Show us your mixte!

[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. 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.

[KnottedYet]

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...

[sandra]

Knot, how tall are you?

[KnottedYet]

Knot, how tall are you?

5 foot 8 inches.

[sandra]

will search for you a mixte.

[KnottedYet]

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!

[sandra]

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.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

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'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.

[Triskeliongirl]

Ah, Lisa, if you are trying to scoot back, that is probably to get your knee properly aligned with the pedal axis. Women have longer femurs than men, so I also have my saddle set up on a seatpost with as much set back as I can get, and prefer a bike with a shallow seat tube angle (yet oddly many womens and smaller sized bikes have steep seat tube angles. ) But, once my saddle is set up correctly, I will still try to move too far forward if my forward reach is too long (i.e. top tube, stem and bars together are too long). I think you moved you saddle back after installing a shorter stem and a shorter reach bar cuz you had properly adjusted your reach so that you could sit correctly on the bike.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

It's all connected.
I've been told by my new custom builder that my femurs are long compared to my shins and total height- thus the issue....fairly common for women.
Actually, I started with a 9 stem, then went to 5, then backed up to 7, which is about as good as I can dial in on my bike given all the other variables. And yes, a shallow seat tube angle is good for me.

[Triskeliongirl]

Yeh, cuz what I remember is you talked about pushing back after shortening your stem and bars, which is a good thing. But you are right, balance on the bike is important too, which is why even if the reach was better on the really short stem the handling may not have been. Obviously custom will take care of all of this for you. So excited to hear how you like her when she is done. Is the idea that the new bike will replace, or complement your ramboullet, i.e. will she be designed to carry stuff or be a go fast bike? You often talk about racing bikes as if they aren't comfortable. To me, if the bike fits you, it will be comfortable. If the bike is light, it will go fast. If the bike is strong, it can carry stuff. I personally think that if the frame geometry fits your body, then by swapping subtle things likes tires/wheelsets, the same bike can be used for go fast riding or light touring. But going light weight can make all the difference in the world for improving speed. As long as she uses one of the newer steels that are both strong and light weight (high strength to weight ratio), the bike should be able to do anything. That is how I feel about my reynolds 853 steel terry travel isis.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Yeh, cuz what I remember is you talked about pushing back after shortening your stem and bars, which is a good thing. But you are right, balance on the bike is important too, which is why even if the reach was better on the really short stem the handling may not have been. Obviously custom will take care of all of this for you. So excited to hear how you like her when she is done. Is the idea that the new bike will replace, or complement your ramboullet, i.e. will she be designed to carry stuff or be a go fast bike?

I want a second bike that will fit me better, go a bit faster for me, but also so that I won't be totally bikeless if something happens to one bike. I will keep the Rambouillet so that I have two working bikes.

You often talk about racing bikes as if they aren't comfortable. To me, if the bike fits you, it will be comfortable. If the bike is light, it will go fast. If the bike is strong, it can carry stuff. I personally think that if the frame geometry fits your body, then by swapping subtle things likes tires/wheelsets, the same bike can be used for go fast riding or light touring. But going light weight can make all the difference in the world for improving speed.

I agree with all of this....except perhaps that I might not be very comfortable in an aggressive low racing position no matter how well the bike fits- I am 53 1/2 and don't imagine cranking my neck up at 90 degrees will be much fun. Since my goal is only to go maybe 12-14mph instead of my current 10 average (including the hills), I'm sure I can do this without a racing type bike, just by having a bike that is 20-25 lbs rather than 30, and by putting a little more time in on the bike anyway and getting stronger as I slowly have been.

As long as she uses one of the newer steels that are both strong and light weight (high strength to weight ratio), the bike should be able to do anything. That is how I feel about my reynolds 853 steel terry travel isis.

She is. I can hardly wait!

Back to the subject of mixtes (sorry for the hijack)....
I keep wondering why it does not seem to be much of an issue about mixte frame sizes. Is it that people only use them for shorter errand riding, so that perfect fit is not much of an issue? Is it that they are so hard to classify and measure in terms of frame size? People seem to just buy them by eyeballing them without much concern over fit- I don't understand, since fit is SO important elsewhere on this forum when talking bikes. Am I missing something? Please 'splain this to me.

[divingbiker]

Back to the subject of mixtes (sorry for the hijack)....
I keep wondering why it does not seem to be much of an issue about mixte frame sizes. Is it that people only use them for shorter errand riding, so that perfect fit is not much of an issue? Is it that they are so hard to classify and measure in terms of frame size? People seem to just buy them by eyeballing them without much concern over fit- I don't understand, since fit is SO important elsewhere on this forum when talking bikes. Am I missing something? Please 'splain this to me.

Not sure I can explain it, but standover is not really a concern on mixtes so that takes one variable out of the equation. Grant at Rivendell put me on a 58cm bike when I bought my Glorius, and even though it's big it fits perfectly, albeit with less than a fistful of seat post showing. Mixtes seem to be much more forgiving when it comes to fit. You can adjust the reach with stems and bars, so somehow it seems to work out. I've ridden my Glorius for 30+ miles, and routinely ride 7 miles each way on my commute, so it's not exactly an errand bike.

(The sparkly red bike that I posted the picture of does look big, but the head tube is no larger than that on my Glorius. Will see it in person tomorrow.)