 27x 1 1/4 and the handling improved.
I like it better because of the more upright position.

I have a 1972 Raleigh sports. It is a secondary commuter. I stay above 15 mph average on my 6 mile each way commute with a number of fairly short hills. I also have a Novara Fusion and a steel road bike built up from a Fuji Marseille 2003 frame. The Fusion isn't any faster in most circumstances and the road bike is only a little faster; just a minute or two probably in six miles. I'm not really a fast rider or in that great of shape, but I pass full kit roadies on my Raleigh Sports on the MUP regularly. In that picture of the Sprite, the seat is really low. I wonder if the seller had it too low or was too small for the bike. With a Sprite or Sports the seat (Brooks B72 perhaps) should be about level with the middle front of the bars I think. Maybe it's just the perspective on the photo and the fact that it isn't the diamond frames I'm used to.

Buy the bike, ride it to work and sell it for $25 more if you don't like it. Some youngster will buy it from you thinking they got a great deal on a mixte.

the bike in the OP is not a mixte its just a ladies style frame.

If you are a girl they look fine, a guy, not so much.

A real advantage for Both parents when a Kid seat is on the back.. get that foot over the step thru toptube

rather than saying 'Duck' while you swing the leg over the kid chair..

In the US those bikes tend to be short, 20" .. In the Nederlands they make both Tall Women and
step thru bikes in larger sizes, that both Genders use..

This sounds pretty similar to my situation, actually. Thanks for the insight. I'm 6.5 miles, no hills, and ride a Novara Randonee. Also not in the shape I should be. :p

That was one thing I noticed as well - it looks set too short to me, too.

I'm married... I've long since stopped caring about image. :D

Besides which, I like step through frames. :)