Show us your mixte!

[xeney]

What does the shellacking do for the cork (other than make it a prettier color)? I've been wondering about that -- I love my cork grips, but it seems like the shellack would make them slick and less comfortable? How does it work?

[DebW]

Oxysback, that's a great find. Beautiful frame. The top head lug is rather odd, as if the framebuilder took a standard lug means for a horizontal top tube and made it fit a mixte angle by cutting and bending it. I imagine it's still strong enough, just looks like it has a big crack. You've got a steel cottered crankset there with a French bottom bracket. Could be replaced if you want, but challenging to find appropriate parts. Simplex plastic derailleurs - they wouldn't have lasted nearly this long if the bike had been ridden alot. Mafac brakes - they'll stop well but squeal like heck. The freewheel may be French threaded, so be very careful if you decide to replace it on the original hub. Things you really ought to do: replace the cables and housing, replace the brake pads, repack the hubs, bottom bracket, and headset with new grease. The grease in those parts is 30 years old and doesn't really resemble grease anymore, so put in fresh before you put too many miles on this bike if you want those parts to last.

[oxysback]

Oxysback, that's a great find. Beautiful frame. The top head lug is rather odd, as if the framebuilder took a standard lug means for a horizontal top tube and made it fit a mixte angle by cutting and bending it. I imagine it's still strong enough, just looks like it has a big crack. You've got a steel cottered crankset there with a French bottom bracket. Could be replaced if you want, but challenging to find appropriate parts. Simplex plastic derailleurs - they wouldn't have lasted nearly this long if the bike had been ridden alot. Mafac brakes - they'll stop well but squeal like heck. The freewheel may be French threaded, so be very careful if you decide to replace it on the original hub. Things you really ought to do: replace the cables and housing, replace the brake pads, repack the hubs, bottom bracket, and headset with new grease. The grease in those parts is 30 years old and doesn't really resemble grease anymore, so put in fresh before you put too many miles on this bike if you want those parts to last.

Thanks for your words of wisdom, Deb. Dh is going to replace the cables and housing and I'll be picking up brake pads (and tires and tubes and whatever else jumps off the shelf at me ) tonight at the LBS. I'll also make an appointment to leave it for repacking all the grease items.

[DebW]

Thanks for your words of wisdom, Deb. Dh is going to replace the cables and housing and I'll be picking up brake pads (and tires and tubes and whatever else jumps off the shelf at me ) tonight at the LBS. I'll also make an appointment to leave it for repacking all the grease items.

I'm just marveling at the pristine condition of that bike. It's like it was in a time capsule for 30 years with lots of silica gel packets. Those are the kind of bikes I sold and worked on in a bike shop in 1973-74. By rights that bike should have rusty steel rims and spokes that don't turn and stuck cotter pins. But just looking at it, I'm imagining that everything works as smoothly as the day it left the shop. Be sure you put some oil on the derailleurs, shifters, brake caliper pivot bolts. For the front derailleur, shift it to the large chainring and put a couple drops of oil on the shaft the cage is attached to. I can tell you how to adjust that front derailleur if it's not obvious - it only has one stop screw, and it will probably need an adjustment after the bottom bracket is repacked.

[HillSlugger]

A Bianchi mixte! He wants $250 for it.

[Zen]

He wants $250 for it.

He'll trade for an amp

[7rider]

I'm just marveling at the pristine condition of that bike. It's like it was in a time capsule for 30 years with lots of silica gel packets. Those are the kind of bikes I sold and worked on in a bike shop in 1973-74. By rights that bike should have rusty steel rims and spokes that don't turn and stuck cotter pins. But just looking at it, I'm imagining that everything works as smoothly as the day it left the shop.

Given this, would it be wrong to customize it with albatross bars and a Brookes saddle? Wouldn't it be like putting a CD player in a '55 Chevy??
I don't know the "value" of such bikes, but I think there's something to be said...from a collector's point of view...for original equipment. Hold onto those parts, at any rate.....

[oxysback]

Given this, would it be wrong to customize it with albatross bars and a Brookes saddle? Wouldn't it be like putting a CD player in a '55 Chevy??
I don't know the "value" of such bikes, but I think there's something to be said...from a collector's point of view...for original equipment. Hold onto those parts, at any rate.....

You know, it's funny...my ex husband was into the whole custom car show thing, so I've been to quite a few of them. There are a few people that choose to restore their car as close to stock as possible, but the majority of them make the car look stock on the outside but have all the bells and whistles on the inside.

The problem is parts. They just don't make replacement parts anymore for a French bike built in 1974. What do you do when they wear out? I'd rather upgrade to parts that work well and are safe and comfortable.

Is it wrong to make something cool and unique out of an old style bike, but not quite to the original specifications? I don't think so. To me, I'm just giving a tender loving home and a much needed makeover to an great old bike.

As for keeping the parts...most of them aren't able to be used anymore. The bike is probably only worth the $125 I paid for it...maybe a bit more due to it's general good condition.

I guess there's always opinions from both camps, though!

[7rider]

The problem is parts. They just don't make replacement parts anymore for a French bike built in 1974. What do you do when they wear out?

Yeah...I can see that.
Besides..you want to ride it, not look at it...right?

[oxysback]

I'm just marveling at the pristine condition of that bike. It's like it was in a time capsule for 30 years with lots of silica gel packets. Those are the kind of bikes I sold and worked on in a bike shop in 1973-74. By rights that bike should have rusty steel rims and spokes that don't turn and stuck cotter pins. But just looking at it, I'm imagining that everything works as smoothly as the day it left the shop. Be sure you put some oil on the derailleurs, shifters, brake caliper pivot bolts. For the front derailleur, shift it to the large chainring and put a couple drops of oil on the shaft the cage is attached to. I can tell you how to adjust that front derailleur if it's not obvious - it only has one stop screw, and it will probably need an adjustment after the bottom bracket is repacked.

