Over the last 9 years I used a bike similar to this one (in a 21-speeds version) for the city:

http://www.ktm-bikes.at/de/city/city...IVERS8LITE.php

It met my needs in the beginning and I liked it, but the more I got into biking the less I liked this very upright position. Compared to my mountain bike this one feels just awkward and slow. (And to be honest, it's plain ugly.)

We don't own a car, so my husband and I bike almost everywhere. I need a bit more than those singlespeed "city cruisers" I see everywhere atm. I'd like to go fast and we live in a mountainous area, so I'd like to have enough gears to go everywhere. Maybe it would even be nice to have something I could use as a road bike for touring when there is no need for a full suspension MTB - but I don't know if this is realistic.

When searching around I found this:
http://www.konaworld.com/bike.cfm?content=honky_tonk
And fell in love but I'm not sure if it could fit me even in the smallest size as I'm only 5'3''?

I could also imagine using something like the Kona Dews (http://www.konaworld.com/bike.cfm?content=dew_deluxe)
that are more MTB-like. (There is a very similar Specialized line too.)

Then I found the Soma Mixte:
http://www.somafab.com/bvista.html
I also read the discussion about it here on team estrogen (so I'm concered that it might be to big too, but I never had any issues with reach so far).
What I like about the mixte frame is the versatility - I could even wear a skirt while biking to work , standover height wouldn't be a problem and still it could be built to be a very sporty bike. (I also love the looks of your vintage Mixte Bikes )
Maybe I could even use parts of my old KTM on this frame, but as my wrenching skills are limited I'm not sure they would fit?


The Soma, built quite sporty and with gears, is the closest I can get to my idea of a perfect bike so far. But I'm not sure if I can do it and fear that if I can't use at least some of my old parts I'd end up with a far to expensive bike that I can't use in the city.

On the other hand, it would be so convenient to buy a complete bike and not have to worry about parts, but none of them comes as close to "perfect" as the Mixte.

Can you give me advice about building a bike from a frameset? How do I tell which parts will fit? Is the idea of using most parts from my old bike at least for a start realistic?
If I have to buy all new parts, can you give me an idea of how much this will cost me for a bike that is usable (I know that depends on the parts. I just don't have any idea at all. I never bought bikeparts. I have to stay under about 1000$ at the moment.)

I also searched around for a vintage mixte, but most of them are quite expensive over here and would still need new parts to meet my needs.