What to do with Mixte handlebars?

We recently got a Takara mixte, its picture is in the "bikes" thread. DH has been taking it apart and says it is in incredible shape though the cables and brakes need to be replaced. Structurally, it is fantastic.

He asked me if I wanted to swap out the handlebar. The one on the bike is more of a flat style, I think it is more traditional on a mixte. I have to admit that when I test rode the bike, it was awkward! It was raining out, I am not used to having my feet not be stuck to the pedals (I kept trying to pull up as I kicked off), and my hands seemed so far out to each side. I was so wobbly!

I've seen mixtes with drop bars and I've seen them without. I can get used to riding it as it is, all it takes is practice. The bike won't be used for great distance but I could see it going up to 30 miles at times.

For those people riding mixtes, what have you done and what would you recommend? I have a lovely road bike and am not trying to turn this into that. This bike has fenders and will make a fantastic bad weather or "around town" bike.

Am so undecided! Anything we do can be undone, of course. I just hate to make DH go through extra work just to have me change it back.

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Originally Posted by teigyr

I have to admit that when I test rode the bike, it was awkward! It was raining out, I am not used to having my feet not be stuck to the pedals (I kept trying to pull up as I kicked off), and my hands seemed so far out to each side. I was so wobbly!

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I loooove my albatros bars. Yes, it's further out but plenty of options and hand positions to pick from.

The real surprise is the BMX pedals. Other than that I can't pull up I feels very solid, secure and "attached" to the bike.

I didn't pick any of this, it was all decided by the shop. But works great.

I'm going to put a Nitto Technomic stem and Albatross bars on my new Lotus. I love the way they look.

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Originally Posted by teigyr

He asked me if I wanted to swap out the handlebar. The one on the bike is more of a flat style, I think it is more traditional on a mixte....
I've seen mixtes with drop bars and I've seen them without.

For those people riding mixtes, what have you done and what would you recommend? I have a lovely road bike and am not trying to turn this into that. This bike has fenders and will make a fantastic bad weather or "around town" bike.

Am so undecided! Anything we do can be undone, of course. I just hate to make DH go through extra work just to have me change it back.

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Flat bars are not traditional on old mixtes. Old mixtes from the 1950's era had bars more like the albatross style:
http://www.teamkarim.com/bikes/used/.../071006-14.jpg

I would put flat wide MKS Touring pedals on an old mixte if you are looking for a traditional look:
http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/pedals.html
Or pick up some cheap vintage ones with reflectors on them from Ebay!

I personally would not put drop bars on an old mixte because the frame geometry and saddle were designed for a more upright posture. Sitting on it in a road bike psoture might put a lot of pressure on your intimate parts. Not to say some people don't do it and feel fine anyway. :)

Hmmm. These are all things to think about. I did realize the bike was meant to be ridden more upright and my obvious balance flaws need to be resolved :D

Not to duplicate the other thread but this is it before it was taken apart. We're thinking of moving the shifters and while I've seen drop bars on Mixtes, I'm not completely sure I should do it.

Mmmmm, project bike. DH is loving it because he loves working on bikes and I'm happy because the bike has personality :D

I love that bike!

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Originally Posted by Trek420

I loooove my albatros bars. Yes, it's further out but plenty of options and hand positions to pick from.

The real surprise is the BMX pedals. Other than that I can't pull up I feels very solid, secure and "attached" to the bike.

I didn't pick any of this, it was all decided by the shop. But works great.

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No, dear, you have moustache bars.

And they are FABULOUS!!

(love the BMX pedals, too. What a nice coincidence that those are the same kind of pedal I put on my Surly! :D)

Nice bike there, Teigyr! MORE PICTURES, PLEASE!

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Originally Posted by KnottedYet

No, dear, you have moustache bars.

And they are FABULOUS!!

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I stand corrected, dear. :cool: It's not just the bars it's the brakes, I loove the upside down TT brakes. They fit my hands well and look sooooooo cool.

Knot, the bike is starting to be disassembled and it is (ahem) in the basement. You are more than welcome to come view Takara carnage :D I am open to any and all suggestions as far as what to do with it.

I rode looking at the computer for so many years, I am looking forward to this bike being done. I've begrudgingly accepted myself in lycra and spiffy colors but to ride in normal shoes and semi-normal clothes just seems so...dunno...cool! It'll be riding a bike to ride a bike instead of "going to ride 30 miles because this is a cycling day". It's kind of liberating to think that way.

Sandra, it IS kind of pretty! I am not an orange kind of person but I seem to have inherited orange kind of bikes. I guess I should look at the positives! Oddly enough, when I used to restore vintage MG's, my first was an orange MGB. I always used to think "if only it was British racing green instead of orange..." because you can't really change colors if you're doing a pure restoration. I guess orange follows me :confused:

Thanks Trek! Regardless of what you have on your bike, I don't know terminology and I only care about what works.

Lisa, thanks for the link! I have decided against drop bars though the bars that are on it are kind of rusty. We will start looking at ones to replace it with. I have drop bars in stock but nothing else so it is good to know where to go to purchase.

