The Trifecta - Today It's a Mixte!

[mtbdarby]

Ok, I may stop looking for bikes, lol. Today I found a Schwinn sprint mixte. This one really needs some tlc - all the cables need to be replaced, the seat post and new wheels, etc. This is a double with suntour edge deraillour. I would guess it's for someone with no more than a 29" inseam and a shorter reach.

If anyone wants it I can take some measurement or answer any questions, you just pay shipping. Here she is:

[tulip]

I love Spring Cleaning. This is my first spring in my neighborhood. I haven't seen any bikes (but I'm not in the market for any, either), but today I picked up a beautiful little desk that is perfect for my office. One of the drawers is broken but I think I can fix it. I'm going to paint it blue, I think.

I also picked up five discarded windows that are just what I've been waiting for to make a cold frame for my vegetable and flower seedlings.

I do love having a hatchback.

[Biciclista]

I noticed you didn't offer the Bianchi. :D:cool:;) not that i blame you. quick, one of your Facebook friends doesn't know what a Bianchi is.

[reddDesign]

Ummm I may be mistaken but I don't think that's a mixte? I think that's just a 'women's' bike.

I thought a mixte was when the top tube goes all the way from the head to the rear drops...

[ZenSojourner]

From SheldonBrown.com:


http://www.sheldonbrown.com/images/mixte-supercourse.jpg


A style of lady's frame in which the "top tube" consists of a pair of small diameter tubes running more-or-less straight from the upper head lug, past the seat tube, and on to the rear fork ends. A mixte frame thus has 3 sets of rear stays, instead of the usual two. A variant on the mixte uses a single, full sized top tube running from the upper head tube to the seat tube, but retains the middle set of stays. A lady's type bike that lacks the middle pair of stays is not a mixte.

Mixte frames are stronger than conventional lady's frames, particularly in resisting the tendency of the seat tube to get pushed backward in the middle when ridden by a heavy rider

In French, "mixte" would be pronounced "MEExt", but normal U.S. bicycle industry pronunciation is "MIX-ty".

So the pictured bike is not a mixte, it's a step-through frame.

It's still a cool free find. Those mini-Schwinn's weren't half bad little bikes. I had a friend who had two of them for his daughters, the dérailleurs and all were at least adjustable and worked pretty well. They weren't step-throughs, nice little bikes. I'd have liked one for myself, if I'd hung around long enough for them to outgrow them, LOL!

Sojourner

[Tri Girl]

I think you should just keep all the bikes and open up a recycled bike store. :p
You are indeed a bike magnet. I'm quite envious...


psst: keep looking for bikes and give them to loving homes. :)

[IvonaDestroi]

[

:confused:
Ummm I may be mistaken but I don't think that's a mixte? I think that's just a 'women's' bike.

I thought a mixte was when the top tube goes all the way from the head to the rear drops...

I've always been confused about the difference between step-through and mixte, obviously dual top tubes are a mixte frame, but apparently there is another kind of mixte too, One like this except it has an extra set of seat stays in the back.

I believe this one in particular is just a regular step-through or ladies' frame. ,

although, my idea of step-through is the 70's old school style where you can actually step through it! I wish they still made the super low curvy step through frames, nowadays they're always some highly placed cheesy imitation. Structurally unsound my butt!:cool:

[ZenSojourner]

although, my idea of step-through is the 70's old school style where you can actually step through it! I wish they still made the super low curvy step through frames, nowadays they're always some highly placed cheesy imitation. Structurally unsound my butt!:cool:

70's? Maybe. But my Huffy curvy step-through was made in the 50's.


http://www.worthprotectionsecurity.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/bike2-300x225.jpg

Like that, only blue and white. With a white basket and white handle bar grips. The huffy logo was painted on the thing they chromed in the picture above, which also housed a horn.

It was left to rust by the original owner (my older sister) after my older brother waylaid her one day by throwing a broom handle through the spokes, and yes, that was every bit as disastrous as it sounds.

I got a book from the library about bike repair and fixed it up, including replacing bent and broken spokes and re-truing the wheels, something I cannot do to my own bike now.

I cleaned the rust out of the innards where the horn mechanism lay and got the horn working again.

Replaced handlebar grips, sanded and undercoated and painted

Then when I had it fixed up, I was told I wasn't allowed to ride it.

Which I blithely ignored.

No matter what I did, the chain would leap out and grab my pants legs. Hmmm, an early version of the vampire clipless pedals perhaps?

At any rate, I wish I still had that bike. Apparently after I was kicked out, my younger sister wrecked it and it was eventually thrown away. Which is a great shame since it's apparently worth about 3k now. . .

[uforgot]

[

:confused:

I've always been confused about the difference between step-through and mixte, obviously dual top tubes are a mixte frame, but apparently there is another kind of mixte too, One like this except it has an extra set of seat stays in the back.

I believe this one in particular is just a regular step-through or ladies' frame. ,

although, my idea of step-through is the 70's old school style where you can actually step through it! I wish they still made the super low curvy step through frames, nowadays they're always some highly placed cheesy imitation. Structurally unsound my butt!:cool:

The third set of seat stays is what makes it a mixte. There are some that have a single tube and then they divide at the seat tube. I see them rarely, but they are out there. You're right. This one is not a mixte, but a cool find!

[Aggie_Ama]

We don't have spring cleaning but someone did leave a washer that my neighbors now have in thir driveway. I am sure the HOA will be sending a letter soon. :rolleyes:

[mtbdarby]

Thanks guys. I've often wondered what the true definition of a mixte was. My preferenc would also be on a curved tube but I haven't found one yet:p