After a quick trip with it to my LBS (they're not so into the 'retro' thing, but he said the exact same words you did about it being straight from a time capsule!) I've come to the realization that this is going to be a bigger project than I imagined. I got new tires and tubes, a new seatpost (there was a wierd shim-thing that was taken out so a seatpost could actually FIT in the opening), and brake pads. The LBS couldn't get the bolt loose to get the stem out. There's some wierd rise where the bolt is that the rachet couldn't get around. I don't plan on saving the stem, so I guess it doesn't matter if it's dinged up a bit. The rims have this cool pattern on them, but if I want to upgrade the cassette I'll have to either have them re-spoked with a new hub, or get new wheels alltogether. I found some that might work at Sheldon Brown's website, I just need to verify the rear hub spacing. It'd be way cheaper to get the new wheels (only $100 for the pair!!!) versus respoking at $100 per wheel plus whatever the hubs will cost, but I really like the rim pattern on the old rims. I have definately decided on the albatross handlebars from the Rivendell website, though.

Hmm, maybe it'll be ready for commuting by next year!

[DebW]

The LBS couldn't get the bolt loose to get the stem out. There's some wierd rise where the bolt is that the rachet couldn't get around. I don't plan on saving the stem, so I guess it doesn't matter if it's dinged up a bit. The rims have this cool pattern on them, but if I want to upgrade the cassette I'll have to either have them re-spoked with a new hub, or get new wheels alltogether. I found some that might work at Sheldon Brown's website, I just need to verify the rear hub spacing. It'd be way cheaper to get the new wheels (only $100 for the pair!!!) versus respoking at $100 per wheel plus whatever the hubs will cost, but I really like the rim pattern on the old rims.

The rear spacing is 120 mm. It won't take a hub that fits a cassette. You'll have to use 5 or 6 speed freewheels. But you can take a 126 mm spaced rear freewheel hub and change the axle spacing to get 120 mm. Those rims are steel and heavy. If you want to ride this bike lots of miles, I'd suggest replacement wheels with lighter alloy rims. It has 27" wheels - it might possibly take 700c depending on the reach of the brakes. Before you do much else, I'd make sure that the cotter pins will come out and the bottom bracket isn't frozen. What does the freewheel sound like? Take off the wheel and drip some oil into it. If the freewheel is OK, there's no need to replace the hub.

[oxysback]

The rear spacing is 120 mm. It won't take a hub that fits a cassette. You'll have to use 5 or 6 speed freewheels. But you can take a 126 mm spaced rear freewheel hub and change the axle spacing to get 120 mm. Those rims are steel and heavy. If you want to ride this bike lots of miles, I'd suggest replacement wheels with lighter alloy rims. It has 27" wheels - it might possibly take 700c depending on the reach of the brakes. Before you do much else, I'd make sure that the cotter pins will come out and the bottom bracket isn't frozen. What does the freewheel sound like? Take off the wheel and drip some oil into it. If the freewheel is OK, there's no need to replace the hub.

Ok...the freewheel sounds normal. Just a nice clicking sound when you spin it backwards. Is there a special technique to get it off the hub? We have a park tool, but dh says that won't work. I'd really like to get the freewheel de-gunked!

So, my choices are:
1. Re-spacing the frame...or do I need to permanently re-space it? Will it spring out a bit to fit the new hub? This is the wheelset I'm looking at (WE277 27 inch wheels w/ the 126mm hub and then a new 5 speed freewheel).

2. Taking the freewheel off the hub (and praying that I can do it without damaging anything!!), cleaning it and making sure the hub is still good, then getting a new rim and have it re-spoked. Edited to add that assuming the hub is still ok, I can keep the cool spoke protector, which I really like!

I think choice 2 is the safest way to go. If that doesn't work I guess choice 1 will be my 'plan b'!

[sandra]

What does the shellacking do for the cork (other than make it a prettier color)? I've been wondering about that -- I love my cork grips, but it seems like the shellack would make them slick and less comfortable? How does it work?

Somebody smarter than me should answer this, but yes, it makes them a pretty color and I guess it seals them up. They are very comfortable to me but I never rode them without the shellack.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

What does the shellacking do for the cork (other than make it a prettier color)? I've been wondering about that -- I love my cork grips, but it seems like the shellack would make them slick and less comfortable? How does it work?

People also use shellac to seal cloth bar tape. Shellac helps seal the tape in position so it does not unravel or shift around. An old French cycling trick.
Also helps the tape repel rain and sweat. Also, if you prefer to wrap the tape ends with fine hemp twine instaed of ugly black plastic electrical tape, the shellac helps lock the twine into position too.
Here's an article about shellac and hemp twining your bars:
http://www.outyourbackdoor.com/article.php?id=428

I also felt like a fool swerving around trying to change gears. They're in an awkward position when you're used to the ones on a road bike.

Lots of people still like using traditional downtube shifters on their road bikes. My husband has them on both his Rivendells. Once you get used to them they are kind of fun, and you feel more connected to the shifting process, sort of like how some people like driving stick shift.

[oxysback]

Lots of people still like using traditional downtube shifters on their road bikes. My husband has them on both his Rivendells. Once you get used to them they are kind of fun, and you feel more connected to the shifting process, sort of like how some people like driving stick shift.

I'm sure after a few rides I'll get the hang of it.