Looooook Closer!!!!!!!

[sandra]

I think it IS a split tube upon closer examination!!!!

[spokewench]

The picture is not really clear so I cannot tell what that is. It could be paint as far as I can tell by this picture. Is this the new bike you just bought?

Most tubes will not split (assuming that this is a steel bike which it looks like it is) they may have cracks in them, usually at welds or where a person might have run into somethign with the front wheel and the tubes give way, but usually in the other direction, (ie. the only way I can think of this is across grain rather than with the grain?) If a bike has a cracked tube, you can have someone weld another in place - the wonders and fixability of a steel frame!

spoke

[mimitabby]

Spoke you are confused. Sandra is confirming that this bike is a standard Mixte frame!

[sandra]

The tube is not cracked. I meant made with the split. We were discussing it on another thread and we thought it was a single tube, not like your typical mixte, but it's not.

[DebW]

It has to be split in order to cross the seat tube and reach the rear dropouts. Otherwise it would be a standard "women's bike", not a mixte. Mixte is a superior design because of the extra bracing of the rear dropout.

[uforgot]

Actually I have seen pictures of bikes that weren't split down the middle, but did indeed have the three seat stays. I'll quote Sheldon Brown once again...

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

So if it has a pair of center stays, it IS a mixte.

If I see another pic of one I'll post it.
Of course, then again, I didn't see the split in Sandra's!

[uforgot]

I can't find an image of one. I've only seen it once or twice on ebay auctions (the one tube). Now I'm determined to find one...