Show us your mixte!

[oxysback]

Nice find, Badgercat. Looks almost new!

[creativadiva]

Might be selling it if anyone is interested.

[HillSlugger]

I've owned this mixte for 25 years. It was almost a part of me, but tomorrow a buyer's coming to look at it.


http://s211.photobucket.com/albums/b...manLady001.jpg


http://s211.photobucket.com/albums/b...manLady003.jpg


http://s211.photobucket.com/albums/b...manLady004.jpg

Look at all the things vintage Raleigh lovers lust -- carved lugs, Reynolds 531 tubing, the R on the seat-stay, the unique R seat-post clamp, leather covered toe-clips, Campy headset, Campy Athena crank with 52-40-30 chain-rings, Campy Record down-tube shifters (prettiest ever).

I've put over 15,000 miles on this bike, and it has miles to go.

Why are you selling her?

[jdubble]

ok, so several months ago i posted in here saying i was waiting for a sweetpea and as of last friday, i finally have it. so i figured i should come back and share 'cos i'm really really happy with the way it turned out. Natalie really went above and beyond and it totally exceeds all my expectations! And man, it's so light and fast (especially when compared to my previous 'round town bike, an old old trek hybrid, so i guess it's not *really* a fair comparison!)

More pictures on flickr, but here's one. I'm waiting for my rear rack to come in, and then I'll be outfitting the bike with the Bobike rear seat for my 3 year old and hooking up the Follow-Me Tandem for my 5-3/4 year old. Seems almost a shame to do it, but that's what the bike was designed for (hence the loooong wheelbase) and since all I want to do is ride this bike, I have to be able to bring the boys along.



the nitty gritty details:

• 50/34 170mm Shimano Ultegra crank
• 11x34 IRC Elite cassette
• Shimano XT M771 long cage rear derailleur
• Shimano 105 10-Speed front derailleur
• Velocity Synergy 650B wheels
• Nitto B603 handlebar, Velo Orange stem, Rivendell Woodies
• Dura Ace bar end shifters + Paul Thumbies
• Chris King bottom bracket and headseat
• Tektro 556 long-reach brakes
• Brooks B68s saddle
• Velo Orange touring pedals
• Honjo fenders

[mayanorange]

She's gorgeous Badgercat! I'm sooo jealous (don't tell Fern). Great find!

[amartha]

Buyer can't buy it! I think I'll be keeping her just to ride once or twice each year for the "bring out your dead" event at Halloween and an occasional mixte only ride.

At times I think this bike is too beautiful to sell.

[mayanorange]

Ann- you should definitely keep her- she's way too precious! Good for grocery and library runs I bet...

Creativa- Gorgeous! What year is that?

Jdubble- Sweetpea is the perfect term for that bike! She's cute as a button.

[HillSlugger]

Buyer can't buy it! I think I'll be keeping her just to ride once or twice each year for the "bring out your dead" event at Halloween and an occasional mixte only ride.

At times I think this bike is too beautiful to sell.

Have you owned it since it was new?

[Tri Girl]

badger- AWEOME find! I love that color blue

diva- your yellow mixte is eye-catching. Love it!!!

jdubble- holy smokies!!! That sweetpea was worth the wait!!! Gorgeous.

[oxysback]

jdubble - LOVE the Sweetpea!! Gorgeous!

[jdubble]

amartha, i vote for keeping her. she is definitely a beauty, and you have history with her. you can never have too many bikes, right?

and that the blue of that mixte, badger, is perfect!

[badgercat]

Thanks, all, for the compliments on my new ride. That royal blue color was part of what drew me to it in the first place.

I'm intending for the mixte to be my to-from campus commuter and grocery bike. I already have a black rear rack (hand-me-down from DBF, who now uses a BOB trailer for haulin') and black Wald folding grocery baskets (bought to match the rack and the all-black components and wheels on my Trek 7.2 FX). I was worried that all that black stuff would look out of place, since the components are just plain metal. But the combination doesn't look bad at all! I'm thinking that black bar tape would make it all come together very nicely, but I'm concerned that might wind up being too much black. I'll have to see.

mayanorange was right... this bike definitely has steel wheels, and is a bit of a tank, especially once i add several pounds of rack and baskets on the back. If I swap out anything major-ish, it'll definitely be for lighter wheels, but that won't even be on the table until I see if I can find another job for the summer.

I'm sure I'll have more pictures once I get it all cleaned up and tricked out. So many pictures of fabulous mixtes have been shared in the last few days!

[mayanorange]

this bike definitely has steel wheels, and is a bit of a tank, especially once i add several pounds of rack and baskets on the back. If I swap out anything major-ish, it'll definitely be for lighter wheels, but that won't even be on the table until I see if I can find another job for the summer.

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?

[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!)