Show us your mixte!

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Originally Posted by Triskeliongirl

Lisa, I think it depends on which brooks saddle you ride. Mine is the finesse, which is a racing saddle, and I have no problem keeping my bars lower than my saddle and hunkering down in the drops. I think its the opposite, as long as your weight is supported on your sit bones and not girly bits, then you can roll your pelvis forward without pain. In my experience, the only thing that keeps me doing that is a bike with too long a top tube. When the top tube is too long, I have to raise the bars to decrease the reach, but that doesn't mean the position is optimal.

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Oh, I see! I guess it's that I most often see complaints on TE about Brooks saddles squishing girly parts when women with racing bikes with really low bars try out the Brooks saddles. Seemed to me that they have the most problems getting comfy on Brooks. Maybe they would have done better with the Brooks Finesse?

I only have my limited experience- my bike has a top tube that's a bit too long for me, but it's also a more upright touring type geometry bike. I've always been comfy on it with my 2 Brooks saddles as far as that girly parts issue.

What I have noticed is that when my reach is too long, that my body will scoot forward on my saddle to try and make up for it. That creates two problems. The first is that I may be so far forward that the saddle is no longer wide enough to support my sitbones where they hit, so the saddle supports the soft tissues instead. The second is that my knee falls too far forward of the pedal axle, reducing the leverage. So, for me the answer is a bike with proportional sizing, a top tube proportional to the seat tube. Sounds like a no-brainer, but often a problem on smaller sized bikes, as we have all discussed many times here, and why I ride terry bikes.

I loved riding Trek420's mixte with the moustache bars, and really wanted a mixte of my own (mostly so I could put moustache bars on it, but also so I could look oh so gorgeous riding along)

Put moustache bars on my Surly Cross Check this weekend. Oh, man, what a cool set of bars! And on a bike that I already "knew", the difference in bars was amazing!

guess I should write a review?

(PS, I got steel bars. Dunno if it was the bar shape or the material, but the road buzz decreased by at least half in my hands!)

I still want a mixte, though...

Knot, how tall are you?

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Originally Posted by sandra

Knot, how tall are you?

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5 foot 8 inches.

will search for you a mixte. :D

Thank you, but I really can't have one right now. I have nowhere to put it, and I don't ride the bikes I have enough as it is.

My sweetie has put me on a "no new bikes" diet, until we have a place with room for more bikes.

Thank you, though! :D

Actually I have one too many. I really need to get rid of one. But I don't think it would work for you for two reasons now. ;)

Oh, P00P! If I could get one that fit me from a TE'er, I'd damm the torpedoes and grab it!

Sandra, how tall are you?
I really need a mixte. In fact, I've pretty much spent the evening searching for one. The only thing I've been able to come up with is a rusty Rene Herst.
Apparently I don't know the secret search terms.

I am 5' 5".

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Originally Posted by xeney

Hey, that is not a bad idea. The guys at the bike shop had recommended a chrome fork because I didn't want to paint the frame, but I will see if I can get a Surly fork to match it. It came with a Peugeot fork that matched okay but did not actually fit, even with the 27" wheels. Thanks for the tip!

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Hey, Xeney. Nice bike. Have fun with it.
I haven't been following your build....is that SS or fixed?
Does the first set of pix (by the book shelves) have the old fork on it? It looks black in that first picture. Or is that just the light?

It's just the light -- we gave away the old fork when we replaced the headset.

It is built up as a singlespeed now because I am a chicken. The bike shop set it up fixed but I am not ready to make that leap. It's a flip-flop hub so I can change my mind later.

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Originally Posted by zencentury

I really need a mixte. In fact, I've pretty much spent the evening searching for one. The only thing I've been able to come up with is a rusty Rene Herst.

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Funny.

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Originally Posted by Triskeliongirl

What I have noticed is that when my reach is too long, that my body will scoot forward on my saddle to try and make up for it.

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That's weird. My bike's top tube is a bit too long for me, but it causes me to want to scoot BACK with my saddle a great deal to compensate for my center of gravity being too far forward.
I am counting on my next bike to correct all this. :o