I am sure this has been answered before but...are the mixte sizes comparable to roadbike sizes?? I ride a 52-54 in roadbike...My roadbike frame is a Medium...comparable to a 53.
Fun project bike!
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I am sure this has been answered before but...are the mixte sizes comparable to roadbike sizes?? I ride a 52-54 in roadbike...My roadbike frame is a Medium...comparable to a 53.
Fun project bike!
Stay away from that one. You don't want steel rims. The tires are old. The rear deailleur is shot (no spring tension). Front brakes have no pads and levers aren't good. Maybe the frame is OK, if you're willing to completely rebuild it. But don't buy it thinking that you can ride it as is. A tune up won't help this thing.Quote:
Originally Posted by nic840
Thanks for the heads up...I have just been reading and seeing all of your nice bikes and had to see what the fuss is about.
I need another bike like a hole in the head... or is a hole in the head what my husband will do to me when I buy another bike...yeah time to stop looking for anything that will fill up more space in the garage/shop!
$40 is pretty cheap. I have picked up bikes like this and it's no biggie to put new tires on, brake pads are cheap...a chain isn't bad $10...new bar tape. You are right it's a "project bike". The chrome and paint look decent...I like the crank and pedals...
Hard to say without actually seeing the bike...
I enjoy cleaning up, waxing, polishing...:D
To answer the question above: no, mixte sizes are not comparable, partly because nobody knows how to measure them and partly because the dimensions are just radically different. I think we measured my pink mixte out as a 54, and it's big for a mixte, but it is teeny compared to the other 54s we have around. When it had the original drop bars it was way too small for me.
Deb is wise, and that frame is probably pretty heavy, too.
...... as long as it's just bikes :rolleyes: :cool: ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by alicestrong
I need to stop looking at this thread, cuz it's just gonna get me into trouble....
She has a new vintage brown Brooks saddle, handlebars, reflective sidewall tires and bartape. I went with the brown cloth tape and shellac and was extremely pleased with the results, although I didn't know to thin it at first, so I used steel wool on it, and lo and behold, I loved the look the steel wool gave it. This winter I'll pull out the bottom bracket and regrease and I have a new chain to put on her.
Ooooh. I love it. Great pictures in the outside lighting. Your brakes look like mine without rubber hoods. How do you wrap around them? (just as close as you can get or what?)
Nice job! I like what you did with the bar tape! Very classy, and matches so nicely.
Since there are no rubber hoods, I just wrapped close. On my road bike, there are hoods so you have to cut a piece and insert it first. Here's where I first learned how to wrap them. I keep changing colors so much that I can wrap in no time flat now!
Hey, is your seat clamp backwards?
It looks really nice. :)
Karen
Yup, sure is! Sometimes I'm such a dork!Quote:
Originally Posted by Tuckervill
So.....there's an old mixte at the Goodwill. Do I really need to buy it and start a bike collection? I know nothing about fixing up old bikes or what to look for. I'm not even sure what I'd do with the darn thing! It's blue and says Vulcan on it, pretty neat frame. Maybe I'll see if it's still there tomorrow.
Lora
I am so pathetic when it comes to red bikes, especially mixtes. Today I saw this bike on Craigslist for $100--the headline said "sparkly red", and that was what set me off--and e-mailed the seller about it. I don't really need another mixte, and the timing probably won't work out because I'm leaving town tomorrow and he needs to drum up rent money, but it looks so sweet! Oh well, we'll see if it's still available next Thursday when I get back to town...
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/e...craigslist.jpg
Buy it!!!!!!
WOW~! what size is it?
If you don't buy it, I might! I too am a sucker for a red bike (unless it's blue).
Knotted, I probably will buy it if it's still available on Thursday, but I'm headed for the airport so sooner isn't possible. Withm, the ad doesn't give a size but it says for 5'6'-6'. The pic makes it look like a fairly large bike. If I can't buy it, I hope you can!
This morning my husband surprised me by presenting me with my finished bike!
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2384/...a8fb77b72e.jpg
This is the bike we've been building since the spring, but what with school and the new baby, we put it on hold. I got to ride it this morning -- it's not a perfect fit, that Brooks B17s definitely has to go (it's too short, I'm going to get a regular B17 or else steal back the Team Pro I gave my husband), and the rear brake needs one more tiny part. And I really wish we'd been able to find a lugged fork, but the swap to 700c wheels made that impossible.
Still, I think it's awfully sweet and I was totally surprised.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2275/...e5e0103e93.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2329/...81c9430ce2.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2393/...6a2d933699.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2228/...90f3dedd4a.jpg
Forgive the double post but I have two more better pictures from my husband's camera:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2091/...a1e333376e.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2044/...3b6fcf9775.jpg
(That's Jeremy, holding Penelope up to see if the reach is too long for her!)
Gorgeous! And it looks like the reach is juuuuuust perfect! :p
You say you wish you could find a lugged fork? Surly makes some lovely lugged forks. Looks like your mixte is black. So is my Cross Check, and Surly sells black lugged forks that match the gloss black of the CC.
http://surlybikes.com/forks.html (sorry, you have to click the picture of the CC fork, it wouldn't let me link to it)
Maybe it would match your mixte?
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!
Hey Xeney- GORGEOUS bike!!! :) :p :) :p
Hey, husband and baby are all gorgeous too!!!!! You are so lucky to have a partner who does wonderful bike things for you and encourages you. :D
I wonder why you chose those bars- can you tell us about them? One thing that strikes me when looking at the picture is that if you are hunkered down on the aero type bars, your girly bits are possibly going to be too squashed down onto the nose of your Brooks saddle.
Brooks saddles can be mighty uncomfortable when the rider is in an aggressively low aero/racing position. They tend to be most comfortable with a slightly more upright riding position in mind, so that your weight is largely back on your sitbones. If you have further trouble getting a Brooks to be comfy with your beautiful new bike, you may want to either try changing to a racing type saddle or changing body position by testing different bars. Just some thoughts. Squashed girly bits are no fun! ;)
P.S. that red mixte does look large- looking specifically at the head tube length, it looks similar to my husband's bikes, and he is 6 feet tall and rides 60cm frames.
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lisa S.H.
Xeney, I think she looks perfect!
It's actually a pretty upright ride -- very short cockpit there. No squashing of genitals. I have ridden a Team Pro on a much less upright road bike and that was the most comfortable saddle I've ever ridden. (And in fact I might put it on this one if I can get it back from my husband.)
I didn't choose the bars; he talked me into them, mostly for aesthetics. I wanted drop bars. I think these are gorgeous but they are going to take some getting used to -- the reach is fine, but steering is very different.
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?Quote:
Originally Posted by Triskeliongirl
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?
5 foot 8 inches.Quote:
Originally Posted by sandra
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".
Hey, Xeney. Nice bike. Have fun with it.Quote:
Originally Posted by xeney
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.
Funny.Quote:
Originally Posted by zencentury
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Triskeliongirl
I am counting on my next bike to correct all this. :o