Show us your mixte!

[IvonaDestroi]

I'm gonna chime in on the part warning... I just got a new project (posted right before you) and it's been pretty interesting. 70's gitane mixte. It had no pedals when I got it, now it has one! French threading... it's a pain to find parts for! I went to recycle bicycle down the street from me and foraged through their part drawers for a few hours. One of the guys was awesome in explaining the differences in french threading and what to look for. I brought home a big bag of borrowed possibly french threaded pedals (mostly my picks, a few of his) and came out of it with one fitting right pedal out of 15. the rest were all rights, and I got 2 lefts but they were both standard threads... oops! I will now have to return and see if I can dig out that matching pedal...

The whole bottom bracket is french threaded. I am planning to take it apart and clean the thing out but I have been thouroughly forewarned-DO NOT mess up those threads cuz you will go through hell and high water finding a replacement. I plan on being very, very, careful and having the shop take care of the cautering pin removal for me, for fear of thread damage.

So far nothing fits properly, not even the seat post and handlebars! (seatpost on there when I got it sucked, but new seats are set up differently, I had to special order) and some nice handlebars came seperately with the bike). Gonna have to do some trading in of parts, but I'm still stoked on it. French parts make it unique I think, and I think I'll be proud of the extra effort later. France did this until the 80's, and they were the only ones who did it


btw the bike is adorable!

Challenge-yey!

[Andrea]

I love looking at all these bikes! I think the classic mixte is sooooooo cool looking, and I dream of finding one some day. For now, I'll post up the Free Spirit that I found in someone's trash a couple of days ago. I spent all day yesterday cleaning her up...

Before:




After:






Now I'm just waiting for a set of tires to arrive from Harris. The rim size is 26 x 1 3/8, which won't take a standard 26" MTB tire (or else I'd be riding it already!). I'm gonna attach some wire baskets or milk crates or something to it and use it for grocery shopping!

[Tuckervill]

You can check the serial number (on the bottom bracket or on the inside of one of the chain stays) and date that bike. It looks just like the '85 model I bought at a garage sale last summer.

http://www.oldroads.com/sh_sn.asp

Karen

[IvonaDestroi]

[QUOTE=Andrea;410013]I love looking at all these bikes! I think the classic mixte is sooooooo cool looking, and I dream of finding one some day. For now, I'll post up the Free Spirit that I found in someone's trash a couple of days ago. I spent all day yesterday cleaning her up...

awwwww its cuuuuute! I love the fenders and the step through

[oxysback]

I'm gonna chime in on the part warning... I just got a new project (posted right before you) and it's been pretty interesting. 70's gitane mixte. It had no pedals when I got it, now it has one! French threading... it's a pain to find parts for! I went to recycle bicycle down the street from me and foraged through their part drawers for a few hours. One of the guys was awesome in explaining the differences in french threading and what to look for. I brought home a big bag of borrowed possibly french threaded pedals (mostly my picks, a few of his) and came out of it with one fitting right pedal out of 15. the rest were all rights, and I got 2 lefts but they were both standard threads... oops! I will now have to return and see if I can dig out that matching pedal...

The whole bottom bracket is french threaded. I am planning to take it apart and clean the thing out but I have been thouroughly forewarned-DO NOT mess up those threads cuz you will go through hell and high water finding a replacement. I plan on being very, very, careful and having the shop take care of the cautering pin removal for me, for fear of thread damage.

So far nothing fits properly, not even the seat post and handlebars! (seatpost on there when I got it sucked, but new seats are set up differently, I had to special order) and some nice handlebars came seperately with the bike). Gonna have to do some trading in of parts, but I'm still stoked on it. French parts make it unique I think, and I think I'll be proud of the extra effort later. France did this until the 80's, and they were the only ones who did it


btw the bike is adorable!

Challenge-yey!

Interesting story about finding pedals. I think that's one of the only things that went on without an issue on my mixte restoration project (pictured on pg. 17 of this thread if you haven't already seen it). I ordered them from Rivendell, and prayed they would fit!

[IvonaDestroi]

Interesting story about finding pedals. I think that's one of the only things that went on without an issue on my mixte restoration project (pictured on pg. 17 of this thread if you haven't already seen it). I ordered them from Rivendell, and prayed they would fit!

I couldn't find your project on page 17... where is it?

[oxysback]

I couldn't find your project on page 17... where is it?

Here's a link to the post...

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showp...&postcount=505

[Zen]

Bonnie?!
Mais non!
Yvette!

[oxysback]

Bonnie?!
Mais non!
Yvette!

What's wrong with Bonnie?

[Zen]

What's wrong with Bonnie?

Well, it's not a Scottish bike. I am once again...just sayin'.

[IvonaDestroi]

Here's a link to the post...

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showp...&postcount=505

cute... you did a great job! I was looking at your fenders, I couldn't see where you attached them, it kind of looks like the rear brake?

I was looking at mine, and where the pannier rack attaches the little hole goes forward/backward not up and down, which wont work for fenders.

I found these adorable little old mini fenders at recycle bikes by my house, but I think they attach the same way as a normal fender.

It looks like your bike has the same set up as mine, how did you attach those to your seat stays?

[oxysback]

cute... you did a great job! I was looking at your fenders, I couldn't see where you attached them, it kind of looks like the rear brake?

I was looking at mine, and where the pannier rack attaches the little hole goes forward/backward not up and down, which wont work for fenders.

I found these adorable little old mini fenders at recycle bikes by my house, but I think they attach the same way as a normal fender.

It looks like your bike has the same set up as mine, how did you attach those to your seat stays?

The fenders are just normal fenders. They attach at the brakes, I believe.

[newfsmith]

New Mixte frames are showing up if you are in the market, this one comes in 4 sizes
http://somafab.blogspot.com/2009/03/...e-arrived.html

As opposed to GP's condescending attitude (statisically the average height of American women is still 5 feet 4 inches, which means that 1/2 of American woment are less than 5 feet 4 inches. Bicycle manufacturers seem to expect that they should build for the fashion model population 5'9" to 5'11" (http://www.modelingadvice.com/FashionSize.html ). Sorry GP, my money will never thicken your wallet, but for those of you that are tall enough here is his offering
http://www.rivbike.com/products/list...product=50-685

Mike Flannigan is making his offering as a step-thru, but a full-on transportational bike, you have to scroll down the page to see the ladies frame http://antbikemike.wordpress.com/boston-roadster/

The VO Madame Mixte is a city bike made to measure by Ahren Rogers, principal of Banjo bicycles.
http://www.velo-orange.com/vomamifr.html

Mixte's may be making a come-back.