If you're going to put albatross bars on a mixte, make sure you have a long enough stem or it may get a bit cramped in the cockpit. Albatross bars sweep back pretty far. Another option is North Road bars, which are what came on my mixte from the mid-80s.

Moustache bars are traditional for mixtes too, like Trek apparently has. Harris also sells them. Moustache bars don't sweep back quite as much as albatross bars. My DH switched from moustache to albatross on his old Trek hybrid, and says he thinks the albatross are more comfortable for him on longer rides.
Here is his old Trek with albatross bars:
Attachment 4702

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Originally Posted by divingbiker

If you're going to put albatross bars on a mixte, make sure you have a long enough stem or it may get a bit cramped in the cockpit. Albatross bars sweep back pretty far. Another option is North Road bars, which are what came on my mixte from the mid-80s.

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Those are nifty bars!

I put them ALbatross bars on my step through hybrid. (not to duplicate...as you say...here's a side ways picture to go with Lisa's 3/4)
They are NOT expensive from Rivendell and they have them in 2 sizes...in case you didn't already know.....they also have the others.

I don't think it is correct that mixtes were meant to be ridden more upright than road bikes. I bought a mixte in the 80s and it was equipped with drop bars. I think the bar/stem combo to choose depends on how the bike fits you, and what it takes to achieve balance. Too bad I gave that bike away......... It was one of the first wsd bikes out there.

I know a number of mixtes from the 70s came with drop bars. They were identical to a men's 10-speed except for the frame shape.

Yup - my mom had a Paris Sport 10 speed Mixte that she got in the 70's. It was just like my dad's - same color and everything except for the frame shape. Both bikes were sport/tourers with drop handlbars. Too bad I didn't know that they'd be collectors items these days ;)

I was going to say, most mixtes were sold with drop bars and are perfectly comfortable to ride that way. Some came in "touring" models that had flattish bars. I've never seen an old one that had anything like albatross bars -- they are more like the bars you see on old Raleighs and Schwinns.

I wasn't thinking about the 1970-1980's mixtes, I was thinking about the vintage 1940-50's mixtes, like this 1940's Hawthorne: http://www.teamkarim.com/bikes/used/.../071006-14.jpg
or this 1950's Murray: http://www.teamkarim.com/bikes/used/.../013106-18.jpg

By the time the 70's and 80's came along, everyone was jumping on the racing bike bandwagon (we have some pretty amusing cycling magazines from that era), and hybrids hadn't even been invented yet. Drop bars were the thing everyone wanted.

Ah, those aren't mixtes, they are just step-through frames. I think there were Dutch mixtes around then but I am pretty sure they didn't become common until the 70s.

Both of those are step through frames - true mixtes have a top tube that goes all the way back past the seat tube meeting the seat stays at the rear drop out. I suspect Xeney is correct, there were some around before the 70's but, it seems that they became quite popular at that time period as an intermediate step between a heavy "women's" step through frame and a men's racing bike. They allowed a low top tube, for womanly propriety, but were stiffer, stronger and lighter than a traditional step through.

Oh, ok, I'm thinking of the older "step through" bikes then- did they call them "step through bikes" back then?, or just "women's bikes" or what? I thought the term mixte meant a non-horizontal top tube bike that allowed skirt wear or senior riders who couldn't swing their legs over a "regular" top tube.
Sorry, my confusion. :(

So... does anyone know when "actual" mixtes were invented, then?

A mixte has three rear stays. From Sheldon Brown:

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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".

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I think the other step-through frames are just "ladies' bikes." I have seen photographs of bikes that looked like mixtes from early in the 20th century, but I don't think they were common or necessarily aimed at women then. I saw one in a gallery of old Dutch bikes, as well, but a lot of those bikes had weird, non-diamond frames so I am not sure if they were commonly made (or even how old they were). I have also seen one for sale on eBay that was purported to be custom built from the 50s, and the seller wanted a gajillion dollars for it, but I have no idea if it was legit or not.

My impression is that true Mixte's were invented and popular in the 70s/80s for women that couldn't be fit on men's frames but wanted a more serious road bike than the older step through ladies frames. If I recall mine had a shorter top top than the same sized guy's bike, which is why I bought it, yet it was still light for its day (I did carry it up and down several flights of stairs daily in my cambridge apartment). BTW, mine was classified as a 'sport tourer', a univega nuevo sport. I'd kill to get my hands on the frame specs now. I really regretted giving that one away, although it went to a needy person so I shouldn't.

I have found a total of four mixtes at local flea markets and craigslist. three of them had the original parts on them and all four had drop bars. I've decided to keep the drop bars this time. When I put the upright bars on my Bianchi mixte, it wasn't comfortable at all for me. My Nishiki has the drop bars, original to the bike, and they are perfect except for the width. 38cm. I am going to put 42 cm drops on it this weekend. Other things I have done with it are a brooks saddle, back rack and a kickstand. Man, I'm a dork, but it stands up better in my classroom and doesn't fall over when someone goes to sharpen their pencil.

Oh, and I'm thinking of having it powder coated this summer. Sweetie Green.:D