Show us your mixte!

[badgercat]

Badger, you should keep the normandy hubs (so snazzy!)- just swap out the rims when you can. If I find an old school rear for mine with a normandy, I can pass on the set of Windsors I have- they're nice and light. And it looks like you have an aluminum crank?

Yeah, I believe the crank is aluminum.

I do very much like the look of the hubs, so I would like to keep those. I've done some minor tinkering on my bikes, but taking apart a wheel seems scary, so not only would i have to find rims, I'd have to pay the lbs to swap them out for me. There is a bike co-op in town, though, so I should look into whether or not that's something I could learn to do there... hmm... maybe they would have some rims that would work for me...

Alas, it's final exam time, with a separate comprehensive end-of-year exam in a month, so this is on the back burner for the next few weeks. If you decide to unload your Windsors, though, do let me know.

I'm also trying to figure out what it means, from a practical standpoint, to have 27" wheels. I saw your thread here that touched on some of those issues, but I'm still a little confused... can I use a 700c tube on it, or is it only the other way around (that 700c wheels can take a 27" tube)? There are tons of folks on older bikes around town so I can think of at least a couple lbs's that would likely stock stuff for 27" wheels, but I'm just trying to research my options.

[mayanorange]

Badgercat- 27s are slightly bigger than 700s, but most of the tubes have enough play that they sell them interchangeably- I think if you want to be really picky, you'd have to adjust for width, but if we're talking 1/8in it'll be fine. Officially, the no no would be to put a 27 tube on a 700.

You could switch to 700s- just need to move the brake pads down a bit on the arms to reach the wheel. I just figured if I did that, I'd need a new freewheel and have to think about chainline etc. And Harris's is about 4 miles from me and stock lots of nice options for 27s. So it was more a decision of inertia.

Ride her as is and keep an eye out for parts. I just happened to find a guy near me that had tons of old parts so we swapped a few things out (mostly back to original or as close as we could get). I am still hoping to find a period correct aluminum crank someday, upgrade the front derailleur, etc. but for now she's fine. You're sitting on much better components since yours is slightly younger. (And she's a mixte which makes her 3 times as cute!)

[badgercat]

Thanks again for all the info, mayanorange.

[Zen]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...2BSI%26otn%3D7

[Cataboo]

I've been debating driving down to buy the bianchi in this:
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/m...159465386.html

It needs a front wheel, and I have those spare 'cause I only wreck rear wheels, and it needs brakes, but I've got a set of xtr mountain bike brakes that look like maybe they'll work...

It's not one of the super cute mixtes with the split top tube all the way back....

Except... I have 5 bikes and I'd have to drive 26 miles each way to get this.

[Tuckervill]

Make sure that fork's not bent. It looks like the wheel was taco'd or something. The seat/post looks whacked, too. Could just be put on weird. I'd make sure that you can get that seat post out.

I think it's a cute bike, though.
Karen

[Zen]

I'd drive down with you but if the bike was any good we'd then have to have a fist fight and that would be most unladylike.

I think i could take you on reach, though.